What A Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend

When you have to split Mother's Day with the woman who actually gave birth to your step-kids it can make for a short celebration (last year SS2 had to get up early, drive an hour to spend the entire day with her and her mother, and then got home just before dark in time to eat dinner).  So I kind of get to celebrate the entire weekend.  When the sun finally came out on Saturday around 3:00pm, I really wanted to go out and work in the garden and VPH really wanted to veg on the couch.  But since it's Mother's Day weekend I was able to drag him into the garden without too much kicking and screaming.  SS2 even joined us when he got home from an outing with his girlfriend.  By the end of Saturday we had the veggie garden containers full of fertilized potting mix and ready to plant up: 

 

They're not in exactly the spots where they'll live and some of those pot stands need to be leveled and pounded in further, but I'm liking the mix of colors, textures, and heights.  The containers on the gravel patio are ready for tomatoes too, but the patio box is driving me nuts sitting there:

 

As you can see we still haven't gotten the shed area organized:

This is the to do list relating to the shed:

·     Clean up around the shed, position patio boxes, compost

·     Build compost cages

·     Put big rock in front of raised bed

·     Put rock in front of shed

·     Seed around shed and raised bed

It will get done, it's just frustrating to not be able to do it by myself.  That rock is behind the shed and I can barely budge it, let alone pick it up to put in the wheelbarrow and move across the garden.  And there's other stuff on the list like weeding and mulching the Mother's Day garden, but it's still lovely even though it hasn't been tidied up yet:

The irises are going to give us a show when they do finally bloom:

 

You can see how much more light reaches the shady side of the house now that the huge tree is gone:

 

Over the last few weeks I dropped some subtle hints that a clematis for the empty trellis in the patio garden would be a nice Mother's Day gift.  On Sunday morning SS2 presented me with a Blue Mist clematis:

Details for anyone who's interested:

And then, much to my surprise, another clematis, which is a gift from his brother (not present due to work obligations).  Since they got me two, I asked that the second clematis (a white spring/summer bloomer), be exchanged for a fall bloomer.  Introducing Mme. Baron Veillard:

Again, for anyone who cares:

After a lovely brunch with VPH and SS2 at our favorite little breakfast place, SS2 went back to the garden center to get me a fall blooming clematis and VPH and I headed off to Home Depot to get mulch:

 

10 bags probably would have fit in the trunk, but with the addition of a big bag of potting mix, we flipped down the back seats and now my car smells awesomely of mulch:

 

But that's where it stayed because it was way too cold for me to work in the garden today -- about 50 in our shady garden.  In fact, it's so cold that I heeded the frost warnings and brought in my seedlings and starts this evening.  The kitchen table is quite the greenhouse tonight:

 

It's supposed to be a little bit warmer tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to get at least the tomatoes and peppers planted.  If it's still chilly I'll be spreading mulch instead.

Comments

[Katie/Gardenpunk]

I'm liking the side of the house without the trees. Opportunity abounds. And your car could smell of worse things than mulch!

[mummer]

Great variety of clematis - they look like extremely healthy plants.
Your yard looks quite tidy - I admire your energy, and artistic placement.
?What are those bricks going to be?

[Laurrie]

What a nice Mother's Day! I love that they both got you a clematis. I have been intimidated by clematis (don't know why) and only just planted one last fall and one this year. I hope to see some posts of yours as they settle in and bloom!

[Heather's Garden]

Katie -- The photo is a little misleading as it was late afternoon when the sun just floods that side of the house for about 30 minutes. The rest of the day it's about half in complete shade and now half in just about complete sun. But still a hilly mess full of tree roots. Hopefully the wildflowers will take and we can eradicate the weeds.

Mom -- You're just going to have to keep guessing about the bricks since we haven't started the project yet.

Laurrie -- They're good boys, or at least one of them is very thoughtful and the other contributes financially to the gift-giving. I've been intimidated by clematis too, so I understand where you're coming from. You'll definitely see blooming photos soon since one plant has at least 3 buds on it.

[Lori-Ann Locke]

I LOVE clematis and have several varieties on our property. I just planted one called "Radar Love" which has yellow flowers. But it isn't looking too good right now. I ordered it online because I LOVE the name and the bright yellow flowers, so I hope it turns itself around and thrives!

I'm a CT gardener too and bought a property that needed TONS of work,

[Heather's Garden]

Lori-Ann -- You're the closest garden-blogger so far, geographically at least! Maybe some day we'll be able to see each other's gardens in person.