Night-Night

I've been working on the gardens--getting them ready to go night-night for winter.

What a job!  What would have taken me a day to do, back when I was 70, now takes me a couple of weeks.

I work for an hour each day.  I have my canvas chair ready to sit and rest when my back can't take it any more.

I didn't like the way my Iris bloomed this year.  I was missing about 3 that normally bloom.  They needed digging up and replanting.  I got that done using the garden fork to loosen the soil and pick all the grass and dirt off their corms.

Yesterday I wasn't in the mood to do anything.  I woke up feeling sick and didn't know if it was physical or emotional--sometimes the two are very closely tied.  My eyes didn't seem to want to focus, my hand tremors were worse than normal.  I wanted to attend the funeral of one of my sister's best friends.  She was only 64 and died in her sleep Friday night.

I am quite close to my sister's friends, because being 13 years older than them, when they were little, they all looked up to me and thought I was somebody special.  

I figured being in such bad shape, I shouldn't take the chance of driving up and back--50 mile round trip.  So that made me even more depressed and angry.

I got the garden all done weeding yesterday afternoon.  I went up to Lowe's and a nice young man from the garden center, followed me along as I picked out 3 big bags of garden soil amendment, loaded them on the cart, and 3 big bags of dark brown mulch.  

We had a conversation, because I like the chunky Pine Bark mulch spread on the island where my Lilac bushes and hosta's grow, but he said it was too big and chunky for a flower garden.  He showed me the kind he uses--the particular kind I really detest.  HAH.

He loaded my car and trunk.  I had him put the heavy bags of mulch in the back seat of the car.  I figured I could slide them out and into the wheelbarrow.

This afternoon, I laid down a nice coating of Preen, then put a bag of garden soil on top.  Planted my Iris, with their roots under ground and their corms riding nicely on top of the dirt, like ships on the sea.

I then got the bag of mulch into the wheelbarrow and went around with a sort of light covering--as he had advised.

I guess you are suppose to mulch in the spring, but I am hoping this will make spring weeding easier.  The weeds that do come up through, should be easier to pull out.

Boy oh Boy--bending over spreading mulch can be a real back breaker!!!!!

I still don't like it, but it is dark enough to look like good rich black dirt, so...................
I need a new edging for that garden, but Fred put it in for me, so it will never be taken up as long as I live.

Speaking of living...this gardening is about to kill me!  But at least the yard will look good when the kids sell the house.

The rocks in the back are from the farms I lived on.  I am more sentimental than a normal person should be!