I have not really worked in the yard much lately, but I did this weekend. My energy level has been really low for the past few months and recently I’ve felt kind of crappy. Went to my doc and he gave me a cortisone shot in the knee and prescribed some B12 sublingual vitamins. I don’t know if it was the vitamins or the shot or both, but I had enough energy to get some stuff done.
I’m really determined to have a decent looking garden by spring and now is planting season, so I’ve been planting. Things have still not recovered from the chickens, but I’m determined that I should have some blooms this year. I’m still planting things in pots. That strategy has a lot of benefits for me. Our soil is mostly clay and it takes a determined plant to live in it. Also, if we have a bad El Nino year a lot of things might drown in the planters. This way they’ll have some built in drainage.
I went to one of the few local nurseries on the way home from Mom’s this weekend and picked up a few small perennials try. They used to have the most boring collection of pots and plant containers around, but their selection has improved a lot and lately it’s hard for me to go in without buying a pot. Or two. One of the clerks there really knows his stuff. I don’t know his name, but he always has a pertinent comment regarding my plant choices. He recognizes me, if he doesn’t know my name. To be fair, I don’t know his name either. I found out just how big a plant geek he is this weekend when I mentioned the fact that I’d been wanting to steal a piece of a succulent from in front of an insurance company near my house. The nursery had small starts of it, so I got one. When I mentioned wanting to go steal a piece he knew what building I was talking about. Not that many people actually notice what kind of plants businesses use in their landscaping.
I’m also going to put a layer of compost over the top of all of the planters. The soil is not great in the first place and when we had the chickens they scratched the top layer of dirt out onto the patio, to my great dismay. So maybe if I get some reasonable soil in I can actually get some blooming annuals going this year.
Blog of a geek with a garden 