Boxwood

On Saturday we put in nearly eight hours in the yard and got some big jobs done. We started with the Apple Tree Bed off my office and removed the sad looking boxwood that was all gangly with only the slightest dressing of leaves to indicate what it was. Initially, I thought to pot it up and sit it at the end of the driveway for two reasons 1) maybe it would perform better in the sun and 2) I love the look of a flowerpot collection ending a driveway and creating a privacy screen for the yard beyond. But I didn’t realize how substantial the root ball was and had no appropriate planters for it. Also, it weighed like 80 pounds with the soil around it, so we decided to try replanting it elsewhere and if it does die, I won’t feel too bad. After an hour-long battle to finally get it out (the struggles courtesy of the nearby evergreen tree’s root system), we loaded it into the wheel barrel and took it to our erosion laden backyard hillside. We dug a hole and found a network of vole holes, so planting it there was a gamble, but we thought if it actually survives then maybe it could address the erosion. Dealing with the voles is a project for another day.

From there, we transplanted four unhappy ferns that were in dry shade, several daffodil bulbs, and our Lenten Rose, and then the bed was clear save for the apple tree (that we’re keeping) and an overgrown past-its-life-expectancy evergreen tree (possibly a cypress). On Saturday, we didn’t have all the chainsaw gear my husband needed (and as of today we still need oil for it), so we couldn’t remove the tree. Then we cleared the grass/moss/weeds from the bed and added three inches of topsoil/compost to start to improve the soil quality there. Once the evergreen is out, we’ll be planting three spirea (or so is the plan) and I’ll add some summer annuals like alyssum (that we’re growing from seed).

Pinecones

We have a divot in our front yard near our dogwood that has collected pinecones over the last two years. Our longleaf pine tree has been prolific in its production and dropping of these pinecones. It would not be an exaggeration to say that at this point we’ve probably picked up close to a thousand of them—so many, many pinecones. But, in an effort to make the front yard look nice (as ya do), we gathered up all the pinecones in the divot and the fifty some freshly fallen ones. We expected to find an earwig nest in the pinecone pile, but that’s not what we discovered. Nope. It was two baby snakes. We think they were juvenile rough earth snakes, which we scooped up with soil and rehomed into our backyard stick pile, because, to quote my husband, “Everything deserves a chance at life.” I would love for them to start working on our slug population, but apparently they mostly eat earthworms. Anyway, once the pinecones were gone, we topped off the divot with fresh soil and later this spring we’ll be planting a berry bush there. I can’t wait to start buying plants!

Edge it in

We then went back to the Apple Tree Bed and cut out an eight-inch-wide border that we filled with leftover river stones. I like giving beds an edge and we used mulch for this last year, but on the other side of the house we have a flagstone raised bed, so I wanted to mirror the texture and color of that to give the front of the house more symmetry. The river stone accomplishes that. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do. We only got half of the edging done before we realized we only had about an hour of daylight left and we wanted to get bean poles erected, so we decided to pause the edging and move on.

Bean Poles

Technically, I think we should call them pea poles because they are for our sugar snap peas. We channeled Monty Don and took to the yard to source some strong, straight branches, which led us to eyeing up our overgrown, very mature, crepe myrtle. It’s a great tree to use for this because when it’s this mature (ours has to be 20 feet tall), it’s easy to get nice straight branches off it. Plus, it’s a solid, hard wood that’s non-toxic, so good to use around veg. My husband cut the branches down to size and assembled a support structure that the peas will vine up. By this point we’d run out of daylight, so we decided to hold off on sowing the peas. We’ve also been without rain for weeks (with red flag fire warnings on and off) and I wanted to see how much the raised bed soil levels would drop once it did rain before sowing anything. It finally rained today (Tuesday) and it did drop the levels down an inch, so we’ll top it off before we plant.

Greenhouse

Sunday morning my husband assembled our little greenhouse/cold frame that I’d bought back around Christmas before we’d made the raised bed plan. Originally, I thought to use it on top of the raised bed, but after we divided it into four beds, it really didn’t make sense to use it in the garden (it wouldn’t fit properly) so, after a lot of frowning and head scratching, we put it on our deck. It’s getting part sun right now, which is something, but it really isn’t an efficient use of the structure, but it’s the best location we have right now. Once we finish moving soil out of the driveway (one cubic yard to go), we’ll likely move it down there, which is adjacent to our raised beds.

Seeds

Last week, I finally sat down at our kitchen peninsula and looked at every packet of seeds we bought and made my seed plan. Unfortunately, I was already a few weeks behind schedule on things that say to plant 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost, which historically is around the second week of April here. So that didn’t happen. But on Sunday I did finally start the process by sowing lettuce and kale seeds in our top-of-the-railing planters. I like having lettuce handy for sandwiches, so I wanted easy access to it off the kitchen, so it’s going on our deck railing. To protect it from curious squirrels, I placed the planters temporarily in our little greenhouse. I also made up my seed starter mix using this neat dry brick from Burpee that you just add warm water to. In a few minutes, it turns into a seed starting medium. It was super easy. I then filled both old and new seed starting trays and a few tiny pots for the kitchen window. Unfortunately, that’s all the further along I got Sunday and as of now on Tuesday, I haven’t done anymore seeds, but will soon. I got a space setup for everything in our southern facing guest bedroom, so the windows will be full of seed starting trays come the weekend.

Nothing too exciting, but these were necessary projects to tackle, so I’m happy we got a few more things checked off the list.

One thing I always fail to appreciate is just how time consuming it is to finish these projects. I’m learning to create more conservative agendas for the weekends, because, like everything else in life, things take longer than you except.

A final note about the current changes in the garden…

What’s in bloom in Williamsburg, Virginia?

Daffodils in bloom.

In our garden, we’ve got:

• Daffodils
• Crocuses (white, yellow, and now purple too)
• Camellia blooms
• Violas & Pansies
• Lenten Rose
• Speedwell Creeping Blue Veronica Repens

Around town:

• All of the above and:
• Snowdrops
• Starflowers
• Dandelions
• Periwinkle
• Various flowering trees

What else is doing in our yard?

• Rose bushes are covered in new leaves
• New leaves on the trumpet vine
• Tulips are all up
• Redbud and cherry trees have flower buds
• Apple tree is budded and producing leaf shoots
• Chives & Parsley are producing fresh growth
• Creeping Jenny (now going into its second summer with us) has produced new leaves

That’s it from Williamsburg for now. Thanks for following our gardening adventures. More next Tuesday, March 23^rd.

~Kate