Notes From Zone 4

I’m just not safe out in the garden these days, at least not if we have someplace that we need to be by some certain time. Even if I’m dressed and ready to go on time, there’s always just one little thing I want to do, like dead head a plant or something. The next thing you know, my hands are dirty, I’m digging something up, and my previously fine outfit to go out in is smudged and I need to do a quick change. That’s what happened out there today. I was thinking if I dead-headed the pinks, I might be able to get a new flush of blooms this year, so I took the pruners out while waiting for Frank to finish up something he was doing before we left. Lesson learned: don’t garden in a white shirt!

We had a very busy day today, having to run errands here and there, and it seemed like I’d miss the Day Lily Extravaganza at a breeding farm near us. But at the last minute, we pawned off some of the errands on Valerie and made it out there just in time. This is a day lily breeder, Davis Brook Farm, Daylily Farm. They have so many pretty flowers. We came home with nine plants, I think. I managed to get them planted in the garden and everything already, even though Frank was watching me like I was crazy, because we were getting ready to go out, but there I was, out in the garden, trying to get them into the ground before we left. It’ll be nice to have a bunch of colors besides the ditch lilies I have so many of.

After work tonight, we walked down the driveway. I came home from a business trip this week to find that the power company contractors cleared under the power lines all down the driveway while I was gone. It used to look much more jungle like, with brush often touching the sides of the vehicles as

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We were both out of town all week last week, and quite concerned about how the garden would do without any attention at all. It’s maintaining itself remarkably well, considering how little I’ve been home to tend to it. While it did rain last night, things are still very dry, and the poor lawn isn’t

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We haven’t had rain in days, the temps have been in the 90s, and it’s been incredibly humid. This is New Hampshire? I go outside to putter in the garden, and I just wilt! The flowers all seem to be holding up fine, though. Frank’s got the drip irrigation working in all of the window

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Since the stupid shredder still wouldn’t start, we puttered in the yard for most of the day. The window boxes are looking just about perfect right now, though I need to get out there and deadhead the whole lot of them again. I’ve been concentrating on keeping up with the weeding and dead-heading in the

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There is some visible progress, right? I can at least see the ground from the second floor of the house. But out there in it, there’s so much brush still on the ground that it’s very discouraging. We woke up this morning to find that the shredder wouldn’t start. After much cussing and yelling, Frank

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It’s a four day weekend this weekend, and we have big plans for the garden. I originally had thought to put my veggie garden in the back of the house, down the slope. Frank was going to terrace it, or something. That area gets the most sun, which vegetables need. We decided that it’s not

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