Wednesday
From the extended weather forecast, it looks like it could be good gardening weather for the entire 10 day forecast. Just a little sprinkle this morning which looks like it will only last an hour or two. Small chance of rain on Friday, but otherwise partly sunny, partly cloudy, and mild. I can get quite a lot done in the gardens with that kind of weather. I just have to pace myself. I wasn't sore yesterday after the hours spent at it on Monday, but I am sore this morning after the hours spent at it yesterday. Mostly aches and pains with my back. That is the part of my body that always hurts the most, sometimes upper back, sometimes lower back, but so far no repeat of the pinched sciatica nerve that had me incapacitated a few years ago. After running a bunch of errands in the morning, I spent about 7 hours in the gardens. Same pace - 20 minutes of work and then 10 minutes of rest.
One of the errands was to find two trellises for the Front Island Bed where I want to plant my two new clematis. I went to Lowes and found exactly what I was looking for. I got them placed in position but before I plant the clematis, I need to spray the mile-a-minute weed that started overtaking that bed last summer. That led to getting out my battery powered pump sprayer, but where the heck did I put the battery charger? I had been using it at one of the kitchen counters but after the season ended I "put it away". I found it after a bit of searching. Of course, with my OCD it made perfect sense where I put it in the basement with other battery chargers, but it took a while to remember 
The Front Island Bed was in full sun by that time, and although it would be perfect for weed spraying, it was so intensely hot that I moved on to a shady area instead. So, I need to do that sometime today after the rain stops.
The Lemon Garden was in shade, so I planted 18 new perennials that I had for that area. After taking stock of what is left in my plant haul last evening, I found one more that I missed. So, I need to circle back today and get that missed one planted.
When I take my 10 minute breaks while working in the Lemon Garden, I sit on the low stone wall that surrounds the back patio. From there I had full view of a nearby lilac and decided that some of the lowest branches needed to be lopped off. I got the loppers, laid down on my side on the ground, and lopped away. I raised it up about a foot, just so the ferns, columbines, and lily of the valley that surround it are more visible. Finished that little job up by hauling the branches to the burn pile.
Then I took a few minutes to disassemble the four paneled trellis that had been in front of the propane tank in the Lemon Garden. I moved it out of the way on Monday, but decided to disassemble it for easier storage until Mike has a chance to refurbish it.
Another little job that I did was to prune the wisteria off-shoots that were starting to wind themselves around the railing of the conservatory deck. I have been training it to grow as a single trunk that branches off into left and right laterals along a simple post type support like I saw one time at Mt Cuba. Last year it finally started looking like I wanted it to. Can't say that very often 
Then it was on to the Arbor Retreat to finish the cleanup that I started there on Monday. I worked on getting the accumulated leaves out of the shrub area. That part isn't all that easy. There is such a huge amount and using a rake isn't effective. I have to crawl in among the shrubs and hand pull the leaves out to an open spot, and then use the rake to gather them and load them into the big trashcan on wheels. It is uphill too to take the loaded trashcan over to the leaf compost area. I took a lot of breaks and didn't quite finish the job, but it is close. Maybe another 3 or 4 loads.
As with the breaks I took when working on planting in the Lemon Garden, I had full view of another shrub from where I sit on the Front Stone Steps when working in the Arbor Retreat. This shrub is a very mature hydrangea 'Quick Fire'. The more I eyed it, the more I thought one branch needed to be removed at ground level to fix the symmetry of it. Walked back uphill to get the loppers that I had left by the lilac, lopped that branch off, and hauled it to the burn pile.
By that time, I knew I had to sit down for a while, a lot more than 10 minutes 
Mike got home and started working on the gravel around the greenhouse. His brother Richard stopped in and we sat nearby. Thank God Richard was there to jump up to help Mike with the little things that he needed. I don't think I could have managed it. At some point Bonnie came over too at the end of her evening walk with River. She and Richard moved my big outdoor deck type boxes over to the newly spread gravel area on the south side of the greenhouse. Then she and I moved two nursery benches to the newly spread gravel area on the north side of the greenhouse. I finished the day out by moving all the various unplanted pots of things to this new staging area.
I have a bunch of tasks in mind to do today when it stops raining. If I can keep up the pace that I've been doing the last two days, I'll be a happy gardener 
Slow and steady progress, and taking in how beautiful my gardens are this time of year. The second and third weeks of April are the prettiest in my gardens. I wish my fellow online gardening friends could visit to see it in person!
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