Follow Through

The day's potential for accomplishment was questionable from the start.  Because it began with the sun coming through the living room windows before 6am, rousing me from my slumber and launching me into the morning from the wrong side of the (sofa) bed - staring into the overhead lights that had never been turned off from the night before, television still on with its incessant audio populating my REM sleep.  I could have gone for an early morning run; instead I went into the bedroom to change, and crawled into bed, sleeping on and off, fitfully, before finally getting up very late morning.  Ah well.

It was all a little off kilter.  Work stress from yesterday still crept in.  The need to numb my brain led to web surfing.  Finally I decided to try to salvage the day and do a bit of gardening.

Some of the plants offered some reassurance, showing signs of being in their growing rhythm.



Pop'ems standing tall.

Dianthus seems to be settling well into its new rectangular pot - judging from the blooming, anyway.

Ethereal daylilies - brief bloom, quick shrivel.

Long (chopstick) beans - close-up.

More long (chopstick) beans.

A really new sprout.

Slightly more advanced sprouts.

With the bar for accomplishment set relatively low, there was really only one thing to tackle: The completion of Project Rosebush.

The dead Baby's Blanket's roots and branches got chopped up, and became an amendment to the soil.  Not sure that's actually the best for the new rosebush, but my hope is drainage is improved and organic matter increased.

The leftover corpse of the Baby's Blanket - the thick trunk and main part of the root system, too thick to be cut up.

Branch and root amendments.

Sissy had left some old bouquets to be composted; they became soil amendments too.

Sissy had dead palm leaves from a photo shoot assignment.  They were to go to the farmer's market compost bins.  But I thought the dry bits - the ones turned to carbon - might work as amendments.

The dry palm leaf bits - before mixing.

The wrapper of the new rosebush - the White Out; it is supposed to be like a Knock Out.

In its new home.  Project Rosebush complete!

Ready for some close-ups.

Three roses still fresh-looking.

Baby's Blanket carcass - looks rather artistic in the pop-em pot.

The Baby's Blanket carcass fills up some voids; makes the whole arrangement look a bit more deliberate, rather than deficient.



There were some surprises in the garden today.

Western pot designated for tomatoes - I think some of the shoots coming out from the compost might actually be tomato plants!

More - they smell like tomatoes....

Rain was predicted for some point during the day (part of the reason I delayed my run).  It came in big drops - for a nanosecond.

Little orange bugs detectable again; again in the daylilies.

One surprise was a bit of time leftover in the waning light to attempt some rearranging of planters.  The eastern pot designated for tomatoes started out between the rose planter and the Endless Summer hydrangea planter - same as last year.  I don't think the tomato was getting quite enough sun.  Plus, as the tomato plant got taller, I worried about it getting impaled by the branches of the rosebush.  Time for a move.

Before.

After - the designated eastern tomato planter is between the two wooden planters.  Quite a bit of soil came from beneath the Endless Summer planter when moved; it is rotting and needs to be replaced.



At the end of the day, actually got a couple of things accomplished and checked off the gardening to-do list.  Yay me!