Slow But Sure ...

 Progress is very slow in a large yard like I have.  Looking at it, and the things I need to do just to maintain it can be overwhelming.  But I know how these things go and that it is truly daily progress which gets you to your goal.  My goal is to have a neat and tidy yard, one that is beautiful to look at and with good energy to sit in.  I want it to feel good as well as look good and I have my work cut out for me.   Today is Saturday and yesterday I accomplished more tasks in the garden although if you looked at the patio it looks like a huge mess and in actuality, it is a huge mess.  In the morning, in addition to watering, etc., I continued to work on the wheeler dwarf shrubs.  I ended up taking one shrub all the way to the base.  I hadn't intended to do that but the way it grew out it was the only thing I could do once I started pruning it.  Today I plan to clean it up so new growth will look good (hopefully).  I didn't take a before picture but I'm sure I have some pics of that area that I can find to show before and after.  Today I will take some pics of the yard in general so I will have before and after shots.  I always like to look at those.  So the morning's work took just an hour and in the evening I decided to work on the patio to clean up my succulent table.  My gosh was that a big big mess.  As I started removing stuff I realized that I had used that table as a throw all and there was a lot of trash like items on the table.  Everything is on the patio table now and today I will go through each item to decide what to do.  Some of the succulents just need to be restarted as they have grown in wieldly ways.  My Friday work though did bring up to 4.5 hours which means I need to work 5.5 hours this weekend to get my 10 hour total for the week.  That is definitely doable, especially since I want to clean up the patio and that is a big job.  

Thursday, August 12, 2021

 It has been a long time since I posted here in my garden workbook.  Given this past year, and the fact that I am looking for things to do, I think I will resurrect this little blog to track my garden activities.  I have been working in the garden throughout this period although I have not logged or tracked any of the things I have done.  With Mor's passing in June, I am at a crossroads and in a way I am finding out who I am without him.  I have always been a gardener with Mor and now without Mor.  He enjoyed my gardening results and we often joked about his gardener which was me!  Anyway, as I look ahead I would like to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week in my yard.  I may go above that period but I really want to spend at least the 10 hours.  That would include watering and general clean up activities in addition to any projects I might work on.  I took that approach this morning as I belabored what I would do today.  I really just wanted to sit but I knew getting up and working on something would make me feel better and in fact, it did just that.  I started at 9:50 and worked until 11:00 so I got a little over 2 hours today.  I did the basics and mowed the front and back yards, edged, swept, and used the blower to do general cleanup.  I did a bit of weeding in the front - I had those pesky little weeds.  I also hosed down the front to try to maintain it as I had it done professionally last month.  Keeping the dust, cobwebs, and spiders off it a full time job almost but it does look good.  I really am considering painting it.  I also did major trimming to one of the dwarf wheeler plants and will continue to do that this month.  I overfilled a trash can which actually filled the green waste container by 3/4 which is a pretty good result.  No pictures today but I feel satisfied with the work that was done and may do more today - just not sure yet.  If I do, I'll update today's post.

Update:  I did an hour more in the garden with some more cleanup of the dwarf wheeler shrubs.  There is something very satisfying in working with those shrubs.  So I actually spent 3 hours in the garden today.