More Mayhem

Mid-May has arrived and once again, we're scurrying around as fast as we can, but alas, we are dreadfully behind.  The weather has not been cooperating for anyone, especially the farmers.  The snow took forever to melt and it's been cold and wet.  Corn should be planted by May 15, but that date has come and gone and there are very few fields planted anywhere.  Rain is in the forecast for the next three days along with temperatures in the upper 40's. 

 We spent all winter going through our stuff in the house, trying to get ready to move out of here by July.  Are we done packing yet?  No.  But it's spring now and no time to mess around indoors, we've got to get out in the garden!

There's a lot of pressure for us this year besides the pending house remodel; the American Hosta Convention is June 12-15, 2019 and we are one of the tour gardens.  525 people have registered to attend, so this is a big deal, no doubt about it.  We'll have five buses bringing in tour attendees on Saturday, June 15 from early morning to mid-afternoon.  

 We didn't have to agree to be a tour garden but it is an honor and we figure this may well be our last big hurrah, so we'll give it a go.  What's the worst that can happen?   (Ok, I won't ask that.)  We want to have everything perfect for the guests, but as we all know, perfection is just an illusion.  I'll settle for progress, not perfection.  

 We worked outside today in the misty forty-degree weather until we were soaked through.  I decided to go inside for awhile and engrave some plant tags with cultivar names.  

I'm supposed to have all of the hostas in the garden tagged, but well, that's not gonna happen.  We have many hostas that are divisions of other hostas and over the last twenty years and countless garden remodels, well, tags were lost.  I also have had 'young helpers' in the garden from time to time who 'found' tags and brought them to me....and well....it is what it is.  Hopefully the attendees will forgive our nameless hostas.  I do know the other gardens will be impeccably organized though.  We'll be the unorganized garden with the big rocks.  

 Very few of our hostas are more than pips coming out of the ground right now, which I guess is a good thing, as we've had a few very hard frosts lately and if they'd been unfurled, it would have been a disaster.  

I think it's a shame the tour is so early; I'd much prefer mid-July as the garden is always at its best then.  But, oh July, lilies, daylilies, everything all at once at peak, and more time for the gardeners to get ready, too.  Oh, well.  Again, it is what it is.

I wish the spring flowers would still be blooming by June 15, but they'll be long gone with only the not-so-lovely foliage remaining. 

Oh, well!  Are you detecting a bit of doom and gloom on my part?  Yes, you'd be right, I'm a tad melancholy, but when have we ever been ready for any garden walk?  Never.  It wouldn't matter, we're always disorganized.  

Carl and I were wondering what we did last fall that put us so far behind this spring, but then we remembered the culvert replacement and the dozen or so big spruce trees we cut down and the memories all came back.  

We started with the culvert slope as soon as the snow melted, regrading and replanting the hostas and ornamental grasses and working on drainage. 

Joel and Audrey did some grading of the driveway, too!

 We finally started to see some green in the woods across the road last week.  Wildflowers are blooming, too.

With less than a month to go, we're at the stage of pick a mess and deal with it.  This week's mess was the Quarry Bypass bed where all the trees were cut down last fall.  Here's pictures of last fall's mess and the stump grinding.

 Carl and I replaced the split rail fence and replanted a bunch of hostas Friday afternoon.  

 Lovely?  Not yet.  But, hey, we're working on it.

Carl has been hard at work making planters and also working on metal projects.  He bent galvanized steel for the Outhouse Gabion bathroom door last month.  We've still got to install it, however.

We also removed the Batting Cage trellis because we'll have to move the garage in June and the trellis cannot be in the way. 

Remember the Batting Cage Experiment?  The way it was: 2017 and 2018:

 This bed was fun for the last two years, but it's time for a change.  Green beans on the trellis along with morning glories and hyacinth beans, it was an adventure.

Easy come, easy go.  Bye bye Batting Cage.

Now for some fun stuff that went on:  Joel took Audrey on her first kayak ride in the Quarry.

Speaking of Audrey, oh, she is growing up fast!  She will be three years old next week.  Audrey and I are partners in silliness.  We love to run around and be goofy.  (I think her parents wonder if they have two toddlers on their hands sometimes.)

 There she is at Easter, wearing her beautiful gown from her godfather, Alan. 



People said being a grandma was the best, and you know, those people were right!  

It is the best.