A Nice Spring Day

We had a rare occasion at Castle Turling this past weekend...a significant amount of time with nothing to do.  So, we took advantage and spent some time relaxing in the backyard.  I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures of stuff coming in.  Yes, we have a few things in dirt here.

The wysteria that I spent three years trying to kill before giving in to the losing battle is marching on as it continues its takeover of the patio cover.

Sweet Mary of Jesus is there ANYWHERE the damn weed don't grow?!?

On the left is a Kalenchoe and on the right is an, err, Pinkus Plantus.

My little row of daylillies.  I grew these from seed, at least I think they were seeds, there is probably some other name for them.  However, once I put them in the ground...BOOM...dead.  All went brown.  I went to tear them out and found some of the tiniest points of green coming through, so I left them.  Look at these soldiers coming back, now.  I'm so proud.

The previous owner planted irises.  I dug up most of them and gave them back to him (he is my father-in-law after all), but seem to have missed a few.

Sweet Mary of Jesus: Plants

Odd that I use biblical references so much, since I'm an atheist (knock 10 off the followers after that little revelation).  Anyhoo, we here at Castle Turling (read:  me) actually planted stuff this weekend!

Yes, they're small, but aren't we all at the beginning?  These are the daylillies I previously posted on these way back in January.  My God (biblical), that was 10 months ago.  And, yes, they're four inches tall!!!  Bite.  Me.  Greenhorn!!  It's in the title!!  I'm making no promises here, this is nothing more then an exercise in self degradation.

Moving along.  We finally got these in the ground.  I've been trying to get them to a point where they were tall enough where the rabbits won't eat them.  Then, we inherited a chihuahua.  That's another post, but the rabbits have vanished, although the chihuhua is the biggest pansy I've ever met.  Rabbits are dumber then dogs.  Write that down.  So, I'm feeling glass is half full that that the rabbits won't eat them to nubs.  The plants to nubs, not the chihuahua, although that wouldn't surprise me.

Now, my soil dirt is nothing more then inert matter.  Here's an example:

Bear in mind the darker brown on top is the soil and the orange item on the bottom is a field stone.  We have incredibly hard clay soil.  In an effort to make things grow, we're adding matter as we plant.  To the bed above we've added:

7 cubic feed of soil amendment
75 pounds of sand
25 pounds of gypsum

These are the daylillies pre-amendment all laid out.  And,  a couple of year's ago, I added two inches of planter's mix to this very bed.  No noticeable difference.  So, we added the above items and turned the soil in the couple of feet next to the lawn.  (At this time, I'd like to note the spectacular Lion's Tail in the background.)  I need to add about four more daylillies to the tail end (closest to the camera) in order to complete the entire row.  Our local big box store had some sorry looking daylillies, so I'm going to hit up the nursery this week.  In the meantime, I'm going to continue to add amendments to the backside of the planted row to get ready for the rest of the plants we'll attempt to get in this fall.

P.S.  North London Derby, Spurs 2, Arsenal 1.  All hail Kyle Walker.  What a strike.  And, all hail Wojciech Szczesny.  Should have had that, he should.

More Daylillies

I'm starting to think I have some type of daylilly crush.  I picked up a couple of more.

Ok, the main reason I picked these up is a) we have no plants and this is a gardening blog and b) the red one on the right is called Red Rum.  Redrum!!!!  Really, how was I going to let that one pass.

All axes will be kept far away from the far side of the yard...for obvious reasons.

Now, I took a picture of them in the pots to point something out.

Each pack came with two plants and, honestly, I don't remember which is which, so we'll say the one's in the back are the Red Rum's.  Yes, there are five, that's for later, stick with me.  I have previously planted some day lillies, but as you can see if you care to look back, there is no green sticking out the top.  The previous daylillies (yes, I've spelled it differently 4 times now, get over it, as I'll probably spell it differently going forward) did not have green stuff sticking out.  They were on sale for $1, I think, and there was no green as it was late in the season.  So, I just shoved the whole thing in the pot, thinking it was like a bulb.  It's not like a bulb.  It's like a day LiLLy (now, I'm just messin' with you).  The fifth plant in the picture above is the lone survivor from the one's I planted previously.  I know it's small, that's because we have f-ing rabbits who continuously eat it to the ground.

I've now put all five up on a table until they get large enough to where the rabbits won't seem to want to eat them.  I've found they tend to stay away from the larger plants.  Then, into the garden they'll go.  Look at me go...gardening.

Sunday Planting

We finally got some plants into the ground today.  Just a few of our recent acquisitions.  With the early morning departure of the Three Lions (England, by the way), that has suddenly freed my calendar for gardening and other assorted forms of debauchery.  We planted a row of Impatients today.

Actually, Bubba did most of the Impatient planting.  I was inside putting the baby down for a nap, no, I was not getting a drink, and when I came out he had eight of the ten in the ground, already.  Look at him go.

We did a row of orange and white interspersed along one edge of the lawn.  I have no idea how big these things get, so I'm hoping our eyeballing of proper spacing allows them to be shoulder to shoulder.  If not, it was the boy's fault.  Alright, alright, I told him where to put them.  Simmer down, people.

We also got the daylillies from yesterday's post in.  I think I need to wait until the evening for the pictures, as with summer approaching the daytime sun is rather harsh.  I give it 50/50 I actually remember to wait.

We did have some other plants that went in, but that will be for a future post.  In the meantime, I leave you with a "Fun with Duct Tape" moment.

Yes, it's a hang glider.  Made of duct tape.  Damn Mythbusters.  Look them up.  I need to start a blog just with the crazy ass stuff this kid does.  Until next time...

Recent Acquisitions

It has been a long week.  Between marble filled children, football and the a-holes at the Securities and Exchange Commission, there has been precious little gardening time.  Never fear, with the elimination of the US this morning, I am now down to one team to root for.  Come on, England!!!!  I do want it noted that a Tottenham striker, not that useless United striker, propelled England out of the group.  I'm just saying...

Anyway, back to the task at hand.  Picked up a few plants this afternoon, since I had run out of booze at noon, which surprisingly opens up one's day.  We picked up a couple of daylillies to go in the front yard.

Hemerocallis Purple Galaxy.

Hemerocallis Velvet Red

The flowers are from the end of the day, but they still don't look too bad.  We'll be getting them in the ground tomorrow, along with some of the other items we picked up.  After England and Germany, of course.