The Right Time.....

This is the bed I have been working on. It is in a bad place to mow, so I have filled it with plants and mulch.A nice place for some of my blackberries. Hope to show it in it's finished state soon.

We had a few cooler days here lately.Don't get me wrong. It was still plenty warm outdoors, but not the humid,sweat drenching heat like we have been having.So I decided to rearrange a few of my plants. I know it is not the right time, but I find the need to move them around while they are in bloom. When they are doing their thing for the year, I can decide if they look good there, or in another spot. I moved a euonymus bush last week and it appears to be living still. I know if could easily die from the move, but it was getting too big for the spot it was in. Today I moved a mock orange. If I can keep it watered and shaded somewhat, until it takes hold again, it may survive.The mock orange was crowding out my blackberries. I needed to widen the bed so I could have more standing room when I pick them. My berry crop is unreal this year.I will freeze the whole berries and make jelly and juice for cobblers(since neither of us can handle the seeds) later in the season, when the heat from the stove is not so unbearable and in competition with the AC.I usually make freezer jam with my strawberries and it is so simple, I decided to come up with some type of freezer jelly with the blackberries.It turned out pretty good. The girls and Pop love the "homemade type blackberry jelly" made from wild berries and cooked till it jells without the use of sure jell, but I refused to go through all it takes to make it. I have too many other responsibilities at this point, so I leave that up to a friend to make that kind of jelly.I know that sounds selfish of me,not to make the kind they prefer, but I do have so much responsibility around the property and the house, and it works out well for the friend,too. She has something special to give the girls and Pop for birthdays or Christmas, or whatever special occasion may arise.
I've widened the bed for the berries, and mulched it good to keep down the under growth. I need to construct some type of support system around them this Fall. Many of the berries are lying on or hanging near the ground from the weight of so many berries. I never think of those little details until I'm in the middle of picking season.That should be simple though. I hope to put a few iron posts in the ground and attach a couple of cross members, probably 2x2's for support.I would love to have a section of white board fencing, but I doubt that will happen.That involves digging holes, and the fill under our yard was mostly rock.Next to impossible to dig a decent post hole. Just finding a spot to drive a steel post is a chore.
I ran across 3 tiny peach trees that has come up from seeds I planted in the corner of the bed 2-3 years ago. I had forgotten about them until I found the little trees. They are about 18-20 inches tall. The seeds were from Dad's tree. He had planted the tree a few years before he died. He got to live to see it bear fruit 1 time. While he lay dying from cancer, old friends would stop and visit. Most of them asked to take a peach home with them in hopes of getting a tree to remember Dad by. I have a feeling we will all get a different kind of peach than the ones Dad had. You know how that goes in most cases.The seed doesn't always bring forth the same fruit as what you had started with. Oh well, it was the memory that we all wanted. The fruit would be an added bonus if it turns out to be edible.I hope my 3 little trees live.
I mentioned in an earlier post that our good friend and neighbor, Steve, had given us several loads of used lumber from his barn that was destroyed by the storm. along with it came a bird house, which I haven't tackled yet, and an old mailbox they had replaced years ago. It was still in tact, but being plastic, the sun had weakened it quite a bit.However, I placed it in the bed I am working on, and gave it a coat of paint, in hopes a couple of birds will take up residence there. I can never have enough birds.My new bed is coming along nicely. I can hardly wait to show it in a post.
(Pop still thinks all my puttering in the yard is senseless, but I disagree, and keep on puttering.I think smoking cigarettes is senseless, but he hasn't quit that yet either.I love my yard, my gardens, my flowers. I love working with the soil and the plants. It is great therapy, not to mention it improves the value of the property, regardless of what Pop thinks.Pop is a little like my Dad on this topic. Dad always said if you played any kind of sport, that was a waste of time. You should be working.Pop is that way with my yard and gardening.He considers that play. Something I do just because I want to.No value in it whatsoever.I contribute that to "the old school" way of thinking.I seem to have gotten off track there for a minute, but just thought I'd throw that in.)
It has been a really nice day out today. Much cooler.We slept with the windows open last night. If only we could have a few more days like that. Good outdoor working weather.
Whoever understands and loves a garden may have contentment if he will.
Chinese Proverb