outside in the garden

Saturday, October 13, 2001

 

Season losses

Fall gardening has just gone out the window. Stuff I had here and there, such as flower pots and gardening equipment, is all stacked on the porch. The porch is filthy, no place anyone would want to sit.

For the month of September and beginning of October, the roofers were like a dark cloud having over everything with their giant dumpster filling much of the usable back yard, their scaffolding, their piles of lumber and shingles, pots of tar (but no tar babies), and everywhere, shreds, bits and coarse dust from ripping off old roofing. They themselves were here and did the work in about 4 days, but their stuff hung on.

They mostly finished the work three weeks ago, all but the porch roof. They were gone a week, then came and did it - except for trimming the shingles (which stuck way out over the edge) and the flashing. Those items they came and tended to in a morning and left again. The huge dumpster remained another week, and finally that too was taken away. Now all that remain are a long and a short piece of 2x2, and a dirty cloth. (And some garbage that probably blew over from next door where college kids rent.). I suppose they are done. But because it's not my house, I just live here, they do not report to me.

Meanwhile, the lawn has not been mowed, leaves have fallen and not been raked, plants have died and not been trimmed back. The place looks tatty and --let's call a bean a bean -- seedy!

This weekend is promised pleasant warm weather, so it must be the weekend of planting the spring bulbs. A month ago, we went to the garden center and selected some bulbs to plant in the area where we trimmed the shrubs way back from the sidewalk to improve visibility coming out of the driveway. A patch of dirt there would look nice with some low flowering plants on it. Once the tall trees leaf out (notably the big ash that overhangs the diveway) nothing will bloom in that area. So it's bulbs and a hosta and we'll see how they do.

I looked at the picnic table out back where the houseplants and tub gardens were moved for the roofers, and the tomato plants have gone all black. House plants look all right, but I guess they'd better come home from camp.

Palema 7:18 AM