OK, OK, already . . . I have one going at my writing site, so I might as well have one here too . . .

June 7th, 2k5 - I stayed in and caught up on editing my poetry files today - it was just too hot outside. I didn't so much as poke my nose out the door. The cat came in around 2 pm and did not whine to have the door opened again - that's how hot and humid it was here in Toronto.

I went outside to do a couple of jobs around 7.

1) South Island - dug out a patch of lawn where nothing grows - it's about 12 inches across. I realized why nothing grows - there's a flat stone about 8 inches down.

I sifted the soil ('cause the IGA is out of the topsoil again - buggers!). Got some good stuff from my rock garden and topped it off.

I planted a few purple coneflower seeds in it. Hope it doesn't need too deep a root space.

2) Rock Garden - there's a log at the top with a spoon shape at the end - there was a little fungus family growing on the edge of that up to last summer. I don't see it now. The spoon goes right through to the soil, so I dug it out, added good soil, and put a couple of pansies in there.

(I won't run out of pansies - they're always on the 2 fer a buck table at the garden store and someone left a whole pot of them in a gift bag on the table garden today - don't know who)

3) Dragged out the 175 foot hose - only about 75 feet tonight - I hate that thing - it crooks in places, 'cause it's a cheap one, I guess. Watered pretty well everything that's important right now. It got a good soak the night before.

I like to keep after the spots that don't get the benefit of the rain when it does happen.

We got some the other morning, but not a whole lot.

4) I selected a basket for the African Violet display and washed it out.

I have so many baskets out there in the garbage room. It's bulging with all the jazz I collect from everywhere.

See ya' tomorrow.

.........................


.................

June 8th, 2k5

I had a good day, gardening-wise. A little frustrated though . . .

I didn't take any pictures yet - I did another one of my jobs on those patio stones . . . they're so tiresome. I hate those things. The only reason I bother with them is 'cause they're there. I wish they weren't. They held park benches at one time and the reason they aren't there right now is just too much to get into.

I try to do things with them - they're hard to move. I have to get Jeff to help me with them, and he doesn't even think it's important, so we have to quarrel about it. I've learned to move them by just jiggling them along with a tire iron.

Anyway I moved another one over a bit and created a different shape to the layout. Planted some wild stuff in it. It probably won't live - then again, maybe it will . . . I dunno'.

I had brilliant success with another log. Pat brought more goutweed over along with something that looks like it . . . whatever they are, I planted them around my railway ties. I don't think I've shown any pictures of that.

I also did some in that tree root, and put some orange rocks there . . . and I put another log there and put a plant on it. It's still in the pot, but it's in there and the hole is big enough.

It looks kinda' cute there under the trees in the almost dark.

Here's my frustration . . . I GOT A DELL!

Jeff has spent since yesterday afternoon setting everything up.

My problem is my photos don't look right. I don't know if anybody else has had this problem.

I'm hoping my photos don't look that awful on anybody else's computer. I am going by what it's coming up like on Jeff's. My own is shut down right now. He's going to start using mine tomorrow so he'll see them better.





There's an example - today's download is Skitter Gets a Dell!

Does it look as awful to you as it does on this screen?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr . ..

I don't mind getting used to the mouse being a finger pad - and the cramp in my leg right now as I type.

And my coleus is on the lam!

Oh,I gotta' have a cup of tea now.

fffffgggg

sjjjjjjjhh

shhhhhhhhhQ

shhhhhhhhhhhhhha

ahhhhhhhhhhh~

oh, this is terrible - my little lamp died and i have to do this in the dark - beentyping since i was thirteen, so it's not that i don't know where the keys are

yes, i know i'm not using caps . . .

i feel better - just wanted you to know that. i tilted my screen and realized my pictures are just

FINE!

mind you, i can't see a damn thing on the keyboard -0 wwhy

why don't i put a light on

?????

because the bedroom is too close and poor jeff won't be able to sleep

you know what i'll bet he's going to like? ha ha! oh, my gawd - i actually got the exclamation mark on the first try - yeah . . . he's going to like not hearing my keys clacking out here at night 'cause the keyboard on the notebook is quiet.

oh,now i'M JUST rambling.

I got a Dell, Dude!

We'll just have to get to know each other, thaqt's all (i hate changes)

fffffgggg

sjjjjjjjhh

shhhhhhhhhQ

shhhhhhhhhhhhhha

ahhhhhhhhhhh~

oh, this is terrible - my little lamp died and i have to do this in the dark - beentyping since i was thirteen, so it's not that i don't know where the keys are

yes, i know i'm not using caps . . .

i feel better - just wanted you to know that. i tilted my screen and realized my pictures are just

FINE!

mind you, i can't see a damn thing on the keyboard -0 wwhy

why don't i put a light on

?????

because the bedroom is too close and poor jeff won't be able to sleep

you know what i'll bet he's going to like? ha ha! oh, my gawd - i actually got the exclamation mark on the first try - yeah . . . he's going to like not hearing my keys clacking out here at night 'cause the keyboard on the notebook is quiet.

oh,now i'M JUST rambling.

I got a Dell, Dude!

We'll just have to get to know each other, thaqt's all (i hate changes)

z;''l'/;lk'[

abd '
and there's good news today -0

i got another gift - a plant, of course.

it's a martha washington geranium

pictures tomorrow sometime - i'll be rippin' with this gadget by then, i'll bet.

Cool Carly.. my neighbor just got a dell too. I got one part delivered here while she was gone.. I think it was the printer, if I remember correctly. (She told me it wasn't with the rest of the stuff she already got 2 days earlier.)

Sounds like you've been very busy!!

Meg

You're right, Meg - they deliver the printer separately. The printer came first, then the next day the Dell showed up.

Things are going well with it - had myself in a knot over my photographs. Then I realized something . . . Jeff kept saying 'tilt the screen back' and I thought it was just him talking.

I tilted the screen back . . . my pictures are fine.

Ha ha! I have to laugh at myself.

Well, about gardening . . . yesterday I kept busy out there on the lot. Everybody was sweltering, but I worked with the shade - sometimes you follow the sun. Sometimes you hide from it and that's what I did. As the sun moved, I moved. As soon as it moved into the area I was in, I moved out.

I do have some pictures to show for it. I took them a bit too late in the evening so they aren't all that brilliant.

In the morning I was up at the front of the north lot where there's a lot of shade. I cleaned out my little stone circle. Nothing much is happening with it, but the plants are still alive. I just have to remember to tend to them.

Here's a before and after:

BEFORE



AFTER

You're right, Meg - they deliver the printer separately. The printer came first, then the next day the Dell showed up.

Things are going well with it - had myself in a knot over my photographs. Then I realized something . . . Jeff kept saying 'tilt the screen back' and I thought it was just him talking.

I tilted the screen back . . . my pictures are fine.

Ha ha! I have to laugh at myself.

Well, about gardening . . . yesterday I kept busy out there on the lot. Everybody was sweltering, but I worked with the shade - sometimes you follow the sun. Sometimes you hide from it and that's what I did. As the sun moved, I moved. As soon as it moved into the area I was in, I moved out.

I do have some pictures to show for it. I took them a bit too late in the evening so they aren't all that brilliant.

In the morning I was up at the front of the north lot where there's a lot of shade. I cleaned out my little stone circle. Nothing much is happening with it, but the plants are still alive. I just have to remember to tend to them.







It was a bit too hot for raking but I did do some on this part of the lot which I call Section 1 (geez I'm obsessed . . . section 1 - I gotta' stop).

Anyway, here's how I left my little haven:



And on with South Lot/Section 2

Oh, for heavens' sake . . . I already showed those ones of the circle - what a twit I am. Oh, well - I'm a nice twit.

South Lot Section 2

It begins with the triangle I made around this tree last year . . . I hated this tree, 'cause of the long skirt it made. The side facing the sun was nice enough, but our side is all ratty looking.

Last summer I trimmed her up nicely, made a triangle with big sticks around 'er. Then proceeded to throw pinecones in.

I have never seriously planted around it, other than the back where a few of my bulbs came up (daffs & hyacinthe), but I do try to 'organize' the weeds (wild growth) that grows around there.

Here's yesterday's contribution to this triange:



And here's an odd growth that is doing well (whatever it is) beside it. I have a feeling it comes from a potted plant that I dumped there during the winter months.

South Lot - Section 3

I hate these patio squares - they used to have benches on them - why the benches aren't there any more is another story entirely. I'm just not into an essay on why it is a tenant would go to the landlord and complain that it attracts people who like to sit in apartment lots during the late hours of the night.

So that's all I'll say.

In the last 3 years that I've been working to make this whole apartment lot look like somebody gives a damn, I have struggled to deal with these squares. In this section you can see where we moved the stones back last year to provide for small rectangles. I put the periwinkle in there and it does quite well.

I figured out something creative to do with them yesterday, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

This isn't the best of pictures of that plot of patio squares, but here it is:



First I dealt with these darling wild flowers that I put in there last year. I think they've been identified as forget-me-nots. They grow wild in the grass. I like to pick them out and try to grow them - these were successful.

BEFORE



AFTER



Yep - weeded it out, broke up the roots of the clump and re-planted it, chuckling to myself at one of the tenants here. He likes to make fun of the way I like to get things 'organized'. Everything's gotta' look organized, he says about me.

Now, I'd like to say that I was smart and put stones around these little friends of mine before I went on working with the rest of the slabs, but I did not. Today I found that the critters have been into them. Squirrels will investigated any fresh dig, figuring somebody buried a nut there.

If you put stones around your plant, they won't dig it - they don't like stones.

Anyway - that done.

I was feeling kinda' strong and macho, so I decided to move one of the stones and provide a place for the periwinkle to spread more this summer.

I have this way of poking a tire iron under it and just jiggling them out, then jiggling them along to where I want them.

The ones I wanted to move are between the rectangles . . . more difficult than if they were outside, as you can imagine.

So I began to jiggle them (Jeff would have stopped me immediately so I didn't ask him - he's moved them before, but he doesn't think we should go to all this trouble - piffle! My garden!)

As I was jiggling, I realized how nice it would be to make a shape over a shape.

This is what I came up with.



So that was the coupe dee grass of the day.

I took pictures tonight, and it was earlier so when I upload them from the camera I'll be able to provide better shots.

The rest of Friday night was spent running around with the hose - by Jeff! I did a little piddling with my rock garden while he was kind enough to do that for me.

Now the next step is to match the other side. I sure couldn't do it today - much hotter today. I made myself go out and do some shopping, a meeting and yard sales.

I was exhausted with the heat, but it was fun - got some neat stuff - two pair of harem pants, t-shirts - hoo boy! A big brass swan!

The most I did after my early evening nap tonight was to walk around with my watering jugs in the cart and water what absolutely had to be watered. Jeff did some hosing again.

I doubt that I'll work out on the lot for a couple of days - too much heat!

OK - I'm catching up with the photos from Thursday and Friday . . .

Here's the rock garden with that log that has a spoon on the end - I put some pansy plant in it.



You can also see that gorgeous mushroom there growing off the stump. I like to see how big I can get them - they'll break if you so much as let them hear you talking about them.

You can also notice I've been popping in some wild mallow - most of that stuff is growing wild in the rock garden, but i'm giving it a nudge here and there.

My you have been busy Carly! Everything is looking wonderful!

Meg

Thanks, Meg - yes, I have made progress. Sometimes I think not, but when I look over the photos I realize I've done a lot.

Jeff doesn't like to see me working like this, but I'm like that - I am fully committed to it.

Well, it's Sunday and it's supposed to be 26 celsius this morning. Going back up to 31 today (which is pretty hot). Our humidity makes it worse. And the pollution, of course.

I think I came to a crossroads this morning - just talking about the garden patches with Jeff. Sometimes in talking about something in particular, I end up realizing some major point about it.

That wild forget-me-not stuff is exactly what I need to cultivate. It's in the grass, easy to get going and you don't need any expensive stuff to keep it going. I think I'm going to go with that stuff. It might be the answer to a lot of these spaces I want to fill.

The stuff around the trees - the wild stuff I've poked in over the last two years does ok without me - I don't need to water it, it seems to thrive on whatever it's given by nature itself.

So, Jeff's right - no more buying plants! Ha! Hard to believe I went out yesterday and didn't come home with any little plants to start up. Besides, everything the fruit markets have out right now is nothing I don't have growing wild somewhere - I just need to nurture it.

Ohhhhhhhhh! Rain! Rain! Rain! So I won't feel compelled to throw these aching bones out onto the lot. I need to rest but those plants and wildflowers are calling me.

9:30 a.m. I've looked at the local for environment Canada - we are cooling down a wee wee bit . . . next weekend is supposed to go back to the lower teens - 13 celsius! Unbelievable! I've seen late winter days that come in at 13. Rare, but what's warm for winter, sure is cool for spring/summer.

It's wonderful out there right now - not a whole lot of rain but just enough dampness in the air to give that tropical feel. The birds are tweetering away out there. The forecast has no rain for today, yet you can feel it.

I do know every joint in my body is screaming. Some people owe their day to Clariton - I owe mine to Tylenol for Arthritis.

I'm going to take some right now.

Carly, I owe my days to all of the above..lol. And bp meds, and cholesterol lowering meds.. and well, for 35, I have too many pill bottles!!

Meg

I try to keep off stuff like that - prescription drugs I avoid. Not only because I don't have insurance for the pricey drugs, but because I just don't want to have a pharmaceutical collection sitting in the medicine chest.

I take tylenol for arthritis twice a day max, once if I can get away with it. Two big capsules of evening primrose and one centrum.

That's about it.

I haven't been here much, I know. I've done a lot over the course of the last couple of days. We have had some rain but not as much as surrounding areas.

We had two days of storm in Toronto, but we here in High park area didn't get too much of it. A few tree branches blowing around, rain on and off.

Just about 3 miles up the road there was heavy rain yesterday and down here there was little. Funny weather.

I've been working on the periwinkle squares, and a couple of patches in the corners of the lots - especially the ones I avoid when it's hot. The last two days has been a good opportunity to work on those without the sun blasting me.

I'll have to take some more pictures and update my grand schemes.

Here are the recent pictures - there's a lot, so get a cup of tea, smoke 'em if ya' got 'em . . .

Wild Willie's Hen

We'll start with Wild Willie - there are a couple of hens in his pot - the sedum in this pot has quadrupled in about 2 weeks - sedum grows fast.

That's some hen, Willie.



-----------------------------------

Table Work June 16th 2k5





Skitters Inspection of Table Work June 16th



----------------------------------------

Still Dunnos - June 16th

Which means 'I Dunno' what they are.'



------------------------------------------------

Vancouver Island Rockery - 0616

I re-did this display - it was only about 3 weeks old, but it outgrew itself . . .



That was a lotta' sedum hangin' there.

Vancouver Rockery Re-Done 0616



-------------------------------------------------

Coral Bell Corner - June 15th

I hate those mucky corners on the lot sections - clay, dead hard soil. I have to dig them out, dump the soil and put new in. That's the only way to battle it. Other than container gardening -but that's not the same.



Coral Bell Corner - June 15th



----------------------------------

Washington Point

This is another corner I've mucked around with. I ended up putting half of the Martha Washington Geraniums in there. The others are in the big pot at the corner of the table garden.

They don't bloom in hot weather - it needs to be around 50. But you can plant them; they make nice green.

There's a bit of camomile that Olga found in this point.

Jeff's Clover - June 16th

That's how Jeff's project is coming on - he just mows around it and lets it grow. It probably offends the blue hat society garden club, but what the heck - it can't bother much on our lot - we're mostly weeds anyway.



----------------------------------

South Island Corner Foursome - 1



South Island Corner Foursome - 2



Thanks to Image Shack

So with that south island foursome you can see that I made a couple of attempts to improve that corner - the first picture on the second group is what I came up with. Clover into the ring and a few tidbits behind it.

It will be interesting to see how that grows in.

June 21st - First Day of Summer

I have 10 new plants! Ha ha! No more plants, he said - you can't look after the ones you've got going now.

At 50 cents a piece, I'm not going to turn them down. This is a good time of year to go out picking up plants.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the beach, with the plants I got on my bike cart - had chips on the cafe patio, like Queen Sheet at a fancy summer resort. Then I went and got some stones from the water - I love collecting stones. I couldn't manage to bring back any big flat ones with the plants on the bike but I got 6 smaller ones.

Jeff and I are going down there tonight, so I'll get some more. Unless we go to another part of the beach/park.

I think if I'm going to get more stones, I'd better take one of my gardening carts - it will be better for heavy lugging.

I end up walking my bike back home anyway. Gives me a chance to eyeball everybody else's gardens and see what spill over I can pluck from the sidewalk areas.

There's a lot to tell - Jeff jumped into the gardening yesterday - he mowed a lot of the grass and weeds, even started a patch of his own in what I've always called 'Murtie's Square'. I used to put my wild prunella there, but it's doing nothing this year, so he colonized it for that stuff he calls 'clover' and I call 'grass mallow'. Haven't a clue what it is.

I'll put some pics up later - he and I have agreed that I'm to get all my projects cleaned up before I start any more.

No more plants.

No more books.

Heh! Heh! Every three days or so he sees me coming riding home on my bike with petals and leaves waving from the cart on the back.

And books? Accccccccch! I must have my books.

Anyway, I'm working on the squares on the north lot and it's going really well - more on this later.

LOL.. Jeff getting into the gardening, eh? Look out! Soon, ya'll will be trying to take over each other's patches ..lol.

Meg

your skitter looks almost like our Coho.

Hey Meg do you have a local sell forum? We do and when we moved in there was a patio like that one with your patio stones. I posted them free to whom ever wanted them but they had to haul them off! They were gone within 2 days! no work for me and a bonus to someone who wanted them!

Hey Karrie, I think you meant to address Carly, but that's ok. What's a local sell forum? I am a member of a yahoo group of a local freecycle. I got rid of a vaccum that way.. but have yet to get any goodies for myself yet. I always seem to just miss out on the stuff I could've used. I think I recall someone getting rid of bricks or something that I woulda loved to get, but I wasn't a member yet, and they were gone by the time I got added in.

Meg

Oh, yes - Coho does look like Skitter - looks like Coho is as nice a cat as Skitter too.

I just love seeing them sit when they're at rest -like kings and queens of their territory supervising the staff (us).

Yes - about the 'sell' forum. I have looked at them. There's nothing you can't sell, give or get at them.

Jeff often has things to get rid of at the building here - I should keep that in mind next time.

There are two trailers out back here - the owner rents the parking space from us. She's a nutbar who is not with us (temporarily - white coats took her in for a rest, if ya' know what I mean).

Nobody lives in the trailers - she stashes all kinds of things in them and around them which creates quite a mess. City Hall wants the trailers outta' there - they placed an order almost a year ago and her family has been humming and hawing since.

Maybe I could suggest that forum to her son - see if we can get them moved off all told.

I have an idea to just buy them myself (or have Jeff's employer, the apartment building owner) buy them. We could fix them up, insulate them and rent storage space with them. That way, it's in our control.

It's a tacky situation really. Jeff does not care for my idea at all. I don't even get to complete the sentence when I talk about it - he just cuts in with a DEFINITELY NOT when I open up about it.

Hee hee!

We'd have to pay 100 bucks a month if we owned them - for the space, I mean, but if I was making money on them . . . wellllllllllllll . . .

my local internet has a page where you can post adds for sale or trade and what not. I am constantly putting "junk" on there for free. People always come and get it. My father is a pack rat who has ran outta space, he keeps putting his goodies on my property. My rule is 2 weeks and it goes, if I make money on it or not. His "treasures" will not be my clutter. I am a total neak freek. I wonder what possesed me to purchase a house behind them. Oh I remember what - love- of course the hubby calls it ignorance!

Well, I'm stubborn - I insist on using every available thing on the lot. And today?

SUCCESS!

Here's what I ended up with . . . I've put it on the Landscape forum.

I just had another idea for those patio stones........stack them and make a single bench! Surley no one will complain about a single bench in the middle of some flowers! Kinda a quiet lil retreat.

Yes, good idea - but like I say - I'm done with it now.

I started the morning by going over what I call my root/log work. It's a particularly big root that protrudes from the ground on the north lot. About 3 weeks ago, I did up some of my neighbour's goutweed there, and dressed up a log with some weed/plant that grows under the mallow on the retaining wall.

It all took - but it was a bit messy.

First I planted the weed properly - put it in the hole instead of just in the pot as I had it. Then I cleared the stones, the pine cones and raked around it.

Then I put it all back.

Ta da!



Then I sat down and broke a few sticks into little wee pieces - Jeff raked the lot while I did that.

I did a little raking and cleaned out a couple of segments at the back of the stick circle.

Then Pat from next door showed up with some goutweed - when she thins her goutweed, she's on business, lemme' tell ya' - it isn't just a few pickings - she gets in there with the shovel and hawks up a good square yard of it at once.

When I see her starting that thinning, I know I'll be busy - she carried the whole tray over to me.

I put some in the portion I just cleaned.



This is what I have left to do.



I also got another plant from Pat today - she doesn't know what it's called - a variegated something or other, she said - it looks something like goutweed, but it has a thicker stalk and stems. It gives pink flowers, she said.

I didn't take a picture of it.

Well, this was a small jobs day really - I also had to fix a few plantings from the table garden.

These pansies had to come out of their seeder containers, so I put them in this terra cotta pot.

Evening work?

No, I do not stop . . . I'm obsessed and I don't care who knows it. Hear that neighbours? Tenants? No, it's not my JOB! It's my pleasure!

Thanks.

OK - evening work - I have been neglecting my austrian tree circle on the north island so I thought there's no better time.

I put some of the goutweed in the back of it.

You will notice there's space where I didn't put anything - that's because I 'think' that's where my blue gentian is - I haven't seen it come back this year - probably 'cause I had it covered with pine cones, rocks, etc.

I felt in there with my hand and there's a lot of what feels like root, so I'm leaving that so the gentian will have a chance to come out.



Here's the front:



I had to add some soil - I also make sure there's not too much soil up against the tree - those pine cones you see are in a trough about the width of my fist.

I had to retrieve some more lobelia from my rock garden - got 2 plants (the rock garden's getting some more stuff anyway). And I re-arranged my two german ivy plants.

I think this will come in quite nicely.

Yes, there's more . . .

What else did I do? Oh yeah . . . I finally gave up the ghost on trying to get those purple coneflower seeds to sprout - here's some (allysum, I think) in the round patch on south island where said elusive cone flowers were supposed to emerge . . .



And lastly? Lucy brought me a geranium - I don't know what kind of geranium it is - it isn't the common kind anyway. She has had it on her balcony since last year and figures it should go in the ground.

I put it in Washington Point (where I put the Martha Washington).



Is there anything else? No.

Say goodnight, Carly.

Goodnight Carly.

June 30th . . .

I don't know why but those lobelias seem to be dying off. Maybe they rest.

Then again, my other bluebies that I bought at the same time seem to be coming back. Hmmmph!

I haven't been gardening the past couple of days -had some deadline work to catch up on. Creating puzzles for two publications and I shouldn't have left it till the last but I did.

Tonight I stepped outside for a couple of hours - it was cooler and I enjoyed a little puttering around.

I cleaned at the foot of the walk, and started cleaning up one of the scrub bushes. Don't know what it's called really.



Well, of course I'm not talking about that scrub maple branching in there - I'm removing that.

I don't know what that bush is.

Now, I'll have to copy paste and start my reply over - Quick Reply won't do a picture.

July 4th, 2k5

I guess the only real thing that's new is the Hibiscus we got last night.



They were scarce around here - we both kept looking every time we were in a place where plants were sold.

The one we got was grown in a greenhouse here in Ontario.

Other than that? The cleaning I'm doing down at the entrance of the walk. I'm cleaning it out, poking weeds in around the big tree. There were weeds growing in there anyway, but I'm just being a fuss-budget - ha ha!



I'm taking bits of stuff out, and putting them on the lemon patch lot (where it didn't come back yet) and along logs down in that section, etc.

It looks good already, me thinks.

I've come to a crossroads with my gardeners' muse - I'm no longer trying any serious introduction of plants that really don't belong on that kind of soil - it's a woodland really, and there's no point trying to get the Blue Hat Society garden club type of stuff growing on that lot. Even container gardening is difficult - we can't be out there watering all the time, and there's a lot of places where the rain doesn't make it to the ground anyway - 'cause of the trees, of course.

My success has been with stuff that grows naturally there anyway.

I might (just might) go down the road here and grab some scrap chicory from the lane at the bottom. I'm sure nobody will mind - that might work well. But as for taking any of the store-bought stuff from my table and putting it there? Nope!

I'll keep the tree circles going on the north island - but that's it.

The rock garden's easy - that's something I can keep cultivating.

This patio stone we put in last summer was raised a bit too much, but we thought there wasn't much we could do - we just assumed it was because of the tree root there.

But surprise, surprise - Jeff got digging around it, seeing if he couldn't find some other way around it, and it turned out to be a big stone that was stopping the patio stone to lay flat.



Ahhhhhhh! It's nice to have a clever man.

Well, a few things have been done since - I'm on the other side now.

You can see it in the Landscape projects - where I did up the bicycle wheels, the big rock from the beach and the garden seat.

My goodness Carly, you sure do keep yourself busy! I don't know how you find time to even be on here! It all looks really good!

Meg

Well, if I had to go out to work (outside the home, I mean) I wouldn't have this kind of time.

I'm 61 - the job bunny isn't interested once you're older, as you've probably heard.

Jeff is the superintendent here. I more or less work at my gardening on the grounds and as you know, I do some writing.

I also construct crossword puzzles for a couple of magazines.

When I was working out in the workplace, it was in law offices. Real estate law, general practice offices kinda' thing. When you work in real estate law, you don't have any space in your mind for anything else, never mind time.

Today was hot, hot, hot but still, things needed re-potting . . . did a little work with some of the plants on the table garden - hibiscus for one needed a bigger pot already . . .



And the rock garden seemed the logical place to work - cooler than any other place on the lot and there's stuff from the table garden that should be scaled down, so in its going . . .



This rock garden of mine - I start working on it, then I let it go and do something else, then I go back to it - well, I'm going to finish up over the course of the next couple of days.

You'll note from this foursome that I changed a couple of pots - thought the thing in the clay pot looked better than just the green.

I put a lot of my smaller rocks at the top.

Jeff was kind enough to shore up the bottom and side this morning with some wood.

I'll have to get some finals together when I'm finished.

There's lots of small things that can go in here without buying more plants.

July 11th & 12th - again, too hot, too muggy, even with the A/C on.

I went out and poked some small things in the rock garden but had to come in - bugs are a bitin'.

Did I say I wasn't going out gardening today? Well, it so happened my rock garden was a cool spot till around 2:00 pm . . . I did a few things:

(Ok - so I'm an over-achiever)

Hee hee! Would you believe I 'exceeded the maximum number of images in a post'? Gotta' break 'em up.

Idunnos In Rock Garden - July 13th



I have had these around for a while - all of them in a black pot. I don't know what they are or where they came from - all I know is that they grow and grow. Maybe they're weeds - I dunno' . . .

Nasturtium Seedlings in Rock Garden - July 13th



Boy, those nasties are slow - last year was the same. I put some seeds down and waited - and waited - and waited. Once they get going, they're nice . . .

Well, I might as well show this here - nothing to do with gardening, but what the heck.

This was a present from Jeff yesterday:

New Native Bag - July 12th

Pinwheel Periwinkle Picks Up - July 13th



Rock Garden Work (d) - July 13th

Rock Garden Work (e) - July 13th (I think that's butter n' eggs)



Rock Garden Work (f) - The Hen in the Log's Spoon - July 13th

Rock Garden Work (g) - Wild Strawberry Strip With Orange Rocks - July 13th



Sunflower & Coleus (Crop) - July 13th



Left to Do in Rock Garden - July 13th



I'd like to go out there right now - but it's not the heat that stopping me. It's the bugs! I got eaten alive in the middle of the afternoon.

You don't expect them to be bitin' then.

So here I am with little bumps, scratching away and working on my garden journal.

I hope to get at the other side of the rock garden soon - I think I'll just put nice rocks in and use the mallow that's growing there now.

I'm finished - here's the other side of it complete - the wild stuff will grow in - I can throw in mixed seeds - whatever . . .



It's noon - and going to get hotter - I'm taking a nap.

A little rain yesterday - one long day of steam is what it was and the plants here and around the neighbourhood seemed to like it.

It rained through the night and is lightly drizzling now. Jeff just came in from the yard and said things are looking good out there.

Yesterday when I was puttering around here and there I noticed some things doing better than I thought they were.

I still can't get over Martha Washington Geraniums - every account I looked up said 'blooms only in cool weather'. Whoo Boy! Blossoms, blossoms, blossoms.

I really like that plant.

We're supposed to get some rain tonite then nothing till Thursday - and it's supposed to cool a bit, but still, it will be 30 tomorrow.

Hot, hot, hot . . . but this rainfall has brought out some greenies, revived some things I thought were finished, so I'm encouraged.

I picked around with stuff today - just put my big umbrella up and worked behind it.

I just won't quit.

We got some rain yesterday morning.

Somebody brought me some black eyes - I put them in last night. We'll see how it goes while I'm away for the week - we're supposed to have a little rain and Jeff will be dousing them with the hose.