Yesterday, Tuesday, was a gorgeous day here...in the 70's...the sky was so beautiful...a medium cobalt blue all day...all sun...no clouds...
Started out in layers of shirts...soon ended up in a tank top all day...uncommon yet welcome on this November day...
It was also my first day outside doing 'barge toting/bale lifting' type of yard work since my knee surgery last week...so I was quite raring to go...
Lots to do...wasn't quite sure where I wanted to start...thought I'd start pulling all the dead/dried dill and cosmos which grows together all over the place...
But as I stood there looking at it, I just couldn't pull it yet...
To me, there is a fragile beauty to the dried dill flower heads...they have lost all their seeds yet leave such a delicate lacy structure...
Pictures in my mind went back to that first snow that collects gently on the dried dill heads...leaving puffy little clouds...it looks like a fairyland...then not long after that, the dill takes a beating from Mother Nature and starts looking more gnarly...that's when the dill and its supporting structure, the cosmos, will get pulled...
The garlic is getting planted today, Wednesday...I had prepped the bed a couple weeks ago but had not incorporated any compost in it yet...
So I went down to the composters...I have several of the soilsaver compost bins...some of which I haven't opened for quite some time...just letting things break down...I had actually forgotten what was in there...
When I opened the first bin...I couldn't believe it...much to my delight, it was full of straw which I desperately needed as I haven't accumulated any leaves yet this year for garden mulch...so I forked that straw all out into big trash cans, dragged it up the steps and dumped it in the garden...
I was then able to get at the ready compost at the bottom...shoveled that out into another trash bin and then went on to the next composter...
Same thing!!! Full of straw and ready compost at the base...shovel, shovel, shovel...
Next composter...Same thing!!!...I was ecstatic!!
I had completely forgotten I had put that straw in them over a year ago...that out of sight/out of mind thing...so cool...and very timely...
After sifting the compost, I ended up with one large trash can 3/4 full and a second can 1/2 full of compost!!
So I incorporated several inches of that into the garlic bed...edged that area with some broken half bricks...looks good...and the garlic bed is ready to be planted later today!!
So, another great thing...I had what I thought was a couple bags of wood chips piled in front of one of the composters...
But underneath the top chip bag were two big bags of
leaf mold!!! They had been hiding there and developing all this time!!
While I was out there all day, I kept asking myself, what have I done to deserve this wonderful day?
As I walked around all day delicately and deliberately so as not to wrench my knee, I felt fortunate to be able to be doing all the things I was accomplishing...and was very grateful for the gift of mobility...sadly something not everyone has...I am truly very thankful for all my blessings...
It was hard to come in yesterday...just like a kid playing outside...but the early darkness won that battle...
So today, I'm going over to my boyfriend's this morning for coffee...bringing my garden shoes and am going to take down the veggie garden over there...
Then come home and get my garlic planted...and poke around...there are weeds to pull and plenty of stuff to find to do out there...
It's going to be in the mid 70's again today...another beauty...
Oh...I have my eye on some of my neighbors hay/straw decorative bales...
Across the street has 2...(he already knows I want his)...two next doors have 3...and down the street have 4...
I have my dolly ready...and am prepared to walk down there and scarf them right up if they end up out for the trash...
So...sorry for the long winded story...but I know of few other persons who might be even remotely interested in the details of my gardening life...
So thanks for listening!
I wish for beautiful days ahead for you all!!
Love
Judy