Garden Notes

Yesterday was a long day. I did two separate sessions of planting to get everything out. (It was sunny, and really warm, so I went as long as I could in the morning, and then went back out for evening.) But everything is in the ground, and I’ve done as much woodchuck prevention as I can think of, so we’ll see how it goes.

BF finally got a start on the great mulch project in our evening session. We’ll see how long it takes to finish that.

We’re trying more herbs up on the deck – this time in dirt in the red planter. The bottom is all basil – my seed starts were really slow this year. I also put the bedding dahlias and some extra marigolds in pots. Usually, I would have swept the deck when I was done, but I was really done by the time I was done with the planting last night. Cleaning the deck can wait.

And finally, we added a few extra things to the front bed, as well as the nicotiana and delphinium I started from seed. I’m very interested to see how those do.

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Two Lights SP – Cape Elizabeth, ME

Saco Heath Preserve – Saco, ME

Cast in Courtlight – Michelle Sagara

This is a really interesting series. Our main character, Kaylin, is really just starting to learn about her power, and I feel like I’m pretty much right along for the ride with her, because there’s a lot in this book to unpack, to figure out what’s going on.

There are immortal races, one of whom, the Barrani (sort of Elvish?), hold themselves fairly aloof from the humans, but a few of them do work in the Hawks with Kaylin. It’s one of those Barrani that brings Kaylin to heal the younger son of the Barrani lord, and she’s very quickly roped into things pretty far beyond her understanding.

I’m still not entirely sure what the Barrani completely stand for, but it was an interesting ride. I’m intrigued enough to try another book.

Garden Notes

And so it begins…

This is the front bed, continuing the red, yellow and blue theme. This was from earlier in the week, with all of the plants we bought last weekend. I also put a small divot in the mound of mulch, and made this bed look much better.

Garden Notes

While we were out and about yesterday, we stopped at the nursery where BF had picked up the yellow dahlia that did so well in our front bed last year. We got another one (as well as a red dahlia), as well as some other yellow, red and blues for that bed. (And some marigolds and alyssum for the kitchen garden, as well as some ginger mint.) I’m still planning more shopping next weekend, but this was a good start.

We caught up on yardwork this morning. As expected, even though he was cutting it at a higher level than normal, the lawn was so far gone, BF was not able to do the entire yard in one battery life. So the front at least looks decent, but the backyard is about half done. Vast improvement, though.

Here’s what I came up with for hardening off my seedlings, since I don’t dare have them on the ground anymore, with monsieur/madam woodchuck hanging about. One bench wasn’t enough, so I have a sheet over the second one while I await my new order of row cover.

They really needed to go out – my mother had brought me over a tomato about a month ago that she had started, and it was threatening to outgrow the grow light shelves. I only left two types of plants inside that were still on the small side.

I am so behind – I have some things I really want to direct sow, but I still need to get the trellis situated before I can do that. Dang Covid. I know I have a very good reason to not have done anything for a couple weeks, but it still really annoys me that I couldn’t.

Empire of Gold – S. A. Chakraborty

I enjoyed the end of this trilogy, though it did seem like the book went on forever – it felt much longer than the prior two books.

We start with Nahri and Ali back in Cairo, Ali’s first time among humans. Because they have Sulieman’s ring with them, all magic back in the city of Daevabad fails. Manizheh’s conquest in therefore in peril, with only Dara still having his powers to support her. So Nahri, Ali and Dara are our main viewpoints in the book, as they all try to figure out how to save Daevabad.

It was nice to see Nahri’s heritage completely wrapped up, and to learn more about the marids and how they relate to the djinn tribes. It felt like good ending – I’m happy to leave that world at that point.

Laudholm Preserve – Wells, ME

Garden Notes

The stump has been ground, and the city even came through and filled in the hole, and seeded it with grass. They did not seed in the area around the new tree that they had to dig out to plant it, which they did not completely mulch over, so their technique is a little inconsistent, but all in all, I’m counting this as a great experience getting a tree removed at no cost to me.

In other news, we have lost control of the lawn. I can’t mow it (I enjoy not having my eyes swell shut if I can help it), and BF’s been down with Covid. So of course, it reached peak growing in the past week. BF will get to it over the weekend, but it is definitely not our finest moment in lawncare.

Knitting Notes

Here’s a cable baby hat to use up some more of the Sundara Sock Water Studies yarn. (Saving the very last for a hexipuff extravaganza when I get through my forthcoming hat knitting frenzy.)

Trying the Slable hat again, this time with Quince and Co. Chickadee in the Belize colorway. I’ll be more careful this time when I get to the patterned section.