I had intended to get lots of work done this weekend, but I couldn't stand to spend a day like this indoors. First I took the dogs for a walk in the park. We got there fortyfive minute early because I mistakenly remembered that the park opens at 8. So we went to Home Depot where I bought bulbs. Nothing fancy, just daffodils to fill up the bank by the road.
It was the first time I had run an errand with Jane in the car since that first ill-fated attempt when she nearly dislocated a shoulder trying to shove her body out the mostly closed window. To my relief she was much better behaved this morning. I hid behind an outdoor display and watched her for a few minutes and she acted like a normal dog waiting in a car: watched the direction I had gone, looked at passersby, etc.
After our Home Depot trip and a short stop at home, the park was finally open. Which was great. I finally figured out a solution to the problem of walking both dogs together. Thirteen is doing so much better than before, but she's still so slow and tires so easily that Jane gets hardly any exercise. So this morning I had the idea to walk them both for about ten minutes at Thirteen's pace, then put Thirteen in the car and go for a run with Jane. It was cool enough for Thirteen to be safe in the car, and I left her a dish of water too. Jane and I didn't run for very long -- maybe fifteen minutes -- but I'm so out of practice, it was all I could handle. We'll work our way up to more.
Then in the afternoon, instead of working I did yardwork. I planted daylilies on the bank along the road, with the daffodils I bought this morning underneath. The daffodils had some mold on them, which pissed me off at first, but I looked it up online and apparently blue-grey mold is nothing to worry about as long as the bulbs are firm. It's white mold and mushy bulbs that are a problem.
It wasn't very strenuous because we did so much work on improving the soil this past spring. But it was awkward: up on this high bank with a fence on one side and a steep drop on the other, and the nice soil is in three furrows which I was trying not to step or lean on. Not much room to maneuver. It took about three hours to finish the bank and even with frequent breaks, I was wiped out. One thing I learned up there: if you're gardening on a bank that was recently covered with wild brambles, don't wear knit pants! I'm not kidding, wear your heaviest jeans.
I spaced the daylilies fairly far apart, because I had a lot of space to fill and also I want them to have room to spread. But the downside is that for the next couple of years it will look sparse up there. I may buy some more daylilies to fill in the gaps, and will definitely be adding more daffodils. Next year I'll try to fill in the bank with annuals. Or maybe I'll just let it go all weedy like I did this past year.
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