On Tuesday, after a bad night, I managed to get out to the Small garden and get the weeding/cleanup done. I got the row of daylilies weeded too. Behind them you can see the pile of mulch I got moved.
I had set to work on the farthest corner, on the principle of do the hardest first. I got almost 1/2 of the garden cleared as the area where the plants are was done earlier. It was very humid and getting hot, the sun had cleared the trees, so I had to quit about 10AM.
Once I had cooled off and had some lunch, I felt well enough to tackle a garden in the shade. I decided to finish the last of the abandoned gardens, the New North, that I had started in early April.
I had cleaned out the pink lily of the valley back then, but the colt's foot had taken over in the interim.
I had to completely dig up the astilbe to get the ferns out back in April. It's nowhere near as large as it had been, and I don't see buds yet. But it is doing well. The ferns have stayed where they belong, so far.
I had stopped before I could do the hellebore. It was an awful mess, with 3 years of debris in it. I got all that out and you can see it is still flowering, covered in them. It's been flowering for months now, starting back in early April.
It also has ferns behind it and they had not invaded it.
Outside of a few bulbs, that is all that had survived in the west end of the garden. By the steps a feverfew I had planted and the Solomon's seal I had transplanted back after the water line work were doing well.
I put down lots of the compost with biochar and FlowerTone and BulbTone. Then I selected 8 plants from the cold frame: 2 marigolds, 2 salad burnets, 2 lobelia, 1 honesty, and a dianthus. The dianthus, lobelia, and a marigold are in this shot, small plants. I finished about 3:30.
I'm not sure why I could work so long on Tuesday, except the coughing is much better overall.
I also made notes on the plants and measured the garden for a new map. When I got inside I got it drawn.
The contractor stayed way past my bedtime on Tuesday night, trying to get as much done as he could. So I was up late and consequently had a bad night.
On Wednesday my backup helper comes at 8AM and I'm hoping we can make a lot of progress on the Small garden. I don't know if we will get so far as to plant it.