Arrrgh!!!

So many of my blogging friends discuss weighty issues, or serious matters. I frequently feel like a butterfly flitting among you. But, one of my Red Hat Lady friends has said that my blog reminds her of Samuel Pepys.....a daily journal. I stopped fretting once she gave me my niche. *S*

So....today, it's windy and in the 60s, on the cool side for many of you, but heavenly to me. The apple trees have bloomed, and the wind is scattering white petals over the lawn. It looks a bit like snow in spring. Elegante Mother says that the flowering trees and shrubs seem to be blooming more densely this year. They look drenched in color.

I need to get out the book on shrubs and trees and do a little studying. I'm having trouble identifying some of the blooms that I see. There are four or five shades of pink, and white blooms, plus the lavender/purple of the redbud. Crab apples, apples, cherries...what else is blooming out there!?

Yesterday, we made our first trip to the nursery. I'm happy to say that Elegante Mother outspent me! She was buying plants for the containers at the front door. I was buying herbs, and a few things for the sidewalk gardens. I still have some cleanup to do in the herb garden. Dear Husband has two long areas of the outer arms that need understructure or support of some kind, but that won't keep me from planting.

I need lots more basil, salad burnet, two taller rosemaries. I probably bought enough thyme and lavender. I have two tiny lemon verbena plants, which we grow as an annual, but I'd like to find two bigger plants. I may check out several other nurseries, and stop by the big discount stores for some annuals. I was surprised that my favorite nursery didn't have Victoria Blue Salvia on their racks.

I think a chipmunk and his extended family have made a home under the thyme. The ground is mounded where it used to be flat, and some of the thyme plants have died off. I'm going to take the opportunity to dig up that stretch of the bed and add some compost to the dirt. That'll freak out the rodents! *G*

One of the chores each spring is to empty the containers and throw away spent plants. Most of the containers are planted with annuals, but I have sage, mint, iris and a rose in containers. I set up a garden sieve over the wheelbarrow last night, and ran the soil through the sieve. I'll mix in fresh potting soil, some of that stuff that holds moisture, and some compost, and refill the pots. Then, I can set the plants near the containers, and Elegante Mother can decide what goes where. I'd like to get that chore done before Friday, when the Quilting Bee meets here.

Our lilacs are in bloom. I brought a handful in for Elegante Mother's sitting room.

I pruned the shrubs back near the veggie beds. I have to turn the dirt in the veggie boxes, and add a lot of compost. I want to use the walk-behind mower back there, too. I'M RECLAIMING THE VEGGIE BEDS THIS YEAR! Wish me luck.

Now ends the writing of the gardening info for this week! *G*