In the Ground

Last fall, instead of bagging up and having the city haul away our fallen leaves, we spread them out over our prospective garden space. We left it there until last week, when Paul took a big chunk of his day to do the hard labor of tilling the leaves and soil. The idea was that the leaves would break down and be good amendments for the soil. I am not sure yet if this was a wise idea. Time will tell.

Soon after Paul started tilling, he discovered a sizable root laying lengthwise across the garden space. It seems there are remnants of a tree that used to be there throughout a part of the garden. So, the hard labor of tilling turned into the hard labor of tilling PLUS the hard labor of digging, sawing and hacking out buried tree roots. But, he pushed through and accomplished the goal. In the battle of Paul vs. Tree Root, Paul was victorious.

The tilling made way for me to plant the peas and the onions. I planted about 19 feet of heirloom peas and 200 onions.

little pea seeds

I also planted canna lily bulbs last week. My dad has been growing cannas for a while and had plenty of bulbs to spare, so he shared them with me. I planted them here and there throughout the yard to see how they do. It is hard to believe that these ugly bulbs grow into these luscious plants.

When Paul tilled, he had to till around a small portion of the garden as we have had some gorgeous, huge tulips come up. I plan to execute a tulip transplant operation after they have finished blooming.

My flower theory is that the early flowers are the way to go. They aren't lost in the bounty of late summer. They come up early when we are all hungry for color and fresh growth. Based on this theory, I plan to plant a lot of early blooming flowers in my front yard. I know of tulips, daffodils, and crocuses. Are there any others ones I should know about?