Thrill Spill Chill: the Sequel

The sun—it shines. Let the planting commence!

When it’s time to plant your garden pots I have three words of advice for you---and for those of you who put your money on “Buy More Plants,” I appreciate your thinking but for now I’m going to assume we have a “sufficient amount” of plants to get started** with—and those three words are: Thrill. Spill. Chill.

But before we get to the how tos, let us revisit the phrase “sufficient amount,” coupled with “**get started.” Because I don’t mean to imply that “Buy More Plants” isn’t a valid option. Because it is. And I do it often. So often, in fact, that utilizing a 12-step program has come up once or twice. You know what I say to that?  PFFFT. The first rule of any good 12-step program is admitting you have a problem and buying more plants? SO NOT A PROBLEM.

 If buying more plants is a problem for you, please call me and I’ll gladly be your shopping buddy. For the low, low cost of buying my lunch I will happily accompany you to the nursery of your choice. In fact, in a show of solidarity and support, I will probably buy something too. How big is your car?

I digress. Back to the three words: Thrill, Spill, Chill.

Every pretty pot deserves all three of these elements working together. Thrill: Chose a plant that will grow be taller than its companions—rocket snapdragons are good, as are varieties of upright grasses or anything that is going to add the WOW factor to your container.

Spill: your pot will look all the prettier with some flowers trailing over the edge, vines are a good choice---I like the bright lime pop of a sweet potato vine—as are any trailing variety of plant. Million bells planted at the edge of a container will not only mound up but spill over as well.

Chill: now you can fill the rest of your pot with little beauties that will just hang out and look pretty—just chillin’, so to speak. Or you could think of it as “Fill” but “chill” seems a much hipper way to describe it, don’tcha think? Marigolds, Petunias, Sweet Williams are all surefire, low fuss plants. I also like lobelia, nemesia, and alyssum. One of my all-time favorites is Lantana “Sunrise Rose”. Lantana is a pom-pom of smaller blooms and blooms in multiple colors at once— Sunrise Rose rainbows from yellow to orange to pink and is a non-stop bloomer. It’s an excellent choice if you want a variety of color but only have a little space. Be forewarned though---you’ll most likely fall in love with it and have to plant more. Every. Single. Year.

Phased and Confused

I am happy to report that I am officially on Phase One of my Fence Build Quest.

Or maybe I should call it Phase One Point Six, since Phase One seemed to be several years of whining and kvetching about the need for a fence, without actually achieving a fence.

Phase 1.2 was attempted to find local fence builder. Fail.

Phase 1.3 was fruitlessly Googling “elk fence building in the ELC” only to have all the “results” that turned up be companies that weren’t interested in coming to this end of the county. IN SPITE of the optimistic “serving all of Lewis County” banners on their websites.

Phase 1.4 was finding a company in Gig Harbor that was willing to come build me a fence. Phase 1.4 also included 1.4 a: Take pictures of my property, Phase 1.4b: Submit measurements, Phase 1.4c: Schedule appointment and 1.4d: Show the nice man around while he repeated my EXACT measurements. Phase 1.4e More waiting for the bid to come back only to find out that Phase 1.4f would be schedule arm and leg removal to cover cost of said fence. And the fence was U-G-L-Y.  I passed. What can I say? I’m rather attached to my arm/leg.

In the midst of all this back and forth-ing, considering and rejecting limb removal, I was made aware that one of my trees near the house--and on the future fence-line--was aging and would need to be removed. Cue Phase 1.5.

I am happy to report that Phase One Point Five has been solved. Loggers aren’t thick on the ground these days, but I managed to find one and hired his expertise to come fell my troublesome tree.  He kindly even chunked it up in manageable sized pieces, including the branches.

1.5a: Pile branches. 1.5b: Drag branches to burn pile. 1.5c: Get son to drag branch piles to burn pile that I had very cleverly located in the Back Forty because it didn’t seem that far when I first started dragging branches there. 1.5d: Burn branches. I’m not going to lie, this is my favorite part. Fire is fun. Also, burn permits are a good thing.

Sadly, 1.5 still has most of the alphabet still to go. Alders are very branchy trees and I have a lot of pick-up sticks still to play. BUT—the tree is down, and fence building can commence. 

Cue Happy Dance.

Because SUN

I gotta make this short, the sun is shining and I must make hay. Or, rather, prevent it.

I went out to start my newly recharged RIDING lawnmower only to find that the plugs were fouled. Full disclosure: I don’t know that the plugs were fouled, I only know that the mower turned over but wouldn’t catch. “Fouled plugs” are a thing I once heard about, the motor wouldn’t catch, ergo—fouled plugs.

 Swearing at the mower didn’t seem to fire it up any better. I even tried kicking a tire—a complete waste of energy, it accomplished nothing except to assure me that the tire I kicked wasn’t low on air. If kicking a tire will actually start a mower, I very clearly kicked the wrong one. And all the while the sun was out and the grass was growing...and growing...

Desperate times call for desperate measures. So, I turned to the push mower. Three acres of rapidly growing grass and a PUSH mower. Yes. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Full disclosure, part deux: technically, it’s not a “push” mower, it’s a “walk-behind” mower, but THREE ACRES people! I believe that size multiplies effort needed. And certainly, the whining.

At least the weather was gorgeous. So gorgeous in fact that I opted for shorts and a tank top. Not to worry, I used heavy duty sunblock, in a multiple layered application that I find to be highly effective. First, apply a heavy layer of 30 SPF sunblock. Since I was PUSH---did I mention the push part already?-- mowing, I used a “sweat proof” type. Then, thru out the afternoon, I applied multiple layers of grass clippings, dust and pollen over the top, resulting in a sun protection factor of 100. Trust me, this combo guarantees a coating that will make your skin impervious to sun.

 Which is a good thing. Because the sun is still shining and the grass is still growing, and I need to keep mowing.