A Day in the Garden

I spent virtually the whole day in the garden yesterday. At this time of year there's so much to get done -- everything is in transition and it's time to plant and prepare and discard and organize. Above is our purple primula, which grows in a hanging basket and sometimes gets nibbled by critters, as you can see. It's been in that basket for years.

First, I planted some stuff. Digging holes is just about my least favorite garden task -- our native soil is heavy clay and hard as a rock when it's dry. Now is the time to dig when there's still some moisture and it's softer, but it's still not light. Also, for some reason, in our garden, it's often full of brick debris and other rubble, I assume from the construction of our house, not to mention the roots of other trees and plants.

Still, I managed to plant two pots of mint, in the area where English ivy was running rampant until recently. I know, I know -- everyone says mint will take over. Frankly, it couldn't take over as thoroughly as that ivy did, and I need something that can hold its own in that space. I also planted the two hogweed seedlings that I repotted last August (not giant hogweed, which is invasive), and a teasel that grew by itself in another pot. My continued goal: fewer flowerpots.

Here's one of the pots of mint. It doesn't look like much now.

And here's one of the hogweeds, with stakes to protect it from our canine bulldozer. Assuming it survives, it will grow four or five feet tall and produce white umbrella-shaped flowers, like Queen Anne's lace on steroids.

All this time, the weather was beautiful. I could not have asked for a better day. I also did some watering -- we're in a bit of a dry spell -- and gave the grass its first mowing.

Meanwhile, the queen presided from her throne.

(As I was writing this just now, a fox walked past the back door, causing Olga to leap headlong, barking, into our purple heart houseplant and break off multiple pieces. Fortunately that plant is basically a weed and there's no stopping it.)

Anyway, it was a great day outdoors even if it was full of work. And then I came inside and vacuumed and did laundry and remembered only belatedly, around lunchtime, that our clocks had jumped forward so what I thought was 12:30 was actually 1:30. I guess that's why it happens on a Sunday, to give everyone a chance to catch up. So yes, we are now on British Summer Time (BST). Woo hoo!