weekend in the garden

First let me say - Whew!

We may have bitten off more then we could chew.

Neil:

• made shelves for the shed using floor boards for the porch that we ripped up earlier this spring, but first he had to remove all the old nails.
• converted the hoses so that there is an additional shut off valve closer to where the hose will be used, both front and back of the house.
• helped me with the movement of newspapers and mulch to next year's new garden bed surrounding the 'tree lane' of the yard.
• converted the gravel around the elderberry and grape to fresh top soil
• adjusted the seperation between the elderberry/grape garden and the new patio area that we have yet to get started on
• cleaned up the mess that we'd been making of the patio area
• mixed some of the clay soil we'd been getting out of the newly dug up areas with peat moss and fed it back into the garden areas
• bought more top soil and added it into the new gardens
• moved the large cement paver under the old porch from one space to another in order to
• finish off the borders of one of the new garden areas
• tried to fix the router but failed, and opted for a warrantied replacement, due to arrive on wednesday
• reconfigured the laptop to dial out instead as a temporary measure
• fixed the leak in the kitchen drain, again
• finished the planting of the garlic in the vegetable garden when I took a fit of hysteria on the weeds
• successfully managed both not to laugh at the blubbering girl who'd just had too much work in the great outdoors and managed to comfort her somehow.
• dragged the excessive amounts of loose cement bricks and whatnot that the old owners had been hiding under the porch out to the driveway.

Neil still needs to:

• finish the planting in the new mulching garden area because I don't really want to plant it til next year, but he does, so he has plants assigned
• finish the shed shelves
• fix the bathtub tab and crumbling tiles
• get teflon tape for one of the new outdoor hose taps that is leaking.
• clean up the mess that he helped to make in the driveway

Karen:

• dug up grass (and large amounts of creeping charlie) in nice, neat little squares and threw it over the fence into the driveway
• added more topsoil to this new garden area
• planted all of the new herbs from Richters, except the Madder
• planted all but the garlic in the vegetable garden - rhubarb, tomatos, peppers, peas, beans, carrots (may not work out because the ground is fairly compacted), and corn
• put those cute little tomato cages over the new tomato and pepper plants
• washed the dishes
• added annuals between the new herbs, and around the elderberry and grape
• yelled at the dog a few times when he ran right through the new herb garden and fledging plants
• gave up and bought some ugly little white fencing to discourage the dog - he's too pretty to yell at
• planted a few new perennials in the front garden
• weeded both of the front gardens of dandelions and forget-me-nots
• tried not to scream but merely to weed when I encountered yet more, and more, forget-me-nots in the middle of the lawn
• watered in all the new plants
• snorted at the Region's new watering bylaws because it still allows people to wash their car (which we don't do) and fill their swimming pools (which we don't have) but god forbid that we water on the day not assigned to us - so okay, I can forego the sprinkler which I admittedly have forgotten sometimes to turn off, but damned if I'm going haul buckets out instead of the hose - and how do they think I'm going to fill said bucket anyway? Let them try to fine me.
• planted a variety of new bulbs
• tried to mow the grass but failed when the lawnmower gave up the ghost
• newspapered and mulched one of the new garden areas

Karen still to do:

• finish planting the annuals
• finish digging up grass in one of the new garden areas
• dig up overcrowded tulips that aren't flowering this year
• put the 'weed and feed' stuff on the lawn
• get the lawnmower fixed so I can mow the lawn
• clean up the mess I made of the driveway

Let me say again, just for the record: Whew!

Karen