Hi! Yay i finally started one And i get to talk into it. I'm gonna see if i can get an acoustic ear piece so i can look like a secret agent while i'm out there moving 6-packs of annuals around ^.^

Today, i worked with the annuals, ran out of stuff to do, so i walked around the house plant section and helped a ton of people figure out what to do with their stuff, and then i got called out back, and i had to help my boss lift a 400 lb tube of water garden liner lol. then i bought a new lil 1" african violet for 2 bux ^.^ cuz someone tipped me when i helped them load a buncha bags of marble into their car lol. They were like "wow, those are like 70 lbs each o.O They probably weigh almost as much as you do! Here, i'll tip you for your troubles!" so he gave me 2 bux ^.^ It was awesomely sweet!

~Phoebe

Good for you - we'll look forward to following this journal.

I keep two garden journals on my own site (a writing site). One is a day to day journal, the other is what I call the 'Master Journal'. We have a big lot - an apartment building my husband looks after. I break it into sections on my master journal.

Obsessive, I guess, but I love doing it.

Keep up with your journal.

OMG, Pheobe you crack me up!! Secret agent Pheobe.. I can see that..lol. And you can lift your weight.. cool! (How's the weight gaining going, btw?)

Well, pretty much everyday, I'm outside for ahwile, just gawking at my stuff, and looking for weeds, bugs, new blooms, etc. Today, I counted at least 5-6 ladybugs in my veggies, and one icky bean leaf beetle. There's got to be more of them.. all the holes there are!! Not a leaf without holes in it.

I also planted wildflower seeds a few weeks back.. all I've had bloom so far is the alyssum, but today, I saw ONE new bloom, it's got like 3 flowers on it, and they are pink, and sooo cute! Tiny flowers tho. I almost didn't see them..lol.

Also today, I put out more seeds.. nasturtiums, poppies, baby's breath, & shasta daisies. I also have more seeds to find a place for yet.. but not sure where yet.

I hope more of my peat pots are ready for the garden soon. Oh yea, I also moved my WONDER EGG to a real pot today! Woooo! Ok, I better not get toooo excited yet. I'm bound to kill it, if it knows I care. The rest died, except for this one, and one other peat pot with it.

Hmm.. that's about it I think. I did some digging last night, after 2 thunderstorms had rolled thru, and it was very muddy clay, but much easier to dig that way.

Meg

Hi Meg!!
I'm doing very well on the weight gaining! I weigh 95 lbs now I suppose we're all girls here, so i'll just say it lol. I definately went up a few bra sizes in the process o.O So ya i gotta watch myself when i'm leaning over to put the cells of plants down so i don't squish any other lil plants >.<

But ya, 95 lbs, still 4'11, so that's okay ^.^ I'm the weight i should be I think i might even lose some of the fat i grew and replace it with muscle so i'll be nice and thin like in january, but i'll be healthy and stuff!

Chris will be happy when he sees me in a few weeks
~Phoebe

Yea pheobe! And there's absolutely no fat on you at 95lbs, so don't go there..lol. But, muscle, is all good too. It'd even add weight to ya, as muscle weighs more than fat. Just don't go all icky like those women bodybuilders. :p

Where's Chris these days?

It's great to see you back on here, and starting another thread of what you did today in the garden. That was one of my favorite threads last year. And now, I also enjoy the thread on what's blooming in your yard. But, that's me.. I love photos!!

Meg

Chris is down south visiting his cousins this year ^.^

But ya, this thread is for everyone to post in! I loved reading about everyone's days in their gardens it was so cool! especially Cindy's stories about her skunks lol

~Phoebe

Awwwe, how long will Chris be away? You said, this year? Like, the whole year?

Cindy's always been a fun one to read her posts, eh? I remember, before I joined, reading her slugs & beer post.. I nearly died in my chair, laughing, and crying so hard.

ok, so today in the garden I...

moved a bunch of mulch, topsoil, and compost that were in 40lb. bags. I had about 4 bags of each, so yea, that was a lot to move. But, when I moved them.. there was a nasty dead looking lawn.. soooo I proceeded to dig it up, ran to the nursery, and bought more plants! LOL. I got a salvia "red hot sally", a hybrid sage, a "summer wine" yarrow, and a beautiful orange zinnia. Then, I got 2- 4packs of pretty little marigolds. You know I'm posting photos over in the "what's blooming thread" after this post..lol.

Once I was done with that, I was soooo hot, I let the girls play in the sprinkler, and I sat on the sidelines, watching, and getting wet from the spray.

I saw another new wildflower bloom open today also.. a "bird's eye". It was cute.

And I saw 1)an ant carrying a dead spider away, and 2) a BIG spider, carrying a lightening bug away.

That's about it. *whew*
Meg

ooooooh Chris visits them every other year ^.^ its kind of a family reunion for them every two years. We couldn't afford a ticket for me this year though, so he got down there and they were like "oh we'll pay for phoebe to come down! but i think she'll get here a lil late..."

so ya i'm just gonna let them make yankee jokes about me and stay up here and take care of the house ^.^ my parents went back to new zealand already, so ya we're on our own now. that's why i've been a lil abscent lately lol.

But ya, today i went in and found out that the organization i used for the greenhouses was confusing for everyone >.< Customers liked it though *shrugs* oh well

For now though, ima eat my lunch and continue to do my rounds through the houses ^.^ omg today a customer was leaving, and she almost hit a truck, so she backed up and hit a car which didn't have the e-break on and went through one of our fences and knocked over a whole isle of plants o.O It gets better.

Then she drove forward and crashed into two other cars and pushed another car into my bosses car >.< So ya, we had a lotta stuff to clean up. surprisingly though, no plants or people were hurt ^.^

~Phoebe

...no plants or humans were harmed during the making of this fiasco...

Hey Phoebs...it is great to have you doing this thread, I also liked the one you did last summer! Glad to hear your weight is steady (not doing to good with mine) I lost 27lbs in 2 1/2 weeks...my Dr. is freakin!
Anyway, today I mixed eggshells, coffee grounds & compost and put around tomatoes & peppers...they are lookin good! remulched some stuff and weeded some new beds getting ready to mulch them. My son & D-I-L are coming in this week-end to help me get caught up with me "new" projects that I have started and not finished...that will be FUN!!! Family yard workin week-end!

I promise I don't drive. I wasn't even there.....lol.

I kind of relate. I was sitting at a stoplight the other day.....looking at a new prescription bottle. Out of the corner of my eye I catch lane of traffic next to me moving. So I start moving my car as I put the bottle down. WHAM I hit the back of a motor cycle trailer (empty) with one of those tilt up ramps on the back. The ramp comes loose and crashes down on the top of my car hood. And bounced a couple times. The guy drives off, pulling the ramp down the face of my hood. We pull over after getting through the intersection. The motorcycle trailer is fine....just hooked the ramp back up and away he goes. I have 2 big huge scratches down my deep green hood and $1000 deductible on the insurance.

But at least I wasn't in a parking lot!!!!!

Today i helped a lady move a chimney wood stove into her car ^.^ then i got tipped 2 bux I seem to get tipped more than anyone else hehe.

Lets seeeeeee, i got a giant clipping from a japanese maple, so ya, i'm trying that one again *shrugs* i hope it works >.<

Annnnnnnnd ya that's about it i'm on my lunch break!
~Phoebe

I like your journal. I'm glad you were willing to do it. I'll have to check out the archives to see the one you did last year.

My landlords dad has been telling me that cuttings have a better chance if they are taken in the fall. Do you know anything about that? I'm always looking for more information.

oh i didn't do a gardening journal last year ^.^ There was a thread called "Today in the garden I..." and it just went on from there. So ya, this thread is supposed to be like that thread It just has a different name and the journal is for everyone to enter in ^.^ so ya, just talk about ur day in the garden!

Oh, I see - well, I started my own garden journal here - I should have just added it to yours.

I've done a few things over the past few days and have a gardener's elbow to show for it - sore. That's from digging with my hand trowel. And from using the tire iron to hawk up a patio stone the other day.

I hate those patio stones - they used to hold park benches, but those aren't there now. But seeing as how i can't put them all in the recycling bin, I just work with the stones where I can.

I've figured out how to do something more creative with them. Just pulling one up, wiggling it onto the next and creating a point with it one on one.

You wouldn't know what i MEAn without the pic, so here it is . . .

<a href="http://img101.echo.cx/my.php?image=periwinklesquaretrick21pk.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img101.echo.cx/img101/6407/periwinklesquaretrick21pk.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

<a href="http://img101.echo.cx/my.php?image=periwinklesquaretrick21pk.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img101.echo.cx/img101/6407/periwinklesquaretrick21pk.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

Oh that's way cool. It's a really neat idea. Thank you for starting the string.

Today I have my first 3 branches for the bentwood edging I'm going to start. I think it is going to be really great. I'm excited but I bet you can tell that. I walked all around the neighborhood looking for downed branches that were just right lol. One person has a whole pile of branches in his front lawn but I was to chicken to go up and knock at the door. Maybe I'll catch them outside one day. They have a huge magnolia tree and I would love to get a big bag of their leaves for a break between the berries and my garden. I think Tricia mentioned that if I did that it might slow them down some. Other than that more of the zinnia are blooming and still they are all dusty colors. I'm going to have to be more careful when I buy seeds so I know what I'm getting.

Hi!
Everyone was telling me about the mess outside of south house today. They were like "ya, the mess was so much easier to manage last year. we all just threw it into a trailor and it went out back!" and i was like "Oh, i had to clean out that trailor o.O" and they go "oh wow. sorry phoebe!" and i'm like "Well as long as i don't have to clean up this pile out here i'll be fine ^.^"

So ya, today i finally finished cleaning up the stuff outside of south house... jerks lol

But ya, then i did an awesome job organizing west house ^.^ The tomatoes are all organized according to height and type! and i freed up 2 more tables for all the peppers that are coming in

That was my day today ^.^
~Phoebe

Good job Phoebe. Keep at it your doing great. And I know when I go to a garden center I really appreciate it if it is well maintained.

Thank you TK!

Today i got to work in the house plant section! That totally made the day kick all butt ^.^ I got in there, and the house was empty. so it turned out that we got a big truck load of plants in! So ya, i picked up a creepy lookin Bromeliad! you'll see it in my pictures hopefully in september ^.^

Then i moved a buncha tropical plants to the house including ficus, peace lilies, yucca, dracenea, air plants, bromeliads, grafted cactus, white birds of paradise, chinese evergreen, crocadial plants *omg look those up! they look so cool!* and lotsa other stuff ^.^

Then it got cold, so i got a new Wentworth Greenhouses sweater with a zipper and a hood and it is awesome ^.^ yay!

So ya, when people asked me questions, i knew the answer to them! Cuz i'm a houseplant freak I normally work in the annual house, and anyone that knows me well knows I HATE ANNUALS!! I like plants that shoot up every year and come back with pretty flowers every time So ya, Peranneals are my bag baby *over use of Phoebe's New Zealend accent in the last sentence required*

Yep ^.^ that was fun! then i swept the greenhouses and left for home such a good day! even if the sun only came out for like 10 minutes ^.^ *hops*

~Phoebe

I'm with you Pheobe.. as much as I like the quick color of annuals, I like to see them reliably come up year after year.. so most stuff I get is perennial!

Meg

Those chinese evergreens are nice looking plants and low light too. Very nice I'm so glad you mentioned them. It might be a good canidate for bonsai. Most evergreens require a winter so don't do well indoors. Thank you for mentioning them.

I didn't think I would like annuals either for exactly the reasons you stated. But I find that I like a little change from year to year and the annuals provide that opportunity without having to find a home for something I am displacing.

In case I haven't mentioned it recently thank you for doing this string I really enjoy it.

Your welcome TK! I totally loved the "Today In The Garden I" thread that someone put up last year ^.^

Today i got the mechettie and hacked down the Japanese Knotweed again. Its been raining for the past week and a half, so they've been growing at least a foot every day... So ya, they're blocking out all the light and sending up shoots through my lil doorway garden >.< They're also spreading through the yard o.O its nuts!

But ya! tomorrow i get back to work ^.^ *squeeks happily*

~Phoebe

want to take a shot at my mimosa trees when you get rid of your knotwood? It grows like crazy too.

Today? It's cold today - like a day on a northern lake at the end of summer.

Jeff and I are accustomed to having a half-cigarette on the half-hour. Well, we've moved this to 3/4 of an hour. Every little bit helps.

When I'm restless the last 10 minutes or so, I slip into my gardening joggers which are just outside the door and walk around. Last walk was with those clippers in the gift pack I got from this site.

Lopped off a few leaves that have already got holes and spindly branches that are doing nothing but block the sun from reaching places I want it to reach.

I might continue on the whole day this way - catching up with my computer work, then a little walk-'round with one tool. If I take my whole gardening cart out there, I won't come back in.

All I did was take photos after taking a stroll around the yard when we got home. We left Friday night, and I wasn't sure how the weather would be while we were gone. I had told my friend, "I'll have the sprinkler over there, and if you feel like it, you could turn it on for oh, 20 minutes on Saturday." I walked around the yard, and was shocked to see cucumber flowers!!! Lots of new wildflowers were in bloom, and so I took a bunch new photos. I still need to upload them, so maybe by tomorrow I'll have a few new ones posted in the picture thread.

Meg

HI, I am back from a nice weekend of camping. It wasn't restful as we were cleaning up 7 acres that we used every year for the family reunion. My contribution seem to put me on the end of a rake for the weekend. My arms are stiff.

Wow can weeds take over in just 3 days. I have the front plantings cleaned out but the big back flower garden looks awful. I put a bunch of water on it this evening so I can easily weed in the morn.

I did get all the mowing next to the flower beds done and all the trimming. I worked in the late afternoon so I was pooped after all the work completed.

Later....

Well I dug up another foot of garden space. I'm going to wet it down tomorrow and go after the deep roots. Then I am very tempted to start getting after that third tier. I think I'm going to put a clumpy mess of grass clipping on it and see if that will retard the weed growth there. Otherwise I guess it's level it and maybe invest in gravel? Somehow I have to create a walkway there or I won't be able to weed after I plant the garden. I also want to move the hosta's and the peonies. Do I have to wait for next spring to do that?

Well I got impatient so the hostas got moved and the baby got broken

The second tier is complete because I ran into one of the evergreens that I can't move. Huge root.

The bed for the wild garlic is prepared and I figure I'll plant the seeds tomorrow morning. I'm thinking if I just sprinkle a little bit of soil on top of the seeds I should be in the ball park. I hope anyway. Being wild I'm hoping they are very self sufficient lol.

Good luck with that TK!!!

Today i went into work with my ear piece in for the radio. Its one of those accoustic ear pieces for two way radios and stuff like that ^.^ when i first plugged it into the radio, it sorta worked, but then it made a LOUD beeping sound on every radio in the place o.O so i took it out lol. Then i tried it again, and it turned out that it really has to CLICK into place ^.^ so ya, i was Agent Phoebe for a day

it was sooooooooooooooooooo hot in the houses today >.< I mostly just kinda "got rid of the poo" which is what Missy calls it when you get rid of the crappy plants that no one will buy ^.^ After i did that, there was a lotta space open, so i filled it with tall marigolds. So ya, there's a lotta unblooming green, lotsa zinnias, and lotsa 6 inch pots in with the 6 packs in the annual house ^.^ They're thinking of throwing in the 2 for 1 deal again, cuz a lotta customers are coming in asking if the deal is on yet o.O

Oh! and i found the last white fucia for a lady that had been coming there for the past 20 years ^.^ She gave me a 5 dollar tip for getting it for her, and helping her shop for stuff Twas a good day! and now i get a day of rest ^.^ I'm gonna go to my friend Anthony's house and play guitar with him tomorrow at 3 ^.^

~Phoebe

WTG Agent Phoebe. I love hearing about your day. A white fusia huh, that sounds pretty. I don't think I've ever seen one. I'll have to look around. Have fun on your day of rest.

Nice going on the tip too. Isn't it great when you get tipped for having fun.

I found another one today *hops* I got to hang it up and clean it up too ^.^ yay!

~Phoebe

Phoebe I love reading your posts. You make me feel so cheerful!

I spent yesterday finishing cleaning up my whole back yard flower bed, it is mostly a shade garden. I planted some perenniels but added some annuals to fill in. I can't help it, I love petunias.

Today I am so stiff and sore I can hardly walk. Of course that might have been the 1 mile walk up and down dale I did today. I did walk around to check on all the new plantings and so far so good!!

I haven't been doing a whole lot in the garden lately. Mostly, water occasionally (which is better now that I have a sprinkler.. turn it on in the morning for like 20 minutes & it's good..lol.), pluck a few weeds, deadhead a few of the flowers, and just take in the sight of all my blooms, and wish & wait for more blooms.

I hope that soon, I will have the funds to buy my pallet of bricks to make my flowerbed. That should be a project! Well, the hardest part for me will be 1)getting it "level".. I never get anything level, and 2)I'm not sure about the splitting of the blocks that need cut in half. I got the tools.. I just don't know about if I'm able..lol. I did pick up some tools, landscaping fabric, and a couple bags of drainage rock. I'll need a few more bags of that, and a LOT of topsoil. Well, I'm gonna probably 50/50 it with compost, but I buy that too..lol.

Meg

Don't beat me up ok?

Why didn't you just buy some half bricks?

Please tell me that I told you they existed please.

Well, cuz that would be too easy.

Seriously, I don't think that the kind of bricks I'm getting come in half bricks. I think I asked them that. She told me what I'd need to cut them in half, should be mostly easy.. and I shouldn't need to break up too many of them. I'm getting Red/Sedona Lodgestone Retaining Wall Block . It's $1.17 a brick and I'm gonna be getting a pallet, which has something like 228 bricks. I really only need half of that, but ya know I'll come up with a use for the rest.. perhaps to do another bed. Or border my trees. Or a pond. The list is endless.

But of course, we need to get the money first. :rolleyes:

Meg

You can never have enough bricks - ha ha! I love bricks - there's so much you can do with them. I have them everywhere.

I also play the guitar - haven't had it out in months though. Arthritis makes it hard to fret and sometimes pluck the string.

I envy you that job - sounds wonderful.

So ya, i went into work yesterday. Turns out that Brian *the big boss* cut everyone's hours back cuz the greenhouse business is slowing down. So everyone works 4 days a week now. So i looked at my schedule and it says i get monday tuesday and wednesday off. Sweet.

Then i looked at the times i got... I work from 1-5 every day... That's from 40 hours a week down to 16... That ain't gonnna cut it! o.O So i talked to Brian about it, he was a poohead, so i talked to a buncha friends and they all said they'd give up their morning hours for me cuz they had other jobs anyway. So ya, Brian wouldn't let them do that... So i talked to Booker, and booker's gonna let me help him out in his water garden for more hours! So ya, Booker rocks ^.^

Then the other day, i was pruning the flowering maple. I could hear thunder in the distance for over an hour, and the sun had finally disappeared. so i looked up to see the clouds, and there's a greenhouse support like 10 ft from me. I hear a giant electrical snap, and see a LIGHTNING BOLT like 3 times my size hit the pole O.O Scared the poo out of me! So ya, i was cowering on the ground under a table when Brian comes by... he was like "Um... what are you doing Phoebe?" so i told him and he gave me a dirty look... I think that's a reason he cut my hours...

Plus i'm colorblind and working in Annuals... Annuals = Same plant with different color flowers.
Houseplants & Peranneals = Plants with wacky shapes and neat-o designs and cool flowers that are so cool it doesn't matter what color they are!

So ya, the only good part about this is that i'll be working in house plants ^.^ Apparently i'm replacing someone. So i may get more hours later in the year... But that's like 100 a week... i was making more while i was jobless in college. So i gotta get another job. I'm thinking movie theater *shrugs* Its something.

Oh! and on a good note, my dwarf red lilies which i accidently left out all winter came back!! and yesterday they flowered!! *excited*

~Phoebe

My day just got so much better! I found some wild strawberries and some wild raspberries growing at the edge of my japanese knotweed forest! *hops* yay! food!

~Phoebe

Dwarf red lilies those sound pretty. Sorry about the job situation. A movie theater might be fun. Good luck finding something.

So, yesterday I was muddling thru the cucumbers, and picked a few.


I picked a couple more this morning.. all about the same size.. have 6 of them now. There's a lot of babies growing too.

That's so cool that you have vegitables already, Meg! up here, we got a really slow start, and people are just starting to plant their vegitable gardens >.< I managed to grab some strawberries before all those disappeared though yay!

Oh! I was watering and sweeping when i heard a lil girl run by going "Come on mommy, i wana show you the sensitive plant!" Now, that's a plant that was on my list of plants to buy ^.^ I didn't think we'd ever get any! So i went and followed her to an empty pot with a packet of seeds on a stick sticking out of it. I grabbed a seedling and yep ^.^ Now i have one! Its cute! It even closes up when you touch it!

Oh, and i wanted a vining plant, so i got a mandavilla too ^.^ Do Bleeding Hearts climb without assistance?

Oh!! And i can walk with a cain now I feel old with it, but my next move is a leg brace. My friend from Highschool taught me how to walk with one of those a long time ago so that'll be cool ^.^

~Phoebe

So ya, we have someone mowing our lawn now! it kicks butt, cuz we haven't had a mowed lawn for like 2 years >.< I came home and the grass wasn't taller than me o.O I was like "woah, i can walk over it now!" and i did! Then i played in it and it was fun! Thank you Daddy for getting us a lawnmower guy! Today i went out and checked on my small garden. Turns out the guy went by it and was careful not to go over it, but as he went by it woodchips flew, and my Black Magic Taro looked like it just got out of a fight with a batallion of archers >.o It had long wood steaks all through its leaves and it was definately not happy >.<

So ya, until the lawnmower guy finishes up with the Japanese Knotweed, i'll be keeping my garden *which is conveniently made up of sunkin pots* in the back of my dad's old truck ^.^ My Bonsai looks like crap with all the sticks and leaves in it and holes from dirt flying around >.< But at least in the back of the truck my stuff won't get attacked by slugs or anything like that :p

~Phoebe