summer in november

What a glorious day today. It must have reached 80 in the afternoon. Georg had suggested we go to the art walk, but honestly, after last week I had no desire to spend another day walking around all day. Instead we spent the day in the yard.

Georg cleaned the gutters and put up new gutter covers, and I planted a fig tree. Which doesn't sound like that much, but it had to go in a area we've totally neglected the entire time we've lived here. It's in the back yard, in front of the shed. It will be protected from the coldest weather there, which is essential for a fig here.

So, Georg moved a pile of old brush for me, and then I cut down a half-dozen volunteer trees. Not too big, the largest was about 4" across and most were smaller than that. Then got out the digging bar and dug up a forsythia. Which luckily came right out. There have been shrubs that took days to dig out. I guess the forsythia just had weak roots or something.

Then there was some weeding, and pulling up vines, and then to dig a hole for the fig. I had originally planned to dig up the whole area and turn it into a flower bed surrounding the fig. But by this point I was starting to get tired so I settled for digging a big hole that would give the fig room to grow. Besides, the soil wasn't nearly as horrible as in some places in this yard. It still looked like dirt -- not good dirt, but dirt -- a foot down. In some places you hit solid clay a few inches under the surface.

So, I planted the fig and then stuck a few giant alliums around it. Georg bought them for me, and they're big & dramatic enough that I think we'll be able to see them from down at the driveway. All the leaves have dropped from the fig, but the tips are still green so I think it's going to be OK. There's plenty of space near the fig, I wonder what we'll plant there? It's a nice protected area so it would be a good place for tender plants that are iffy to grow in this region.

After all that I was way too tired to do anything else strenuous, so I did some light gardening. I planted a couple dozen frittilary bulbs, and pulled up annuals that had died. That hard freeze last week while I was gone had clobbered the marigolds, the pineapple sage and the last zinnias.

We came inside and I took a shower and then had a nap on the couch. The funny thing is, Jane was barking outside and woke me, and I looked at the clock and saw 6:10 and totally thought it was the morning. I was lying there feeling sorry for myself because I had been woken so early and had to get up, and then I realized it was evening and I didn't have to! What a great feeling.

Tomorrow I was hoping to get started on the big project I've been planning: digging up one side of the yard to make a big long raised bed for the blueberry bushes. But it sounds like it will be too wet in the morning, and then I have Divaville in the evening. (3-5pm, 88.7, check it out!)