So Much Gardening!

We spent a downright decadent amount of time gardening today. I moved some dirt into the veggie garden for Chris (though by far he did the bulk of the work), I moved the compost explosion into the shiny new compost bin, and I gave the front shrubs a much-overdue haircut. (With old-fashioned clippers, I must add. Finally, my spring exercise regime is here!)



One year ago, a friend sent me home with half a dozen branches from one of her shrubs, which she had been forced to hastily chop to accommodate construction workers. She said "shove them in the ground and they'll grow!" I did, and one of them took. You can see it in this picture there on the left. Now if only I could remember what it is.

I had noticed that wherever the silky dogwood is crushed to the ground by fallen branches, it roots and grows new shoots, so it occurred to me that I could root some native plants by the shove-in-the-ground method. So in this otherwise useless muddy patch, I have made rows of silky dogwood, witch hazel, crab apple, spice bush, and honey locust. Perhaps in a year's time I'll have some little trees to share.



While collecting cuttings from our crab apple, which is inconveniently behind the shed, I tripped over this: a yew shrub which had been dumped to die, but which was still clinging to life. The trunk is gnarly and it has a root that looks like the leg of a dragon, so I figured why not stick it in a pot, and call it an ugly bonsai? I want to improve at container gardening, so this seems like a suitable subject. Poor shrub!



Gabe helped me revamp the birdbath area. He helped me load many buckets of rocks for this. Chris snapped the photo before I put plants in the pots, but they need some time to fill in anyway. Gabe made his first solo exploration of the swamp path while I dug violets, and the other pots now contain wild strawberry and bee balm.

I was going to remove the eyesore basketball backboard today, but somehow, I never got around to it.