Just 15 Minutes

July 4th storm blew down this Star Jasmine

Sometimes I get more done in a day when I have a short deadline than when I have the whole weekend to accomplish something. I think that deadline gives me a sense of urgency to get the job done without procrastinating.

Lately I've taken to using my timer for almost everything, especially my computer time, to try and keep myself on task. One of the things I'm working on is to work on certain aspects of my life 15 minutes every day.

So this is today's 15 minute session in the garden. We had a big storm on July 4th and I haven't yet cleaned up all the damage. So today I worked on this Star Jasmine. The big white post had rotted a bit at the base and fallen over. I got rid of the old wooden trellis bit and trimmed a lot of dead wood out of the Jasmine. Then I found part of what was an old greeting card rack (you just wouldn't believe some of the junk laying around here!) and put it around the vine. It really did only take about 15 minutes to accomplish this.

Star Jasmine after

I know it's kind of hard to see in the photo but now there is a bare trunk and on top of the card rack trellis is all the green branches that were laying on the ground.

I also trimmed up some of the green parts and put some of the cuttings to see if they will root as I would like to have more jasmine.

I love Star Jasmine, it is a pretty hardy plant, sort of shrubby and sort of viney all at once. It is not the sort of Jasmine used for tea, that is another type that is very frost sensitive so I can't grow it here. Star Jasmine is often seen in the southern US states, blooming in early summer, it fills the evening and early morning air with it's sweet perfume.

Daffodils, Tulips & Pansies

Planting daffodil bulbs by the peach tree

I picked up a bag of 14 mixed daffodil bulbs and 14 mixed tulips. I planted the daffys on one side of the dwarf peach tree and the tulips on the other.

after planting the purple pansies

After I planted the bulbs I put in a drift of purple pansies along the edge. I'm planning this bed to be mostly flowers of different sorts to bloom through the year. In late winter I'll sprinkle some annual seeds over it like poppies and wild flowers to bloom in the late spring, then replace the pansies with marigolds for the summer.

Are you laughing at my bottle edging? A lot of my friends call this "The Drunkard's Path". :-)

A Little Bit At A Time

east side after

east side before

 Here is the east side of the house, before and after I worked over there. Lots left to do. I took some time out from cleaning up to do some seed starting. I took lots of pictures and soon I will be writing an article on making and using soil blocks.


In the meantime I'll keep working on things a little at a time. My regular job really puts a kink in my plans sometimes.

Here's a few other pictures from around the yard for you to enjoy.

Bowl Gourd Blossom

beets & carrots planted about Aug 1

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory

Asparagus going to seed

Clean up, Spruce up

dawn through my bedroom window

I love fall, with the weather cooling off, the crispness of the early morning air. The fact that dawn is no longer right in my eyes because the sun has shifted a bit.

I also love that this is when the Heavenly Blue Morning Glories are at their most outrageous. I grow them because they remind me of my Granny, who loved them.

So sorry not to have been posting; came home from vacation and jumped right back into work along with trying to unpack and tidy up.

But the past few days I've been working out in the yard a bit. A lot of things didn't make it through my vacation, but the beans managed to survive and if you look closely at this pic you will see a nice little bowl gourd hiding among the Morning Glories. Most of the beets and carrots made it and I replanted some of the spots where they didn't.

I've been busy planting lettuce and peas. The peas are just practically jumping out of the ground. Bleushokers and Sugar Snaps so far, along with a few sweet peas in the front yard because I'm addicted to their scent. Can't wait for the lettuce to be big enough to eat, probably 2-3 more weeks yet.  I'm slowly getting weeds, debris and trash cleared out and thinking about what else I want to plant.

The volunteer tomato plant turned out to be a Yellow Marble

Violas in the tub, planted sweet peas on the little tower

 

culverts, downstream side

This week I also began on the downstream side of the culverts. Yeah, the one in the middle is bent, my son straightened it out as good as he could this evening. Neither of us were here when the culverts were installed or we could have fixed it and had the bent part installed at the top. You can see that the culverts are uncovered by about 3 feet; that happened during the storm July 4th. This area will take a lot more work than the upstream side did.  In the meantime I blew the motor on the mixer and had to mix the last two batches in the wheel barrow. My son replaced the motor with a used one that he had, so we'll see how long it lasts.

The front steps, with assorted herbs & flowers in pots

east side of the house

Yesterday I started working on cleaning up the east side of the house, so here's the before pic, tho I forgot to take an after pic, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow!