Otherwise known as, “Holy shit, what a lot of dirt!”
Dirt delivery on Friday morning did not go as planned; the fuel pump went out on Dirt Guy #1’s truck, and P. wasn’t convinced it would be fixed by Saturday, or at least not early enough, so he got Dirt Guy #2 to deliver Friday afternoon. At about 1400h, a whole fucking lot of dirt showed up in front of our house.
I explained to Dirt Guy #2’s daughter/granddaughter/whatever the hell she was (he’s apparently hard of hearing, so she goes with him) that I wanted it along the fence, and that I understood a dump truck is not really a “precise instrument”, and that dirt doesn’t slide out as neatly as gravel. He said he’d try, and he did okay, though he broke the cable when he drove out and I had to get Charter to fix it. They came very quickly, but I shudder to think what it’ll cost me. Anyway…dirt.
A dump truck is about six cubic yards. I knew it was a fuck of a lot of dirt, so I started installing the landscape fabric, and got to shovelling right away.
Four hours on Friday, five and a half on Saturday (had P helping me for about an hour and a half Saturday morning), and then it took both of us all day Sunday to finish. Holy fucking CRAP what a lot of work. My hands hurt from gripping the shovel/rake/garden cart handle, and by 1000h on Sunday, I was sick to death of dirt, but there was still lots left to do.
Dirt farmer.
He finished up hauling excess away to various locations in the yard that needed building up, and I tilled, then raked in the Miracle Grow garden soil, resplendent in ragged cutoffs, a neon pink tank top and Hello Kitty rubber boots. Hair by Crazy Meg of Bedlam. Thankfully, it wasn’t sunny; it had been on both Friday and Saturday, and it was waaaaay too hot to be messing with dirt. I was sweating enough even without the sun.
Finally, it was ready to put in the honeysuckle, which was getting pretty sick of sitting there in tiny pots with roots barely protected. We had to work fast, too, because the goddamned sun decided to come out, and the cups are only translucent. Fine in a greenhouse where roots are shaded, but lying down in direct sun…not so much.
Flower farmer.
Honeysuckle in. This is the only one with a bloom. Cute. 🙂
I was going to wait until today to put in the cardinal climber, scarlet runner bean, zinnia ‘Lilliput’ and garden phlox seeds, but I just wanted to be fucking done, so we pushed it. I went out after a nap and planted the cardinal climber and runner beans, then P. helped me with the zinnia and phlox. I think we have the phlox too deep, but fuck it; if it’s that fussy, it has no place in my garden. By the time we finished, it was so dark that I could only barely see where to step when I was tamping down the seeds. That’s why there are no pictures…it was fucking dark!
Some random not-dirt-related pictures.
I was sad to leave the milkweed behind at 544, but it’ll usually die if its taproots are broken, and we’d have to do that to dig it up. 544 milkweed still made it, though; this one popped up at the base of the Grey Stick that had been closest to the milkweed bed! I was so happy to see it; I’m not going to try to move it for the same reason I didn’t try to bring my milkweed from 544 in the first place.
I was also the victim of a brutal wild animal attack on Friday, after I’d finished 4h of weeding (544 crap-grass) around the butterfly bushes. Here’s the vicious culprit!
When I saw a large wasp-looking critter, poking around the ground, I thought, “Oh, a cicada killer,” and didn’t think more of it. When I looked at the picture, though, I thought, “Hang on…that’s not a cicada killer!” Nope…it’s a yellowjacket, and the reason I didn’t recognise it as such immediately is because it’s: A. a southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa), not Eastern (V. maculifrons); and, B. a queen. Big bitch; hope she didn’t decide my yard is a good place to make a home. I don’t mind a yellowjacket or two, but a nest they’re ready to defend…no.
Coralberry looks nice; I cut away the honeysuckle around it, and now I’m considering moving it to a better spot because it’s pretty. Dunno.
