Thursday, January 26, 2006

What would Mr. Thrower do?

Precipitation 1/8-inch. Not much of a rain last night. And it's been
clear and sunny today. Lots of clouds but no rain.

The Golden Dorset is finally in at San Lorenzo. I just need to pick it
up. I meant to bring a larger car a couple of times this week, but haven't
so Larry's been calling me nearly daily. I guess I'll try stuffing it into
my little car. Won't be the first time I have brought home a tree in it.

What to do this weekend? It's a weekend off from the Watsonville
garden. And my dear husband said he would come out and "help". Usually
his preferred idea of help is to yell "Hey Percy, avez vous un cuppa?" from
the deck. Now, I'm not sure if I like being compared to Percy Thrower
(and my husband's French is questionable), but it can't be all bad. I've never
seen Mr Thrower's show (and probably never will). And the tea service is
certainly welcome, but I digress.

But what to do with the promised help from my husband? It is said that you
can't plough a field by turning it over in your mind. But I can't help
mulling over all the projects that need being done. Especially the ones
that I need help with. I guess I need to really be a pest and bring the
subject of the walls/tiered garden beds up with him again. I know that
he's resistant to the idea, but I think if he sees how it improves the look
of the yard, I think he'll be on-board with the idea. It's kinda like my
"stone bathtub" idea. I have raised beds lined with hardware cloth to keep
the veggies away from the gophers. And planting in the ground usually
involves adding a gopher basket around most plants. If they were free from
a cutting (which I am slowly accumulating more of) or I know that a gopher
is disinterested in the plant (sage, oregano, marigolds, daffodils, and
ceanothus seem to fall into that category) I tend not to bother with the
basket. So it's not just the simple task of adding plants and letting them
grow. It's a constant balance of adding drought tolerant plants that then
have to be protected from being eaten, therefore the "stone bathtub". I
created a ring of stack and lock concrete stones, placed gopher wire over
the first ring, and carefully added the second and third ring thereby
holding the wire in place. Now I have a bed that I can plant anything
into, without too much worry of it being eaten. I'd like to continue with
more "islands" in other spots in the yard. But my husband was resistant to
the idea until I got it started. Then he seemed to happily join in and it
looks rather good. It's just barely planted - some of the plants are
winter dormant, and I can't wait to see how it shapes up in the coming weeks.

No comments: