Mud is my world. Mud is my name. Mud is my universe.
Got the preformed pond in the Folly Wall garden emptied, lifted, re-set and leveled. I'm always surprised by how much a bucket of water weighs ( 1 gallon = 8.3 pounds, so a partially filled 5-gallon bucket weight about 25 pounds). There was a lot of sludge on the bottom, which went onto the rather poor soil of the Storybook Garden. I was so caked with mud by the time I was done I had to peel off boots, gloves, and outer layer before I could get in the house.
I wanted to rebuild the stone raised bed wall, but it was too too muddy. We've been getting a lot of rain over the past few days and it's slowing down my gardening. Yesterday (2 April) was so wet I don't think I went outside except to feed the hens and refill the bird feeder. I've got a bucket of aconites that still need to go into the ground; I may try to do that whenever we get a break in the downpours. (No clearing in sight until Saturday; I've got laundry piling up.)
More cleanup in the Jungle Cliff area; I lifted out about a dozen young Korean (Kousa) dogwoods and potted them up for sale/rehoming. I've still got a lot of these young dogwoods (puppywoods?) in pots from the last big self-seeding year. I've decided to incorporate a lot of them into the Pine Gap planting. I've also got a lot of dead wood/damage in the northwest corner of the property, a wild spot I haven't really touched yet. I left that area alone for wildlife but I see now that we've got some major wind damage and it looks really bad. This may be the newest of the gardened areas coming into being.
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In the greenhouse, everything is doing well. I have to remind myself to water those flats and pots; in all this rain, it's easy to forget that it's bone dry in there. I potted on the hardy hydrangea seedlings. Very surprised by how well those old seeds germinated. I have no idea what colors I'll get but anything will be welcome; they are destined for the newer Tropical Garden above the grape arbor.
I really need to pot on the second batch of coleus; these are from my own saved seeds and I'm eager to see what they will look like. I'm hoping for some unusual colors/leaf forms because a few of the parent plants were purchased "fancy" types.
My pelargonium seedlings are growing like mad. I never expected it was this easy to grow geraniums from seed. if it continues to go well, this may turn into an annual thing. Same with the petunias; some of the seedlings are still smaller than I'd like, but at least 6 are a good size already and I expect they'll really take off once they get into the greenhouse when the temps are higher and more stable (we're still dipping into the high 30s/low 40sF overnight).
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Carrots are up and OK. I'd have liked to see more germination, but I'll take whatever I get. I've got a second sowing that should germinate all right with all this wet weather. Peas have finally started to emerge; no sign yet of parsnips but those are always very very slow to get going. First green shoots on the onion sets under their protective cover.
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Realized I completely forgot to tidy the Front Border. The miscanthus is still standing and I've got Siberian iris to replant and several new shrubs purchased last fall to put in. That's moved to the top of the to-do list, along with getting the second post set for the hen run repair.
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