Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Planting plants and weeding, one would think.   :hihi:  Probably should call it garden management. 

I get a text this morning from the head of the office at 7:30.  She misses not seeing me, longest she ever went.  Yeah I do spend a lot of time up there.  I was giving them a chance to do their year end stuff before I ran up there and took up office space next week.  Lots of printing and laminating to do.  But, really, 7:30?  I not an employee, it's winter and if it was summer, I would have been busy working by then.

We ended up spending $6300 of the $9000 and something of the budget for last year.  Little over our average.  We did good.  We're down $1900 for this year.  It's okay, we took care of a bunch of stuff last year.  A big chunk will go to construction.  New this year will be fruit trees and bushes.  And the renovation gardens:  Chocolate, Moon and Bee beds.  And Phebe is growing mushrooms.  I'm going to do spring tours but probably not the fall ones.  May do some more stuff but I'll think about that later.  I'm fully staffed at the moment so I can concentrate on my beds and mowing.  I really miss mowing.

I'm really thinking this will be my last year as overall lead.  It's going on 5 years.  Trouble is, this is Joe's last year as president and they will be looking to me to take that roll if I'm not demo garden lead.  Oh hell no to that.  Or take over education.  Kind of interested in that.  It really needs a visionary but I'm not into setting up all those functions.

The onions have grown back into the lights.  They are getting the fan and light fertilizer in their water.  The rosemary continues to shoot up a sprout here and there.  Still all in the same half flat.  Marsha has already reseeded at her house.  She'll make the determination tomorrow if we'll let what I have continue to try to come up or trash them.  Depends on how many lights we have available for what we are seeding up on Saturday.

I still have kale, swiss chard, new england aster and marigolds going in my yard.  Marigolds are suppose to be good for keeping animals away, yet I saw a squirrel nab one of them, run off and eat it!  The cats are hanging in the house so the squirrels have taken over the yard.  We have a very old oak tree and acorns are in abundance along with the squirrels.  It's okay, I like squirrels.

Marsha's rosemary is popping right up, of course!  She figured it out.  I seeded at a quarter inch deep like the package said.  She only did barely cover.  She figures it's going to take longer for mine to come up.  This morning I looked and I do have 3 new little seedlings.  We're going to leave them a little longer to see if they come up.  Difference between seeding outdoors and under grow lights.

I'll just turn the onions sideways under the lights and free up more space for what we seed up tomorrow.  I can raise the lights for the onions and they will be happy campers.  I also have the option of moving the onions to my work table under the spotlights but I run the risk of cat attack.   :hihi:

Better bring my rosemary plant in the house.  Winter starts next Friday.  Temps drop into the 20's for the highs.  I have more of the rosemary seedlings popping up.  We're going to have way more of those than we need.

We had a seed party yesterday.  I brought home two flats of plants that will go out in the gardens.  Only the beginning of those.  We have 2108 seeds of those to get up and into the greenhouse.  We have overseeded those so we get the number of plants we need.  We're pretty successful so we're going to have extras.  There's only so much room in that greenhouse.  The extras here aren't on the for sale list so at some point the extras have to die, excuse me, complete their life cycle early.   :hihi:  Kill them or they come home to my garage.  It's how I got 900 plants waiting to go to the parks in my garage last year.   :hihi:  Turns out the parks don't really have a budget for annual plants.  Am I the only one sending them plants?

My lights are at 12 flats.  I can go as high as 17 and the table has room for 3.  I have fungus gnats all ready.  Little fuckers love coffee!  Won't treat for them until the seeds get up and out of the ground.  Too late by that point.  They live here by then.

Some free webinars:  https://partnersfornativelandscaping.stlouisaudubon.org/2024-webinar-series One would think if it's through the Audubon society it would be about birds but it's mostly native plants.  The Social Benefit of Trees looks good.  I've heard the keynote speaker from the zoo before and he's really interesting.

Shit.  In our meeting Saturday, they were talking about free places to meet.  Someone mentioned the Ambulance District's new building.  I've seen it.  Totally barron of landscape.  It calls to me everytime I drive by.  It's not very far from the gardens either.  I'm thinking, we are not meeting there because you know what's going to happen.  No way Beka can look at that and not want to draw up a garden plan.  No way we can walk on property and not want to plant something and keep going from there.  I kept silent about that as a possible location. 

But then Leslie called this morning.  They need a meeting place close to the gardens.  I had to tell her.   :hihi:  There is not a shady spot on that massive piece of property.  Formerly farmland in the flood plain.  I'm not saying nothing.  Anybody talks to me about it, I'm going to laugh hysterically before I ask what's my budget.  I have 40 trainees that need a project.

Met the group of 40 trainees.  What am I going to do with all these people?  Chatted them up for a little bit.  I won't start working with the class until April.  My friend DJ is taking the classes.

The ground heaved under the gate to the tool shed and it won't close.  Threw Eli's christmas tree on the deer barricade.  Man do we have a lot of mole tunnels.  We're going to have to address that this year.

I wrote up Beka's nomination for Master Gardener of the year on the state level.  I don't know if they will give the award to one of our people again.  We got it the last two times and we pissed them off when we said we wouldn't do the conference.  I mentioned in steering committee I was nominating her, thinking somebody else might want to nominate someone, because we can only send up one person from our group.  Nobody said anything except that it was my thing.  Oh really, you want to down play it with two of the winners sitting right here at the table.  I didn't hear anybody mentioning my name when there was all the excitement somebody from our group won.  Then one of them offered to proof read, meaning, rewrite what I write up.   :hihi:  Under appreciated and taken for granted should be on my name tag. 

I think I'll start skipping a few steering committees like the next one.  I turned in the donations I got for the garden.  Marsha is determined to redirect the money to the general account and not let it go to the garden budget.  They'll talk about it at the next meeting.  Doesn't matter to me what they do with it right now, eventually it will come into my budget.  In the meantime, I'm not offering up any of the Menard's rebate money to Marsha.  She wants to put her garden budget on hold and possible return if we don't make enough money from the plant sale, I'm okay with that.  We've been dumping a lot into that garden and it can be some of the other gardens turn.

That was nice.  The University did a featured story o our pantry beds.  https://extension.missouri.edu/news/a-flood-of-support

The greenhouse opens on Friday.  Get it warmed up and ready to start receiving plants on Saturday.  I've got greenhouse duty starting Sunday running through the end of April.  And all those calls, "you"re close enough, can you run over there and check on something?"  It's okay, it's nice in the greenhouse.

Last week for the onions at home.  Not sure what I'll be growing after that.  Room for 17 flats.  Takes a minute to get back into growing.  Forgot everything from last year when I switched gears to the garden.  It will come back.

Maureen has some seeds for me that should have been started in December.  Different kinds of milkweed.  I'm eventually going to do a milkweed display.  Need to look up what else goes with that.  The milkweed is for the caterpillars and the butterflies need something to eat.  I'll probably seed those up and put them in the frig for a while but I may just keep them with me all summer and plant them in the fall.  Maybe not, they do better in the ground.  I don't know, it's been foggy here and that seems to have creeped into me.  I slept till noon and if I wasn't feeling guilty about that, I'd be back on the couch dosing off and on all afternoon.

My friend who is taking the Master Gardener classes called in a panic.  She doesn't think she's going to be able to pass all the tests.  She did fine on the first test but is freaking out over the second test.  Okay, stop that.   :hihi:  It's an open book test, call somebody else in class or since it's online just shrink it down and look it up.  Can't tell if she's looking to drop the class or just has test anxiety.  She thought the shrink it down and look it up was a pretty good idea.   :D  Only 14 more classes to go.

Another raid on the park's wood pile.  Got some stuff.  They don't want to give up their cinder blocks.

I have bulbs trying to push up at the gardens.  My Sunday watering crew has increased to 7 people.  I am getting tons of questions from folks.  They're all into it and I'm trying to bring myself out of winter hibernation.   :hihi:  I have got to wake up.

The Canadian Geese are back.  They mate here this time of year.

60 people, 6 hours.  We got a lot of seeding and transplanting done.  I have 2/3 of the pantry cool season crops home with me to grow up.

I got Showy Milkweed seeds and Rose (Swamp) Milkweeds from Maureen.  They need cold stratification and it's too late to do that outdoors so they are in paper towels in the refrigerator for a month.  Donna is also giving me Butterfly Milkweed.  I'm working on a display of Milkweed.  I'm not going to use Common Milkweed as it's too tall and takes over.  There's three others I'm looking for but I'm probably going to have to buy them at $6 a piece.  And then I have to figure out what I want to put in there for mama butterfly to eat while she's laying her eggs.

I already have seedlings up and the covers off of them.  The cold season crops they tried in the greenhouse, not under grow lights have come up too.  Those are planned in the containers we sell them in so they don't have to be transplanted.

Ever heard of Bee Bricks?
(https://static.designboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bee-brick-green-blue-designboom-0303.jpg)

Something they are doing in England for solitary bees, a home to the cavity nesters.  Some towns even require they be used in new construction.  Interesting concept.  They're kind of expensive.  It's cute but if you don't plant the flowers they need for food and are spraying to kill bugs, this won't help.  It's a conversation starter but not something I think they should require.  There's plenty of cracks out there.

65 today and 72 tomorrow, then possible snow on Monday.  I wanted to take a few of my seedlings out for some fresh air today but once they go outside, I don't let them back in the house because they might have bugs.  I don't think this means spring is here.  It was just a nice period in the middle of winter.

We did get a donation of a Blueberry bush yesterday.  And one of the people is going to a town where they have a bunch of antique stores so she will look for the cast iron porch pillars we're hunting for.  Our team on the bed renovations is waking up.  A couple of people are asking who is going to England, they want those bricks.  :hihi:

She didn't find any porch pillars.  And the blueberry bush the girl was going to donate is the large variety and we need a container variety.  Back to start.

The oak leaf lettuce is not coming up.  It's planted too deep or the seed is old but we had this same problem last year so I'm going with planted too deep.  Very few germinating problems so far.  The greenhouse is getting too hot though.  Well into the 90's during the day and that's with the windows down.

I did mention to Beka today I was thinking this would be my last year as overall lead.  Asked her about taking the job.  She didn't think she could be mean enough.  :hihi:  She is a sweetheart but she doesn't like controversy.  You know, into every life a little controversy works its way in.  But she has the right stuff to deal with it.  She's never mean.  You don't see me being mean.  I come here and bitch a fit and get it out of my system then go deal with it.  It's one of her strengths, she doesn't get pissed off, ever, but as she says one of her weaknesses.  She'll give up before she allows herself to get pissed off.  Not to worry, Marsha and I are still around, we don't let that shit go.

So what will I do if I'm not overall lead?  I put in over 1100 hours last year.  I'll still have my personal beds.  All of the former overall leads have got up and walked away, never to be seen in the gardens again.  :hihi:  Dave dropped by the other day.  Not sure why but it was during a time when we wouldn't have been there.  He was overall lead when I started.  He hasn't been around for years.  I asked him what he was doing now.  I was hoping to get some ideas.  He said nothing.  That doesn't help me.   :hihi:

I had lunch with Marsha yesterday.  She got her hair back!  Long enough if she let me throw some gel in that, I could punk her out.   :hihi:  It's been about a year getting through the cancer's worst part.  She's changed for the better.  Not a complete change.  She's still looking for your faults.  But she's starting to throw people's strengths in there.  We all have faults, it's recognizing the strengths, build on those that move things forward.

I got to play with my new drill driver, removing the screws from the boards we got out of the park's wood pile.  Some of them are bent so bad or the heads striped, they aren't coming out with a drill.  I looked over Kevin's work on the bricks.  That's a hot mess.  Hope he can fix that up.  If not, it's not a place we walk and at least they are in.  I know, lower your expectations, didn't pay for that.  :hihi:

I look around the place, we have a mole problem, but my vision has run out.  I see things that could be done but nothing I want to commit to.  It's time to let someone with a vision take over.  I didn't tell Marsha.  She's in plant sale stress.  No need to add to it.  But I hear her talking about getting ready to turn over the fruit arboretum.  It's wrapping up and her vision is coming to an end.  She wants overall demo garden lead but says she can't do that and the plant sale too.  Lady, you can do whatever you set your mind to but I'll think you're crazy if you take both those jobs.  :hihi:

Anyway, snow coming tomorrow and a few days of cold return.  It's been so warm, we've had stuff coming up.  Not a really bad cold snap so I'm not expecting any damage.

Shit!  Trimming mom's bush and a twig got around my eye wear.  Hit me right in the corner of the eye.  Feels like there is something in there.  I guess if it's not better tomorrow I'll call the eye doctor.  That's the first eye scheduled for surgery too.

The deans from the universities are coming in May and want to tour the gardens.  Not sure if that's just something to do while they are at our office or if somebody will get a research idea or something similar to do with our little garden.  If they do, what's in it for us? I'm not really interested in doing for them for the honor.   :hihi:  I'm just not that impressed.

I think my eye is healing.  Very patriotic red, white and blue.  Mostly swollen with a lot of fluid.  Annoying but it doesn't hurt.  Not near as bad as the last time this happen.

We got about 3 inches of wet snow.  Nice blanket of insulation for a drop in temperature tomorrow.  Then we shoot back up into the 50-60's next week.  Way too warm for this time of year for too long.  The bush I was trimming yesterday was budding out.  My allergies say there is pollen in the air.  Ordered up my allergy meds I take during the growing season.

Monarch Butterflies Wintering in Mexico Drop to Second-Lowest Level Ever Recorded
https://organicconsumers.org/monarch-butterflies-wintering-in-mexico-drop-to-second-lowest-level-ever-recorded/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=OB+839+Saturday&utm_content=OB+839+Saturday (https://organicconsumers.org/monarch-butterflies-wintering-in-mexico-drop-to-second-lowest-level-ever-recorded/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=OB+839+Saturday&utm_content=OB+839+Saturday)

Marsha has to get 4 more rounds of chemo.  And my eye isn't getting much better.  In the meantime, there's stuff to do in the greenhouse.  We don't have to talk or feel good, just work.

Big day for transplanting and seeding.  A good amount of help but we were still there for 8 hours.  Tomorrow we go in and finish up what didn't get done.

Marsha told her team the cancer has returned.  She thought she only had to do 4 more treatments but it's 6.  Instead of every three weeks it's now every 28 days.  She doesn't think she will be as tired this time because she's not taking one of the meds.  Okay, where are we going to go to see the lights when she's free and clear?  I think night lights are a perfect way to celebrate.   :D

Score!  Leslie says we can have the cinder blocks she has at her place.  She thinks we have more than we need.

Phebe inoculated the straw bales with the mushroom spores today.  And put blood meal in a couple of other bales so we can grow veggies in them.  Using straw bales is in direct conflict with the University.  I forget why but they don't recommend growing in straw bales.

More bush trimming with goggles on.   :hihi:  The bushes were putting on new growth.  It's way too early for that.  Hoping early spring holds.  10 day forecast has us above normal.

Daylight hours have increased and the chickens are laying.  I don't have chickens but my friends do and they give me some.

We were in the mid 80's today.  Tomorrow morning we will be in the 20's.  Two days of cold weather and then back to above normal temps.  Not sure what that is going to do to the plants already budding out.  Onion starts went in the ground today.  I would have waited but they did that last year too and they survived.

This was a good youtube on The Social Benefits of Trees.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMlzOmtbaKM

Gave up on the rosemary and oak leaf lettuce.  Seeded up milkweed, swamp and showy.  I'm in trouble if all those come up.  The extra Lobelia got transplanted up.  Could have got a lot more flats out of that but I paired them up and got it down to 3 flats.  They stay home with me until I can plant them in May.

Cool season crops are getting harden off and heading out to the garden.  The weather has continued to be above normal.  We have a bunch of plant plugs coming in later in the week that have to get planted up and will fill up the greenhouse.

Marsha brought up she would like to give up plant sale and be the greenhouse lead.  So while she was saying that, I brought up this would probably be my last year as garden lead.  We tossed around a few names for both jobs.  Nobody can do what Marsh does but people can do what I do.  :D  Nothing is settled but I got the subject out there.

Plugs appear to be coming in early, tomorrow.  The green house is pretty full and we're not sure where we are going to put everything.  I can't help but there are people stepping up to cover me.

Wasn't the plugs that came in today but some stuff I ordered so a bill there.

Did not know that flies are the number two pollinator after bees.  Good webinar on native pollinators and their plants:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Y9kzV05RM

The whole showy milkweed flat has come up!  They are the stars of the milkweed group.  The flowers are in the shape of stars.  I sowed a handful of these so no telling how many plants I'll get but production is looking good.

One plant in the swamp milkweed flat has come up but I can see, believe it or not  :hihi:, that others are getting ready to push through the soil.  I have two flats of these.

I didn't seed up the common milkweed, my fav, but people don't like them.  They are in the fridge but not in wet paper towels.  I think I'll soak them overnight and try seeding them.  The parks should want them and I've got the drain basin.  Brian has been slowly mowing it down.

Native plants sleep, creep and then leap.  Each stage takes a year.  The first year they are putting down roots and look like they are doing nothing, the second year they start to grow but the third year they jump to a mature plant.  So you have to baby them that first year and they don't like to be rehomed.  Where you put them is where they need to stay. 

OMG, I heard the woodpecker out there and was able to see it.  Good enough to see the markings.  Don't know what kind it was but I saw it well enough.  :D

And here we go.   :hihi:  Marsha doesn't like my choice for my replacement and she is taking every opportunity to point out the person's flaws.  She can't come up with a good choice though.  She's scanning for one but yeah, there's not a good choice outside of herself and she's got too much on her plate to begin with.  My choice though is having some personal problems that may prevent her from taking it and believe me she is no match for Marsha.  She just doesn't have bitch in her.   :hihi:

Doesn't look like we are cooling down.  I'm going with an early spring and if we do have a cold snap, the ground won't freeze.  I can't get out there until I get through the cataract stuff so I'm working on my milkweed display.  I'm working on setting up garden tours but doing about half of what I did last year.  I have one press release set up up but not the information needed on our website yet.  I have to have it together before that is published.  All this pollen coming out I have a bad case of the spacies. 

Purple Coneflowers came my way.  A dozen of them.  The are going to compliment my milkweed display.  A food source for the monarch butterfly.  The milkweed is the nursery for the caterpillars.

And suddenly it's spring.   :D  Bushes are greening up, trees are pollenating and bulbs are blooming.  I've got over 100 showy milkweed transplanted.  Will probably get another flat out of the seedlings.  I need to transplant the swamp milkweed but I'm out of lights so they will have to wait until the showy settle in and can be kicked out to the garage and driveway.  Cool season plant sale this weekend.  We're on hold for greenhouse transplanting until the sale as we are out of room.

163 on the showy milkweed.  Plant sale is getting one flat of the swamp milkweed.  Not only am I out of lights, I'm running low on the pots to transplant them up in.  I'll probably get that many out of the flat I'm keeping.  Common milkweed is having a tougher time germinating but I didn't do cold moist stratification, just cold so they may take a little longer.

I'm losing half the purple coneflower.  They were milk jug seeded.  I didn't have any luck with those transplants last year either.  There's something with the milk jugs, like their roots aren't surviving the transplant.  The transplants out of the seeding trays are doing well and I sowed them.  Meaning some of the plants were growing with each other just like the milk jugs.  Maybe they used the seeding soil mix.  I hate that stuff.  It's too heavy and gets too wet.

Got 124 out of the first flat of swamp milkweed.  I'm waiting to transplant the second flat for later in the week when I can start kicking flats out to the garage.  Everybody seems to be taking the transplants well.  I need to prep the area where I'm doing the milkweed display but not going to risk another eye problem until after the surgery.   :hihi:

Cool season plant sale went well.  For the moment the greenhouse isn't full.  We'll fill it back up Wednesday.  We're having trouble getting evening watering crews.  I also took Sunday night but I'm not building a crew.  They are getting the hose.  :D  We can over water in the morning and they may not need so much at night.  Keeps me there working in the gardens all day which I like, nobody is around and I can get some stuff done.

First full day of spring.  Don't feel like we had much of a winter.  Was listening to an expert on climate change.  She said our springs will be more stormy with flooding and droughts in the summer months.  More reason to plant native plants but is it?
Yes our native plants can tolerate that but it's not their normal growing conditions.  How long can they thrive under conditions they are only tolerating?  Native plants are only a help, not the solution.

I noticed some of the pots I had cool season seeds in got the shit pounded out of them by hail.  There's a few things coming up.  I got some plants at the cool season plant sale so I'll have fresh salad.

Marsha called, someone donated some heat mats and she grabbed some for me.  I hate heat mats.  :hihi:  I've told her that several times but I guess she forgot.  And I guess I'll be using heat mats.  It's just the plants in them require more attention and electricity. 

Total of 177 on the swamp milkweed.  88 have gone to the plant sale.  My plant room is full with flats on the table and on the floor.  I'll start moving some of them out this weekend to be harden off.  I need all my lights by the 30th for the warm season veggies.

I'm not sure what we did but we got all the pansies through with no aphids!  We had onions by them, peppermint oil spread around and new fans that blow more air at fan level.  Not sure if any of that did it but lets do it next year if it means I don't have to give pansies baths.

Quarterly leads meeting.  I didn't have much to talk about till the end when I announced this would probably be my last year as overall lead.  Crickets in the room when I asked if anybody was interested in the job.  And then somebody asked if the next overall lead could be somebody besides one of us.   :hihi:  It should be one of our senior leads, you know, somebody, who knows what the hell we do!

Anyway, I'm still in charge for now.  Regular work sessions begin on Wednesday.  I need to get back to work.  I'm out of shape and overweight.  I noticed our donated wheelbarrow showed up.  It's blue with padded handles and on the smaller side, perfect for me.  :D

I'm getting a donation of spider milkweed and whorled.  Phebe has the vine milkweed in her yard and will get me seeds this fall.  Maybe I can combine that with the common milkweed in a more wild section of the garden for a second display.  For now I'll be showing 5 types.

All the plants went outside for an hour today to start hardening off.  Their first night in the garage.  I've only got 4 flats under lights but Saturday I'll bring home 9 more.  Need to move those 4 out so I can start my seeds for personal use.  17 flats in the garage so far but I'll start getting the transplants for the park in.  I'm on light duty at the garden until Wednesday.  I'm ready to get out there.

I know I say it every year but I was in such good shape at the end of the season last year.   :hihi:  Drugged my ass around my own yard.  No joy in doing that yard work.  Good news though, everything is coming up.  I need to kick my ass in gear.  Had my sunglasses on my head and poked myself in the eye.  Not bad but are you fucking kidding me!

The plants had their second day outside.  I was going to be gone so they were in the shade and protected from the wind.  Did some of them good.  Some of them really need a good dose of sun.

Just too beautiful out today.  I planted up all my spring stuff.  May regret it as we may get hail again tomorrow.  First grass mowing and I threw out some nitrogen for the grass.

Started removing all the Soapwort at the garden to make way for the milkweed display.  Mowed down the the Liriope.  Wore the eye protection!  :hihi:  So far I've found 2 takers on the Soapwort.  I'm not real fond of it.  It needs deadheading to look nice and some trimming back on some of the branches.  It tends to act like a vine across the ground.  You can make a cleaner out of it.  Not a native but an old world plant in Europe.

Weather alerts have been going off all night and the worst is still coming.  Plants I couldn't get in the garage are under boxes outside, including the moose.  :D  Hopefully the greenhouse doesn't get hit.

Marsha has been really cranky and of course she calls me.   :hihi:  I didn't answer the first call.  I got the brunt of it on Saturday and it was too early in the morning for it to be a good call.  But I took the second call.  Apparently she found 2 six packs of pansies in my flat in the greenhouse.  I was suppose to know those were to be out of there by the last sale.  No big deal, my flat wasn't full, I've been messing with my eyes and they don't have bugs.  But she harps on I should know better.  Actually I didn't know.  And then everything I said after that she had to argue with.  We're taking a road trip tomorrow.  She's picking me up but we are taking two cars so I think I'll ride with the other folks.  :hihi:  But I can tell you, already I need some peace and quiet at the garden.  I'm hiding from my staff.

I got in the back seat.  :hihi:  We toured the greenhouses another group has.  They have a really nice setup.  It takes one person a half hour to water the greenhouse with a hose.  Marsha heard the hose answer several times.  Not sure she'll let us do it but she wasn't arguing against it.  They grow very little from seed and order just about everything from plugs.  They only sell perennials that people dig up from their yards.  They aren't into natives and could careless about attracting bugs and pollinators.

On the way home, we stopped by the wildflower nursery.  I got two additional species of milkweed, tall green and purple.  Didn't find Sullivant's.  Getting excited about putting in my milkweed display but our temps have dropped and we might get a little snow in the morning.  I got Showy Goldenrod for the Bee Bar and New Jersey Tea for the Moon garden.  I could have shopped a lot longer but it was freezing so I got a sweat shirt instead.  :hihi:

The wildflower nursery is a pretty cool place.  They were growing and selling natives long before it was a thing.  Their catalog is the native plant bible in our state.  I picked up a bunch of last year's catalogs to hand out to our students.  They tell you where the plants grow best, rate them on their looks in formal gardens, tell you what bugs like them.  You can buy all the plants for a certain kind of garden from them like a shade garden.  First time I have been there.  They do pop up stores at events around town.  They have a dirt driveway through the woods to get to the nursery.  :hihi:  Plants were cheap enough.  Then again they set the price for plants for the whole state.  Everyone knows a native will cost you six bucks.  I picked up a couple of pots with babies in them which only cost $3.50.  Figure early enough in the season I can grow them up before planting.

We've had a little bit of luck.  Gary is tearing down a composite deck and bringing us the composite we need for Marsha's area.  That will save us a lot.  Hopefully it will be enough to finish it off.

Finished transplanting the marigolds, all 450 of them.  It's nice sitting in the plant room moving little plants into bigger pots.  These will go in the miniature garden.  Last transplanting and seeding party is Saturday.  Not the end of it because we still have all the tomatoes to do in the greenhouse.

Tim dropped me off two stumps I use as legs on my bench.  They are a lot taller then what I had.  Will have to get use to them, kind of like getting use to the taller toilets.   :hihi:

Marsha didn't accept any of the composite.  Said it was trash but she did promise him the trade, my milkweed plants.  Wait we didn't get anything and you offered up the swamp which I don't have a lot of.  She was suppose to offer up the showy.  Somehow this all has a very deju feeling to it, like something like this happen last year with him.  The trade didn't happen but they gave him the wrong product anyway.

Demo garden plants are getting the boot from the greenhouse to make room for the sale plants.  Took out my four flats and kept 5 at home with me that could have come in.  The garage is filling up fast.  They go out in the morning and come back in at night.  Marsha gave me shit for doing the 5 flats at home.  She wanted the group to do them Saturday.  Believe me there is plenty for them to do on Saturday.  And was not what she said when I told her at the start of the week I was doing them at home.  And then she started another little thing about the tomatoes and yeah I'm not sticking around for this, bye.  :hihi:  Three weeks before plant sale and she's feeling the pressure.

I haven't told her yet I'm not coming to steering committee next Friday.  I could give a flying fuck about how people record their hours.  We have nazies in charge of it now.  Everybody is bitching about it and Marsha has taken it on.  Not throwing my tits in there.  They already don't like me because I don't take them seriously.  It will go a lot smoother without me there. 

Last transplant party today.  Just the tomatoes and peppers left to transplant and they need a little more growing time.

I cleaned out the soapwort in the bed I'm using for the milkweed.  I need to move a few bulb plants, throw down some leaf mulch and I'm ready to plant.  I ordered some butterflies on sticks to use to mark the plants since they are so small.  Purple coneflower and zinas and that should be it for the year.  Don't get much easier than that.  I hope they all grow.  :D

Marsha's been annoyed with me, lord only knows why.  Yesterday she threw out some leftover plants she knew I wanted.  Today I asked another person what happen to them.  Marsha fessed up later when she got there.  Okay no big deal, they were going to the parks.  Bees like that plant for making their nests.  And I left it at that.  Get a call from Marsha later wanting to know if I want another group of leftover plants, sure.  Has realized it was her and not me so she's going to make up for it.  We go through this cycle every year.  And because we go through this cycle every year, I know where she dumps the plants and I'll just go retrieve them.  :hihi:  I even have a place at my house where I hide the plants Marsha has dumped and I've rescued.

Dumping plants isn't about not letting people have them.  It's about making room in the greenhouse and recovering our resources, ie the containers and the soil.  I collect containers to put plants in for the parks and they give them back to me to plant up for next year.  The soil comes from the used soil the seeds were started in.  Everything stays at my house.  They take anything we send their way.  Fun and games, right?

Got to work on the milkweed bed.  It's ready for its plants I'm hoping I can do next week.

Those missing plants aren't any where.  I suspect she gave them to somebody.  At least they didn't die.  Dusty Miller, not a great looking plant but the bees take the fuzz off of it for their nests.  It won't sell out at the plant sale.

Looks like we are going to stay above average.  We have several days of on and off rain this week.  I'm going to look at the 10 day forecast after that and if it's good, I'm going to start planting.  I can always cover with frost cloth all though my 'can take that full sun all day long' plants won't like it.  I've swung back to wanting to use only natives. I do have all my beds cleaned up and ready for planting.  The annual weeds are still around back flowering for the early pollinators.  I won't pull them until the flowers are done.

70 feels hot to me.   :hihi:  Started mowing at the garden.  I feel like a slug.  The thought of hefting one of the trimmers around the garden feels like it may be too much.  That was my favorite thing last year.  Following my rule of just keep going, don't stop.  Hope that gets me back up to speed pretty quick.  We have the morning tomorrow before the rain comes in.  I got in my monarch markers, really cute.

Rough count, I have around 600 plants for the parks.  Last year we sent 900.  I'm missing marigolds and zinnias for them.  The milkweed is a jewel but they need annual plants.  I may go pick up some more seed packets for them.  And dumpster dive for stuff to grow them in.  :hihi:

We might have lost one of our exhaust fans.  I walked in the greenhouse yesterday and it was 90.  Reset the one fan down to 80 but I couldn't get the other one to kick on. 

Today was all about getting the gardens ready.  We are over ran by henbit and deadnettle.  Good annual weed for your early pollinators.  We try to leave those up as long as we can.  Surprisingly, my knees don't hurt.  Once down on the ground I'm not getting up until my bucket is full and I have a pile of weeds by me.  Might have helped that my knees were in cold mud. I wore eye protection!  And a cap on my head so I wouldn't be tempted to put my glasses on my head.  Cloudy and a little rainy so the bees weren't out!

I got my butterfly weed today.  Only 3 more plants to round up and I'll have all the plants for the milkweed display.

Extension is sponsoring a two week period in June for the community to decorate their yards.  I've got Grateful Dead bears, pink flamingos and Phebe has the ducks.  Ken, our resident artist already has some ideas.  I hope he can out do what I've got!   :hihi:  Oh, I have monarchs on sticks.

Left before the final diagnosis on the fan.  Gave some university people a tour of the gardens and tried to recruit them to take one of our open positions.  I am shameless.  :hihi:

Maureen showed up late and went into meltdown.  She was waiting to get to the garden to lose it.  Her husband wasn't up by the time she was ready to leave and she was afraid he was dead in his bed.  He woke up so she didn't have to go in and see.  He could go any day or hang on a few more years.  As I've said or meant to say, it's good we have gardening to take our minds off things.  Never occured to me that I would be there for so many people dealing with death.

On a happier note, the parks picked up their milkweed today.  She came in a short bed, pick up.  I filled that up.  :hihi:  She left with 9 flats.  I threw in a few of her annual flats.  Well over $1000 worth of plants if they had to buy them.  That milkweed is gold and I can tell you one of the easiest plants to grow.  I thought she was going to dance out of here.   :D  Showed her my groundsel and she would like me to grow some of that for them next year for their shade area.  I'll give it a shot along with more milkweed.

I went to pick up a Sullivant milkweed for my display but they aren't in yet.  Picked up a Whorled one instead because you can't go plant shopping and not buy a plant!   :hihi:  Did get all their plant labels ready to go.  I so want to jump on my display and get it in the ground.  Hopefully next week but I'll be waiting on two plants.

 :hihi:  "She lied to my face."  So glad I couldn't make steering committee today and let Marsha take it.  She didn't quit but they took away the other girl's absolute power over the recording of volunteer hours.  She already hates me and now she hates Marsha.  I'm hoping she was just trying to save face and goes home and quits.  It's nice she's not directly pissed off at me but still says I'm a problem.  I am, I don't give a shit about that.

Marsha is not coming tomorrow.  I'm hopefully taking a team of volunteers around to weed.  Marsha starts telling me where we can weed in her area.  There's some history.  She says I never get to her garden when I do that.  She has 7 team members and the gardens I take them to only has a lead.  She wants a weed team, call for one.  I'm calling mine for the benefit of the whole garden and where I have to lend a helping hand.   :hihi:  And I have the trainee team working the 3 bed renovations.  Fortunately Beka leads that but we'll all be working the same side of the building.  Weeding and planting, one would think that's what I'm doing all the time.

Not sure what is up with the bees. 3 or 4 people got stung today and they were chasing folks.  Reported them to the bee keeper.  Thought it might be some in ground bees but the one we took out of Melanie's hair was a honeybee.  We weren't even close to the hives.  Tim says they just requeened yesterday.  Not sure what that means about the bees activity.  They do that when the hive gets aggressive and it calms them down.  Maybe it takes a few days or they put a bitch on the throne.   :hihi:

We did get the tree trunk installed and holes drilled in it for nesting bees.  While we were there we had a bee checking it out.  :D  Leslie found my Sullivant's milkweed on her way in so I'm just waiting on the one Beka is digging up from her yard.  I'll do the initial install without it since it isn't up yet.  We installed the chocolate vine.  The ones I am rooting up look good but somebody bought us one so were using it.

Only had 3 trainees show up to weed, at least two of them got stung, the third new last year.  I kind of lost track how many people were getting stung.   :hihi:  But all of them were on my projects.  I'm not making a very good first impression.   :hihi:

I'm sitting at the greenhouse with a flat of plants.  The bee hives are all the way across property.  This bee will not stop buzzing me.  I go to the car and roll up the window.  He kept diving the window!  And the windshield and the other side of the car.  I finally moved the car, asshole bee.  After a while I ran back over to the greenhouse and grabbed my flat and ran away.   :hihi:

Two weeks before plant sale and the plants are ready to go out the door.  I'm putting a half a gallon of water in the coleus flats and they are soaking it right up.  It's so hot in the greenhouse I'm meeting my evening waters after the sun starts to go down.  It is my last day of a full greenhouse.  We'll sell some next weekend and the big sale is the following weekend.  All tomatoes are to report to the greenhouse tomorrow to be transplanted.  Too bad I'm babysitting and can't get there till 6.  I'm hoping they are done long before that.

Forgot about the tic.  Some where between home and the greenhouse Carman got a brown bump on her eyelid.  From the other side of the table I tell her it looks like a tic.  No she looked it up on the internet and it some kind of growth.  Doesn't make sense to me but I offer to pull it off with the tweezers.  No that's not the right thing to do.  DJ goes over and takes a close up look.  "It has legs."   :hihi:  What I said, I've got eyes now, I can see that all the way over here.

Why do I always end up with the poisonous plants?  Picked out Ballerina Purple Trumpet seeds for one of my beds.  Who knew?  Not ordering any more cheap seeds from China.  They did give me about 50 seeds and the packet says 15.

Marsha better never accuse me of over watering again.  Don't ask why but she decided to do another flat of the purple shamrock.  They are for me to put in my garden but I already have a bag of them and I'm direct sowing.  Anyway I look at them and say they are awful wet.  She starts bitching that they didn't get watered in the greenhouse and were really dry.  I carry them to my car thinking they are really heavy and why are there 3 flats doubled up under these.  Closer look and I can see the soil is basically floating in the water.  It's like a soup.   :hihi:  The whole way home, every corner I turned, some of it spilled out.  Tomorrow they go out on the driveway in full sun and hopefully they dry up before the bulbs rot.

Somehow Marsha has twisted what I said, Joe shouldn't be president and the other Kevin should be in charge of membership.  What I said was I don't think Joe will serve another term as president.  And that I didn't know if Kevin would be good in that job but I would tell him she wanted to talk to him.  My real opinion, better Joe than anybody else and oh hell no on the other Kevin.  :hihi:

The weather is headed for summer.  We have heat and humidity.  I haven't had the AC on in April since I was pregnant.  We cool down the next few days but still above average.  We've had rain but we are still in a drought.

I'm down 4 pounds but I am dragging.  Having a harder time coming back this year, probably because of the heat.

Request for weeding help is not working.  Probably didn't help that Joe announced we were being attacked by the bees.   :hihi:  They continued to buzz us today but not sting.  Only got half of the bird garden done today.  High winds and storms expected tomorrow.  We cool off after that.  Bees stay in the hive below 50 so maybe we can weed over by the hives.  I'm hoping if we cut down all the annual weeds they won't be so protective of the area.

I will not bee detoured!   :hihi:  The bee keeper let us use the netted hoods.  I felt invincible and worked right up by the bee hives.  We only got buzzed a couple of time.  Might bee respect for the uniform or the bees have calmed down.  Daylily garden is mostly done.  All that mulch I put on it last year didn't get washed away in spring floods and the weeds just came right out.  Only have about 12 plants to go.

We have big storms coming in this afternoon.  Beka and I put off our nursery crawl to get home and get our plants in.

Last Sunday in the greenhouse, public sale next weekend.  I was going to install the milkweed display today but we are getting frost tonight.  They are harden off so they would be okay but why stress them out.  So instead I spent 5 hours washing pots and flats, stressed my back out.  :hihi:

The beekeeper took the hives away for a while to calm them down.  I didn't hear of the bees bothering anybody this week but the beekeeper knows his bees.  I wonder where he takes them?

I'm in a rush to get all the garden stuff out of my garage.  It's taking up valuable real estate.  :hihi:

Marsha gets chemo tomorrow.  We're hoping she feels well enough for the public sale.  She didn't last year so we muddle through without her.  Saturday's sale for our group earned us $7500.  Around what we normally do.  Warm winter so Donna has a bunch of perennials.  At $5 a gallon size, it's a deal.

I went ahead and installed the milkweed display.  As I was finishing up it started to rain and has rained all afternoon.  Nice watering in for them and nice nap for the gardener.  :D

All of the sudden everything has popped out.  Ot's green out there.  I even had things in the garage in pots coming back.

Something is wrong.  Marsha's doctor wants her to do 5 days, for 2 weeks of chemo.  They are still running tests.  We're chatting in passing because we are busy with the plant sale so she can say something quick otherwise I'm pretty sure she'd be crying if she tried to say more.

Public plant sale this weekend and I'm sick with a cold.  Not sure if I'm going.  Don't want to give it to Marsha plus I'm sick.  They plan to destroy all the leftover plants after the sale to get back their soil and pots to re use.  In the past we have tried to find them homes.  Has a lot of people in an uproar.  Marsha's call and I'm staying out of it.  Part of being in charge, deal with your staff when most of them disagree with what you're doing.  Donna told me she would give me back the milkweed I donated to them that doesn't sell but they are going to bare root them.  That will probably kill them but it gets my message across that I am not growing stuff for you next year only to have you kill it if it doesn't sell.  I'll grow their stuff for them but I'll keep my stuff and give it away.

Marsha basically banned me today.  Called me and gave me every excuse to stay home so I took it.  You can tell when somebody doesn't want you.  :hihi:  Not sure if I will work the sale tomorrow or not.  I always like doing that but it's a long day.

And I got the don't come tomorrow either.  DJ was there when I picked up my tomato and acted like I had covid.   ::)  I'll probably ship Sunday since it is going to be raining.  I hope we do well.

She brought it up so I gave it one more shot.  She feels it saves us money to destroy the leftover plants and keep the soil and the container for reuse.  That's true.  Saves taxpayers money to destroy pets that haven't got adopted fast enough too.  Depends on which side of the fence you fall on how you see it.

I got a lot done today.  All the flats and containers got bleach watered and are ready to be returned to the greenhouse.  I transplanted everything I had left.  Most my lights are off for the season.  I'm going to skip the sale tomorrow and do some gardening at home.  I don't want to be around when they destroy the plants.

I stopped in and brought more plants.  Wore my mask.  Looked like we got pretty well cleaned out and there were lots of people there.  Marsha caved and is bringing me some annual plants leftover after the sale. 

No hope for the perennials because Donna doesn't want to care for them in pots over the summer.  Something happen to the butterfly weed and it looks like it got sunburned or frost.  It's making a come back but doesn't look good enough to sell.  And she's got some swamp milkweed.  Donna can take her time about destroying her plants so I'm wondering if she won't try to slip me some of the butterfly and swamp.  She should give me all the swamp back because I gave them to her to sell.

I didn't get that many annuals from Marsha and now that I'm considering all I have to plant, I'm okay with that.   :hihi:  My goal is to try to get everybody plants I'm holding to them by Saturday.  Lows are above 50 for the next 10 days so we can start putting in our summer plants.

We have about 10 days before the two kinds of cicadas emerge.  Rare occurrence.  These bugs are big, freaky looking and loud!  They live about 3 to 4 weeks.  My cats consider them play toys and appetizers, yucky!  And because every bug has a purpose:  "Cicadas are not dangerous and can provide some environmental benefits including: Cicadas are a valuable food source for birds and other predators. Cicadas can aerate lawns and improve water filtration into the ground. Cicadas add nutrients to the soil as they decompose."

Shit I could have done something with all that coleus.  Give me a minute to get some inspiration and I'll get the energy.  I went to look for them in the compost pile but they weren't there and I couldn't find where they disposed of them.  They must be on to us raiding the compost pile.   :hihi:

Woke up at 4.  It's planting day right after I see the eye doctor.  I ran a trunk load of clean flats and containers back to the greenhouse at 6:30.   :hihi:  First up is the stone bed where I put the elephant ear, canna and lobelia.  I'll hit all the containers after that.  Don't have much of a variety to fill them up so they will be mostly one kind of plant in each pot.  Marsha calls it decorating the gardens.  I call it landscaping.

The car is loaded to take the leads the plants we grew in the greenhouse for them.  I still have the plants for the renovated beds as they aren't getting planted until Saturday.  Feel bad for the parks, I only have 5 flats for them and a burlap bag of canna bulbs.  She called this morning to see when she could get them as they are going shopping for annuals next week.  Maybe Donna will send some natives their way.

Happy May Day, everybody dance.  I only got rid of six flats of plants and can home with two new ones.  Pretty good turn out for planting today.  If it would cool off I'd be done and I wish someone would kill the humidity.  Way too early for this kind of weather.  Good news is we have several days of off and on again rain.  Good for germinating seeds and watering what we plant.

Phebe harvested her first set of mushrooms.  Cooked up some for us to try.  Anything she cooks is good.  I bought her the last rhubarb plant they had at the co op.  That will be a new plant for us too.

Six hour nursery crawl.  We got 17 plants off our list and only have 7 left to find.  We did substitute in an Edelweiss.  I didn't even know they sold those.  It looks like it could grow on the moon.  We gave up when the temps hit 90.  I did manage to get some zinnias and agastache planted in the milkweed display before they picked me up.  And I did send Beka home with all the new plants.  :hihi:

I'm only sending the parks 260 plants and 2 burlap bags of canna bulbs this time.  I did send them 510 plants in the first load so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad we didn't have a lot of zinnias and marigolds.  They did like the milkweed.

Woohoo, the three themed beds are planted!  Not finished but planted.  :hihi:  They are really starting to look good.  Mostly clean up work left but I'm happy with them.  They will be beautiful when they grow up.  The cocoa mulch smell is really noticeable.

I went back up tonight to work the back of the greenhouse.  It's ready to plant and some amendments.  Hopefully hit that tomorrow.  Talked to Beka.  She didn't wear sunscreen and is fried.   :hihi:  Told her what I would be doing and what we could finish up and she really wants to come tomorrow.  Told her I'd be there around 8 and that took the wind out of her sail.  :hihi:  I'm out of there by 10 if we don't have cloud cover.  I want to be done planting everywhere by Tuesday.

I'm a wreck, the house is a wreck and there is gardening stuff everywhere.   :hihi:  The plants look good.  Pushing hard but the kids just texted and they have the stomach flu, want me to come get the baby after his nap.  I might be dead by then.  :hihi:

I went and got him right before nap time but he just passed out at 5.  4 hours after nap time and he got sick once.  The dad is real sick.  I imagine no work for him tomorrow and the baby is spending the night with me.  I was going to get up to the garden at 7 and put in a few more plants.  I think I'm under 50 plants to put in.  I should make Tuesday if these people haven't got me sick too.

I ended up putting a row of profusion red zinnias in front of the liriope.  The canna bulbs are behind them where I think I may put orange tithonia in the middle. Profusion red is described as "it laughs at heat, humidity, and drought -- as well as deer!"  Going to put them to the test.   :hihi:

Baby is spending the night again.  I did manage to throw some red clover seed out while he napped in the car.  I really wanted crimson clover but I think we have the pink one.  It's for the Bee Bar, a ground cover.

Down 5 pounds and my fat pants are starting to fall down.  Just need to get back out there and I'll knock off the rest.  The daylily path needs wood chips.  Two pounds can go there.   :hihi:

The flu caught up to me at 4AM.  A half hour before the tornado sirens went off.  Of course I'm going to pick up a scared baby.  That weather radio can wake the dead.  Hope I didn't give it back to him.  So no gardening yesterday.  Today we are expecting 2 inch hail so all my outdoor plants came back in.  Including the patio furniture.  Feeling better, lost those two pounds but even my phone feels heavy.  :hihi:

So annoyed.  I submitted a nomination back in January and the president has been dicking around with it since.  Today he asked if I mailed it in.  No that's his job and it was due April 30th.  Then he's giving me shit about not reading something to which I thought that was the way it was too but then what came out in our newsletter was for something I had done two days before.  And the two newspapers who said they would put the garden tours in the event section didn't.  And for some reason Beka can't seem to do anything unless I'm right there with her.

But really, Marsha didn't handle her first of 8 chemo treatments well.  She's not telling us something.  She's been quiet and staying away.  I suspect she's gotten worse news.  She'll tell us when she's ready.

I'm still sick.  The weather has settled and is good.  I'm anxious to finish up.

Marsha is talking again.  She's on her first week of daily chemo with a three week break for 8 sessions.  We have plenty of garden drama going on to keep her off her butt, nothing important.  She does like some of my cost cutting suggestions for the plant sale.  She tested them and they worked.

Time to cut back the Asters or they will go to 6 feet tall by the end of the year.  Some of my cool season crops are bolting and I haven't even harvested yet.  My to do list is growing.  :hihi:

Went down and planted at mom's for Mother's Day.  You need dynamite to dig in her yard.  Little does she know I'm taking her yard native.  All deer and rabbit resistant is all I tell her.  I put in Rose Mallow, Rose Turtlehead, Cardinal Flower, Giant Blue Lobelia and Ostrich Fern.  Those last two may not be native.  Out front she got Veronica, Lavender,  Agastache and some Rock Pink.  You know, I have to support our plant sale.   :D

I only have 3 flats of plants left to put in.  I'm going to work on those tomorrow along with some seeds.  And then DJ called today, plugs come in Monday for her house.  She forgot how many she ordered.  I'm thinking 100.  We're doing those Thursday.  I have a drill and a plant auger.  I'll have to bend over but it should be a matter of just dropping them in the hole.  Wednesday I have some more seeding and a Blueberry to put in with Beka.  I should be done planting this week.  All these new plants for the renovated beds means I'm going to spend a lot of time with the hose this summer.

Got a text my Milkweed display looked cute.

So nice out tonight I weeded in my own yard.  They are going to finish off selling perennials at our monthly meeting.  Guess I could support our plant sale a little bit more.   :D

Finished mulching the 3 renovated beds today.  They really pop now.  They are on display Saturday.  Few plants left to find and I may want to add some edging but they are basically done.  I need the maintenance books for each bed and the educational signage to go up and the project is finished.

The deans from the university are coming Monday and will tour our food production gardens.  They get a half hour to see the gardens so were focusing in on their theme for the year.

Marsha has been missing more things saying she doesn't feel well.  She sounds good on the phone though.

DJ had 180 plugs.  Took about 3 hours but we got them all in.  The auger on the drill worked good for starting the hole but it stalled out when it hit the clay.  We filled up the right side of her driveway and the center circle with native plants.  The area needs to be mulched and the plants will really stand out.  She tapped into a bunch of sewer cover lids.  Waiting for delivery but those will make a nice path.  Doing a large area with a lot of plants is fun, instant garden.

I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought.  Or DJ is a wuss.   :hihi:

Planted a few more Whorled Milkweed and three Spider Milkweeds.  I have all the milkweed I wanted to display.  I've added some Coreopsis and Blue Sage to the display.  I think I'm done, just need to cut down the Crepe Myrtle that died and is coming back from the ground.  Would have preferred the whole thing died.

Need a Veronica 'White Wands' for the moon garden.  Don't want to pay $20 for it but I have an extra $10 I didn't spend on pinball last night and I would have paid $10 for the plant so, sold!  Have a white mum coming and getting 2 more Euphorias.  That makes the Moon Garden complete.  And I have one Monarda plant to put in the Bee Bar and that will be planted.  Have a few hardscape things to do in there before that's complete.

And I was down to one set of plants to get to somebody but I brought home 3 more for my yard.   :hihi:  Eventually I do end up with no plants to get in the ground.

I have no more plants to get in the ground.  No plants in my garage!

I'm going to a gardening meeting tonight.  We'll see if that status changes.   :hihi:

I only came home with one and left the rest at the garden.  But it looks like we are getting hail tomorrow so what I left there to plant on Saturday is going to hide out in the trunk of my car.  I'm running back up there in the morning.  I'm only taking about ten:  Pink Veronica, Blue Sage, Ohio Horsemint and some Asiatic Lilies.  Most are pollinator plants.  Two are in the mint family.  I'll probably regret that.  Never let a mint out of the pot.   :hihi:

I can't count or maybe I took a few more than I thought.   :hihi:  Came home with 21 plants, some are for other garden leads.  Sunday is a stormy day too so they are hanging with me until Wednesday when we can put them in.

I got to Garden of Hope, the garden my ladies' gardening club maintains.  It was supposed to be a work session to clean up the garden.  The wood chips had arrived early and were sitting on the parking lot.  It was me and the lady in charge who showed up and she can't do much physical work.  Says they don't have many people who can do that kind of work moving wood chips.  Fuck.  And she wants to lay down cardboard all over the garden and then the wood chips but first we have to put a berm of them along the one side.  Two hours later and 7 carts, done with the berm.  I joined this club so I didn't have to do physical labor.   :hihi:  I did like the dump cart, so much easier than pushing the wheelbarrow.  I have to get one of those.  Garden looked good though.  They had already done a few work sessions to clean it up.  It's going to take forever if I'm the only one moving the wood chips.  Decent size garden.

Beautiful night, rain coming in but may not actually rain.  Decided to burn my brush pile.  It was a beautiful night until the thunder started and then sheet lightening.   :hihi:  Ran for the house and left the fire burning.  Almost didn't rain but then a brief downpour put my fire out.  Will try again tomorrow.  That brush pile needs to go.

Up to 31 plants.  I told Donna if I came back to turn the hose on me. :hihi:  But I did go back and picked out 5 more for Scott's area.  Left them there for him to plant.  In the meantime, I'm clearing out the areas I'm planting all this stuff in.

So the rain just put out the flames.  Sondra eode her lawnmower over and we burned for  a few more hours.  Coals still hot this afternoon and I got the pile close to half gone.  The coals are so hot they are black so I'll burn some more tonight.  Kind of need to empty the fire pit.  It's getting full.

Chris came down on his bike and Dennis walked over.  Nobody brought marshmallows but still a nice night around the fire.  Burned some more today but the rain put it out.  The brush pile is in pretty good shape but I'm going to have to let it dry out before I take care of the rest of it.

When did the sun become my enemy?  I use to love the sun.  These days I prefer the shade or cloud cover.  I use to tolerate it up to 90 but now the 70's seem hot.  Maybe just not use to it and we got hot real quick but moving north seems to be reasonable.

I did finish up the milkweed display by adding a couple of Slender Mountain Mint.  Added the Pink Veronica to the Crepe Myrtle bed. 

In the past I always used the foundation beds to display the leftover annuals from the plant sale but Marsha doesn't want to do that any more.  She explained at the general membership meeting why they kill the leftover plants.  Said the seed cost her very little and it was the promix she wanted to reuse.  I added and the pots.  She said something about we were into retail meaning decisions have to be made on profit.  What a contradiction.  First off, it doesn't cost her, it costs us, the organization.  She's very fond of telling me I can't do something because it's not horticulture and we are about horticulture.  Yoo-hoo, killing healthy plants is not horticulture it's retail.   :hihi:  Keep my mouth shut, she does an excellent job with the plants sale and all I have to do is support her.  The rest of the group can bitch about her killing plants.  Anyway, I'm going to start filling up my beds with perennials.  Donna can grow just about anything.

Here's what happen with 31, 32 and 33.  The important part is they didn't come home with me.   :hihi:

Met Sharon at the garden early this morning with her three asiatic lilies.  She already has a row of five tree lilies so I tell her there is more and where they are at if she wants to plant these in a back row in between the ones she has.  She would need 4 to do that.  She blows me off, doesn't want me to stay and help her weed.  It's a thing with her.  She's in her 80's with arthritic hands and like a child wants to prove she can do it herself.  Nice lady, takes care of the roses and does the ladies high tea.  I leave her to it.  Come about three o'clock, she calls, wants to know if we have more.  She needs one more for symmetry.  Did I not try to talk to you about that this morning!   :hihi:  I would never yell at Sharon, told her I would take care of it.

But to take one left just two behind, 32 and 33.  Couldn't fit them in that rose bed but the one next to it had a dead rose in the middle.  Now I need another plant, I have roses on each side those two so I need something for the middle.  Maybe 34 or maybe something I already have, we'll see.  Never knew lilies got so tall.

All plants are in ground.  I'm heading for the nail salon.   :D  Took all the houseplants outside for the season too.

Beka and I are plotting a new bed.  We want to do a xeriscape.  It's a garden that doesn't need a lot of water.  I'm tried of walking at an angle between the building and the greenhouse plus it's hell to mow.  One of these days I'm going to fall into the side of the greenhouse.  I'm already collecting plants for it because I want a bigger plant when I put it in but it's a project for fall 2025 or 2026.  I like instant garden.  The plants can just hang out in pots at my place where it's easier for me to care for them.  The Agave and Rattlesnake Master should do well in there and they can get a decent size.  I'm thinking about doing those in mass.  More of a desert look.  I have a big black snake that lives in that area.  I'll have to be careful not to destroy his habitat.

Doing a little bit of trimming at the garden and the leaf mulch came in.  Game on!  Finished one side of the building, went and got a mani pedi, came back and finished the backside.  Only have two bushes left to trim and my to do list is complete.  Finished off the brush pile so I'm cool at home too.   :D

I've been working on hardscape for the Bee Bar.  Normally I don't care for all those bee signs like, bee kind, etc.  But I thought this one described Beka, Bee Sweet and Bumble.  Not in the fuck up way but in humble, which is Beka, sweet and humble.  Got some metal bumble bees, one really large one.  And a bee hive.  Melanie is working on the name signs for the Bee Bar and the Chocolate garden.  The Bee Bar will have some of the bees attached.  Not sure what she's dreaming up for the chocolate garden.  Hard to come up with hardscape for that one.  Chocolate melts in the sun.   :hihi:  I should look at Hershey's gift shop, might give me some ideas.  The moon garden we are using the large silver plates but I haven't got Melanie working on that yet.

I picked up 34 and 35.  Another long headed cone that will go in the ground and another rattle snake master that is staying in it's pot at home with me.  Any bets on when I chip my nail polish?

Here's the Bees from Amazon.  Not the really big bee; that's from Hobby Lobby.  They had Fall and Christmas items they were putting out.   :no:  Amazon has no chocolate ideas.
(https://a.media-amazon.com/images/I/41pYBX5yEqS._AC_US100_.jpg)

Cute but it melts.
(https://www.alittlegiftoflove.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1B5DF598-E00C-4232-A057-B904DAF9C08D.jpeg)

So much for googling chocolate ideas for the garden.

Bunnies as in chocolate Easter bunnies.  I was thinking paint a couple of bunny statues chocolate color or white chocolate to set in the garden.  I don't think the other girls were all that hot on the idea.

Got to the garden at 6:40.   :hihi:  I had a cramp in my arm that only work was going to get out.  By the time Donna's crew got there I had washed two thirds of their pots they were going to do.  Left at 10 as it started to rain,  One of those rains like we got in Denmark.  It was small drops but soaks you.  Not sure if they got to finish.  Went back this evening and helped Theresa with her bed.  She had been there since one and was glad for the help.  I was on a cardboard run for the Salvation Army Garden.  Tomorrow's project.

My ex gave me Lilies for Mother's Day.  I could smell them walking up to the car and his windows were close!  He's forgotten I'm allergic to flowers or maybe I haven't told him how bad it has got.  First thing I did when I put them in my car was to pop an allergy pill.  I drove home with the windows open in a panic.  He suggested I put them in the house so the whole house smelled, oh hell no, outside with those.   :hihi:  They're very pretty and very nice of him.  They're white so I think I will plant them in the moon garden.  There use to be this easy rhythm, flow, timing thing between us but it's just another reminder of how off it is.  He's trying but the connection doesn't work.

Took 4 of us a hour and a half to cardboard 3/4 of the Salvation Army garden.  Two of us went back to dumpster dive for more cardboard at the recycling center.  We'll be back at it again tomorrow.  We have 3 teenage boys volunteering to run the wheelbarrows of wood chips.  Oh thank god.   :hihi:  I've been spoiled with that dump wagon and turned off on wheelbarrows.  Or maybe I'm just dreading digging that pathway we have coming up at the demo gardens.  Could we get started on that, it's only getting hotter.  Soil weighs so much more.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=964380185689742&set=pcb.964412025686558 (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=964380185689742&set=pcb.964412025686558)
Extension posted pictures of my milkweed display.

An Oompa Loompa for the chocolate garden.   :hihi:  Why didn't I think of that before?

Marsha is in the hospital.  They need to remove an obstruction in her bowels.  Didn't need to do surgery at this point.

Leads meeting tonight.  We do a garden stroll to see what everybody is doing in their garden and then I treat them to ice cream.  Nothing really on the business agenda.  I do have my request for a new overall lead on the agenda to replace me.  Give them a chance to listen to the cicadas.   :hihi:

Speaking of cicadas everybody is complaining how loud they are.  I don't hear them at the garden or at my place.  Maybe they are still coming out.  I see the holes in the ground but not that many.

The pot plantation won in the lottery for an upgraded license.  The SIL is very excited to be expanding his business.

Marsha expects to be in the hospital over the weekend.  The doctor still hasn't told her what he wants to do about this.  He regular doctor is on emergency medical leave so she has a new guy.  She's too tried for visitors.

Nobody stepped up for the overall lead job.  Instead they went off on how we should train people to take our jobs.  It works that way in the business world when you pay people.  It doesn't work that way in the volunteer world.   :hihi:  It's usually a small group that gets stuck with all the work until they get burned out and then some other sucker steps up.  They may stay a while or quit the next year.  It takes time to get that one committed volunteer who stays a while.  It use to be the two Marys running everything and then several years went by until Marsha and I became the moving forces.  We've been looking for replacements all along, none are stepping up and there is a real danger our teams will fall apart without good leadership to follow us.  Then again, it's happen before.  We started to unravel, got so far and strong leadership stepped up.  You know, somebody has to straighten this shit out.  :hihi:

Anyway, I let them vent and when I brought the conversation back to who wants the job, silence.   :hihi:

The Parks Department buried me in pots and flats.  All of them dirty.   :hihi:  Not sure if we will use them because we like to have a uniformed color.  But there's enough there to make this our new color.  If we won't use them, I'll give them to the Master Naturalist.  They grow only natives.  It's enough to fill up both their greenhouses.  They give their plants away to projects and they would have to clean the pots!  I'm favoring them.   :hihi:

Cloud cover!  I busted ass all day at the gardens.  We're going into the 90's next week and staying there so I wanted to get some stuff done.  Yes I hurt and I dared to go into Marsha's area and mow/weed wack.  It will grow back before she's out there again.   :hihi:

Maureen always says the rope fence we put around her garden keeps the deer away.  We're getting some significant deer damage so I googled it.  Turns out she is right.  "Yes, rope fences can be an effective, inexpensive way to deter deer. Deer can feel the 30-lb test line when they brush against it, but they can't see it during the day or night. They also won't know how high they need to jump to get over it."  I wonder if a bell on it would scare them completely off.

I need to stop, blew out both my shoulder and wrist yesterday gardening.  There has to be another name besides gardening for what I do.   Maybe I should call it landscaping.   :hihi:  Leslie can put her own mulch down.  Enough I weeded her whole area.  It looked like shit when we did the leads stroll last week.  Granted Leslie has a lot on her plate.  She was probably embarrassed.

But before I try to stop I put up the rope fence.  I used a yellow rope so I would remember it's there, more visible, but it attracted a bumble bee while I was putting it up.  Bumbles don't sting you but they never stop buzzing you.

Had to apologize to my team.  One of the lawnmowers wasn't where it was suppose to be and someone put crates on the floor of the tool shed.  I sent out a reminder email not to do that (bitching) and it turns out it was none of them.

Marsha is still in the hospital.  She reports some progress but you would think something would have happen by now.

Watched Good Bones, Better Yards.  It's the mother's landscape spin off from the daughter's home renovation show.  It was so bad and she starts off the show mentioning she is a Master Gardener.  She use to be a red head and now she's blonde or white headed, wtf.  And she has a small dog she treats like her dolly.  The landscape design was more suited to a bachelor pad than to a couple who just had their first baby and planned to have more.  She had a large item in each section that made the backyard look crowded.  There's a reason a basketball court is smooth and not made out of pavers!  That's not going to be flat and smooth after one year.  I can see why she would want the children playing in the front yard because there's nothing safe back there or to entertain them.  Nothing to play with in the front yard either but you won't have to worry about that once the baby snatchers come by!  It will be years before the parents can enjoy that yard.  But the most disappointing thing was, she did not use one native plant in that design.

I should mention the couple spent $100,000 and were very happy with the final results.

They are sleep deprived.   :hihi:

It may have been too early to go back at it but I was at the garden at 6AM.  :hihi: 5 or 6 wheelbarrows of mulch and I finished off the Perennial garden for Leslie.  She texted me just as I was finishing up wanting to thank me if I was the one who weeded.  I like to surprise them when I help out but don't tell them until I have a finished product.  Tomorrow I hope to mulch the Lasagna garden and get started on the Bird Garden.  The heat is coming on with humidity. 

Marsha called just as I was walking away from winning on the new Elton John pinball.  Said she couldn't talk very long but needed to let me know what was going on in her garden.  She sounded like shit, tired and hoarse.  Long update and the only thing I got out of it was I needed to help her crew get some soil.  No update on what's going on with her before she had to quit talking.  Her husband dropped off the fruit trees this morning on his way to the hospital.  He didn't stick around and chat which is unlike him but did say they were hoping to take the tube out of her nose today.  I figure it's up to them to disclose what's going on so I don't push.  Them not talking makes me think the worse.  Hopefully they got better news today and she can leave the hospital soon.  I texted her an update so maybe I will get some news out of that.

Marsha went home today.  She still can't keep food down.

So I got marching orders from Marsha on what she wants me to do for her garden and I got a call to assist on the Salvation Army garden.  I'm in a position where I'm just watering on my stuff.  Kind of annoyed that people seem to think I have nothing going on that would interfere with me helping them.  I know, I could say no, get somebody else, but I can squeeze them in.

The Army garden needs to finish up wood chipping the paths.  There's a work session scheduled but it's so damn hot.  I didn't want to commit because I have to manage how I'm dealing with the heat but I'll probably have it done by the work session.  I went up tonight and got about a third of it done.  If I feel like it tomorrow I'll hit about 7 in the morning before I have to be to the gardens at 9.  I may be able to hit it again tomorrow night.  Marsha's garden is a little more complicated but I'll set that up with her crew on Wednesday.

Woohoo.  Moving right along at the Salvation Army.  Should be finished with a couple more hours.  That's if I didn't finish off my back tonight.   :hihi:

I see no reason to get soil for Marsha and then mix in our compost and leaf mulch.  I should be able to order some kind of blend that is good for fruit trees that includes that stuff.  She's now telling me we have to let the soil settle for a month before the trees can go in and it needs watered several times a week.

Oh yeah, it's done.   :D  The volunteers can help finish up on Tuesday.  If I can hear the cardboard under the chips when I walk on it, I throw down more.  We have a couple spots of those.  A few spots where we need to mulch between the plants and then put all the hardscape back in place.  The volunteers should be pretty energize when they get there to see there is so little left to do.  Apparently, someone at the club meeting brought up down sizing the garden.  Shocked the girl who is incharge of it and she's freaking out.  Look, don't make me come to that meeting and miss pinball.  Takes way more work to take out a garden then maintaining it.  And besides lady, I know who you are, how much you don't want to work and you don't want to have to participate in making it smaller.  Of course, the lady who is in charge of the garden sits on a stool to weed and stands there while I do the work.  So you know, I lose interest might just let mother nature take it over.

Marsha is starting to scare me.  She turned a policy writing project over to me saying it looks like I will have to finish the rewrite.  This isn't due until October and she loves shit like this.  Is she thinking she won't be around?

Really hot here with some decent wind.  That will dry shit out.  Looks like the heat is on through the end of the month.  Will move all of my small to medium size containers at home to the shade.  My in ground plants even though watered and mostly in the shade show signs of wilt.  Means my trees are thirsty.  They are bigger and can suck up that moisture leaving very little for the smaller plants.  Then again, I did raise my canopy last year and some of my shade plants are getting more sun then they like.  The sun will get higher in the sky as summer goes on and give them back their shade but right now they are getting afternoon sun.

Wood chips are in!  They were delivered while I was up there.  We never know when they are dropping off a load and today they brought us 2 loads.  We need it all over the place.  I have politely told the other leads that while I have helped them solve their labor issues in their gardens, they and their teams are not excused from group work sessions.  The conversation was all pretty manipulative but that was the basic point.   :hihi:  I don't bark out orders but I'm still giving them, just one of my better disguises.

It is fucking hot and humid out there with no end in sight!  And no chance of rain.  Real danger of overwatering.  Plants quit growing at higher temps and go into survival mode.  No matter how much water you give them, they aren't going to grow at those cooler temperature rates.  Quit stressing them out by drowning them.  Inch per week and that's it.  Hopefully they have sent those roots down way deep and only the top layer of soil is what's baking in the sun.  Unless your me and there's 4 inches of mulch that's keeping it from drying out.

My schedule hasn't allowed for morning watering so I'm up at the gardens in the evening watering the containers.  You would think I would be fresh meat out there for the mosquitoes but there aren't any.  We didn't have any of the cicadas either.  Something is wrong with that.  We don't use any bug repellants at the gardens so that's not it.  We had a late cold snap but I don't think that got them.  Not sure what is going on.

The deer rope fence is working.  I see damage in other beds but none where I put the rope up.

Our heat loving garden plants are loving this weather.  We have a lot of full sun and drought tolerant plants.  Edelweiss is thriving.  It kind of died back when we planted it but then took off again.  Doesn't really look like how it was described in the song but maybe it just needs to settle in.  We always sing, a little, when I show it off to people.  They are always interested.  Then again, it's not a native and I feel guilty for growing it.  :hihi:

Marsha is dying.  She came by the house and gave me everything for the garden.  Her heart is failing.  She's going on hospice.  In typical Marsha fashion, she's trying to take care of everything.  She's planning her funeral. 

"I don't know just what I should do.  There's a blue mist in the air."

We got through the monthly meeting without the issue of Marsha coming up.  We're going to have to say something soon.  Key people are being told and the grape vine is going to get rolling.  I'm working this death and funeral.  Helps to get through it but delays the deep sense of loss I'm going to have to deal with.

Fuck if the damn put up a bluebird house didn't come up again.  I would like one on campus but I am not going to take responsibility for it and no one is stepping up to do it.  It requires a lot of attention to keep the sparrows out so the bluebirds who arrive later can occupy it.  Several times a week.  We've already had hard feelings between two of our members over this issue.  Don't even look to me to try to find someone to deal with that!

We saw a weasel at the garden.  I'm told they are good and eat rodents.  Hope that means moles!

The parks department dropped off over two hundred gallon pots.  We use them in our plant sale and saves us from buying so many.  And Donna's group is going to wash them!  I'm still down for cleaning the 500 small pots they already dropped off.  I've got till next February to do it.   :hihi:

They wussed out on Wednesday bringing in the 2 cubic yards of soil.  It was not raining that hard and it was cool.  Now they are waiting two weeks before they try again.  It's going to be hot!  Little do they know, that's Marsha's area, it has to be ready for the funeral.  The life celebrating is at the garden and we are showing her hard work off.  They are going to want to do that.  I won't even have to ask.

Texted Marsha a few pictures from the zoo lantern show we went to.  Told her I was at the garden with cloud cover and light rain.  Not expecting a reply but she texted back, sounds like heaven.  I replied I expected her to have their garden in order when I get there and my assignment ready.  She replied and no pots to wash.   :hihi:  She's having a good day.  Later she sent her goodbye message to the gardening group.  :'(  She included something about getting the garden ready in heaven.  Catherine told me she talked to her yesterday and she was way better than when I saw her Wednesday.  I'm still hoping this all turns around.

It was a lovely day at the garden.  I hid around back.  If I went out front I was surrounded by people with all kinds of questions.  A man stopped by with some kind of Australian herding dog.  I think those are cool.  That was probably a young eagle that flew up the creek.  We did have cloud cover and it misted a few times.  Can't say I got a lot done with the people interruption and I still haven't got my energy back but stuff got done.  I need to get out the gas powered trimmer, maybe tonight or tomorrow morning.  We are beautiful in June and I'm taking it in.

No reason you can't read what she said.  She's been as much a part of the gardening topic as I have been.  "A lady always knows when to leave."

Subject line was Thank You
I wanted to make sure the 3 main groups I've worked with over the years realizes how much I respect and love all of you.  My journey is slowing coming to an end.  But I also know, you guys are so ready for the next part of the journey without me.  You are such strong teams now, from when we started.   And you can always answer a question like I did sometimes, and then fix it laterEmoji

The main thing, please try to be kind and if you start down a road that's hard - make sure it's for the good of the group.

Love you all and hopefully, I'll have the next MG gardens started by the time I see you again.

FYI - there will be a party after I pass to celebrate.  Bob will be in charge - so some of you may want to help him out.  That will definitely be out of his element.

Non of this is a secret.  Just wanted to make sure most of you knew first.

Love to you all my wonderful MG friends and family
Marsha

I think I know what she's getting at with this:  if you start down a road that's hard - make sure it's for the good of the group.

It's the board walk and the stone path in the Fruit Abortorium.  We originally got the composite for free.  It set back there for two years until she had the idea for the boardwalk.  Then it turned into a bigger project beyond what we got for free, lots of work and costly.  The stone path cost a lot.  I talked to her about it a couple of times plus her team was tired of doing it.  They have already terminated expanding the boardwalk any more.  I think Marsha felt entitled to spend the money since she made it with the plant sale and might be feeling guilty about it now. 

Both projects are fucking gorgeous.  They have bumped us up to a more professional level and the rest of the gardens are following the example.  When it's finished, it will be the only thing like it on this side of the state.  What's on the other side of the state takes up 10 acres.  This you could do in your backyard.  I've told her this too, many times.  If she could have finished it, it would have been worthy of national attention.  No pressure, I didn't want to tell her what I was thinking.  I'll let the team finish it off and the trees grow a few years.  I will still put it out there.  Marsha you did good.  It is for the good of the group.

So anyway, I'm going to stay as overall lead a while longer.  I will cut back on all the extra stuff and just focus on the gardens.

Okay now I'm quitting that job again.   :hihi:  Two people approached me about projects they want to do which involve work by me.  And a garden has an immediate problem.  I just went up there for a quick mow and to water my pots.  I was there 4 hours.  My crew should not have been there.

We are getting our main sign at the road replaced.   :D  Okay the plants are going to get trampled but they aren't digging so the roots are safe.  Told her she could dig them out if she wanted too but I'd leave them in ground and decorated with some annuals until they come back.  Probably do more damage digging the perennial out and putting it back then just letting it get trampled, imo.  They aren't woodies, that top growth is meant to die.

No we're not getting our main sign replaced.  The one the university sent was the wrong size and only had writing on one side.  Somehow that doesn't surprise me but then again I didn't give a shit in the first place.

Damn it the rhubarb plant probably died.  Phebe was out of town and wasn't watching it.  Rainy day so very few people showed up to work including the Marsha's team I was supposed to meet with.  No word on Marsha.  I just think about if she gets better what fun it would if she came back and started giving orders.

Lots of rain.  The creek is running even with the bank.  The lower level of the Cottage garden is half flooded.  All normal stuff for us.

Marsha called.  She was able to talk for a little while, I mostly just listen.  She gave me marching orders.  :hihi:  That woman will be directing stuff till the day she dies.  She had become the person I talked over everything with.  I can stand on my own but I'm really feeling that loss.  I was glad to hear she was still alive but it really crashes my mood.  And prompted several calls and a wait around for when her husband to drop the Iron Cross Oxalis by.  I'm not asking questions just grateful when a little information comes my way and I have proof she's having a good day.  She doesn't want visitors or I'd be there.

Marsha called again.  :D  Something about the catering for her life celebration.  Assured her we'd take care of it and I knew the menu.  I think she started to doze off.  Said she was on a fentanyl patch, pretty powerful shit.  I kept it short but it's just nice to hear her voice.  One more day.

I asked for help and the native team jumped right on cutting back the brush blocking the view trying to turn on the road from the garden.  My friend has a giant garden gnome from her mother's house she is throwing out.  Should I ask the native team if they want that or just put it in their garden and claim I know nothing.  :hihi:  I like the surprise stuck you with that idea.

We're getting what's left of the hurricane starting tonight around 2 and raining until Tuesday evening around 8.  The gardens will flood.  We work Wednesday morning and may not be able to get in there.  Normally, it's not problem, it goes up and goes down, we're built for this.  Occasionally shit floats but instead of going down the creek, it gets caught in the backwash and we know where to go get it from.  For people who haven't seen us flood, I get a flood of calls.   :hihi:  It is pretty frightening when it's rolling down the creek in rapids.

Caught up with Beka.  She has family stuff going on too.  We were going to wrap up the trainees project this month but have delayed it to September.  The 2 cubic yards of soil we have coming in for Marsha area for Wednesday has been cancelled.  If she had been in charge that would have been off my to do list last month and the trees going in next week.  They are probably getting better watered staying in their pots, just hope they are too root bound.

No word on Marsha.  No apology from Laura.  Will make Friday's steering committee interesting if she's still pissed at me.  In the meantime, there's pots to wash and my grow room to clean up.  Always something to do with gardening even when it rains.

Checked on the garden.  We're soggy.  The creek is about 2 feet below the top.  We crest tomorrow at 1 a little bit out of its banks.  The plants are happy little campers.  They needed a good drink.

Texted Marsha a picture of the last group of plants she put in this spring.  They all made it and are looking good.  No response.

Two of Marsha's team stepped up to take lead on her garden.  I am fully staffed with one person out on medical leave.  Perfect timing on who is going to replace the bridge.  Both guys I needed to talk to were in the same spot and they are going to do it this fall.  Score and I was off to do my own shit.   :D

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Won't you lay your head upon your Savior's breast
I love you, but Jesus love you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Marsha died   :'(

Workday at the garden.  The email hadn't went out about Marsha yet so we had to tell people.

The weeds loved all that rain.  Hit a couple of spots in general garden and at Scott's garden while he's on sick leave.  Wasn't as bad out there this morning but we are around 100 until Wednesday.  Break of dawn watering on the pots coming up.

I'm getting better about the Marsha Life Celebration.  She asked me and Donna to help her husband to throw it.  I was pretty pissed about it, get a fucking party planner.  I didn't want to work the party but I was pretty overloaded at the time.  Yes, I would rather just attend a funeral, have it over and done with and move on.  I've never been to a Life Celebration party.  It was something that got rolling during covid when they couldn't have funerals and got together when it was safe.  If this is what they want I wouldn't be happy not working it. 

Bob texted yesterday to thank me for my kind words and asked how do we proceed with the celebration.  I replied when he was ready we would get together and plan it.  I was thinking, didn't Marsha leave us our marching orders?   :hihi:  I know she has some things planned, menu, music, the location (the garden).  And everybody will want to help and we should let them.

My friend Marsha, when she had hair.

https://www.kemperkeimfamilyfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/Marsha-Brown-9/#!/Obituary

We got flash flooding rain today.  Not sure if the garden flooded but it did all around it.

I brought home a trunk load of decorative bird and butterfly houses along with a 3 foot gnome and friends.  Saved them from the dumpster at my friend's parent's hoarder house.  I'll put them out of the garden tomorrow for people to take.

I brought home another car full of stuff for the garden.  The other stuff was snatched up pretty quickly today.  This more unopened office supplies we can use for the plant sale and gardening hand tools that seem to disappear every year.

Phebe is doing great as the pantry lead.  The cottage garden lead is walking around in a boot.  Marsha's group has decided not to continue the boardwalk and wants all the construction stuff out of there, thank god.  I need that composite to rebuild one of our bridges.  They are a little niffed I won't let them spend their budget on straight wood chips.  We get free wood chip mulch and we don't waste our money when we can get something that works for free.  I'm letting them buy more plants instead so that should make them happy.

I did pull the hippy gnome for me.  He reminds me of Tom, nothing sets him off, relaxed cool.  Put him in the milkweed garden.  Got to have a little hardscape in a garden.  Just a little though!

We met with Marsha's husband and planned the party.  It will be in September for 200 to 250 people.  We've got this.  Basically the cancer came back sometime in May and exploded, attacked all her organs.  She was on hospice two weeks.  Kissed him and died.  Leslie reports she was at the garden, overwhelmed by sadness for Marsha and felt her go through.  She had told me that before I told her what time Marsha had died.

People working the gardens today.  The grass really needs mowed.  And I really need to get out the gas powered weed wacker.  Phebe harvested 90 pounds of potatoes, maybe a record.  Life goes on.

I was busy last fall and busy this spring.  Never got around to lawn mower maintenance.  Engine locked up from lack of oil.  Totally my fault.  My daughter is giving me hers.  They pay a guy to mow their grass from the pot plantation.  I'm still going to beat myself up for not taking care of my tools.

The damn kiosk came up again.  Originally it was part of my plan for a self guided garden tour and welcoming area.  Then it got bumped up to the Extension, a bunch of shit and a final decision of where to put it at great expense and no plan for it's purpose.  It's been brought back up again and they want to dump it back in my lap.  I'm not so sure I'm going to take it back.   :hihi:

I like that lawn mower.  I broke it and I need to fix it!  Sandy is going to teach me how to rebuild a lawn mower engine.  Some how that feels like some badass radical joy and I am looking for that.  So excited.  :D

Who the hell stacked the weed buckets?!  Damn helpful people.  :hihi:  I know it looks nicer but they are hell to get apart when you do that.

Nice night out there.  Spent 3 hours trimming the garden.  We have a nest of baby bunnies in the pantry.

Marsha's husband is cleaning out her growing room and bringing everything to the greenhouse.  The idea is we will train new growers and supply them with lights.  Hopefully none of that comes home with me.  Not sure what the rush is but he has been evicting Marsha's stuff all week.  Maybe just trying to keep himself busy.  Or fearful Marsha will haunt him if he doesn't follow the marching orders.  :hihi:  He's been to the gardens twice that I know of bringing people to see where she spent all her time.  I've been wanting to be there too.

Only the second time I've trimmed the whole garden this year.  My arms are like jello and between the shoulder blades ache.  Today I'm trying to make a dent in all the pots the parks department bought us.  It's economical and ecological to clean all these pots but I'm thinking I'd rather pitch them and use my own money to buy new ones.  :hihi:  I'm definitely buying a couple bags of top soil to fill in a hole rather than try to dig some and haul it all the way across the garden.  I'm done mowing this low spot alongside the greenhouse and having to wrestle the mower out of the hole, almost falling into the greenhouse.

Workday at the garden.  Marsha's team is cleaning up.  They got a cubic yard of soil laid out and wood chipped 3 paths.  Tom worked on the final part of the boardwalk.  I can't watch.  They are changing her design some.  It needed to be cleaned up.  It's been a construction zone for 6 years.  I wish she had had the chance to finish it.  Everyday, several times a day something comes up where I would have said something to Marsha and we would have laughed or made some plans.  

Anyway, it was sunny out there.  I was done by 9:30.  Watered and hung out in the shade until the rest of them finished up at noon.  Came home and slept on the couch the rest of the afternoon.  Tonight I hope to run the pots and flats through the bleach water.  I need my garage back to work on the lawn mower.  We hit the upper 90's next week and I will be worthless.

My SIL was granted the commercial pot grows license.  Not easy to get and he zoomed right through the process.  Says a lot about how into this he is.  Now he has to find investors to get up and growing.

Ran out of room for the pots and flats drying in the garage with a couple hundred pots left.  Guess I'll finish tomorrow but this task, the thrill is gone!  :hihi:

And I lost it.  Had to announce Marsha's replacements at the meeting tonight.  Knew I was going to choke and tear up.  I anticipate it's going to be a long time before I can publicly talk about her without losing it.  Laura did apologize for lashing out at me about Marsha's memorial stone or bench.  Probably didn't mention that.  Just her anger in the grief loss process.  Understandable but I didn't need that punch.  Unrelated but she wants to put a fabric cloth down over the whole greenhouse floor for padding.  I just want to say did Marsha approve that?  All the people who walk on that the shit we drag over that, drop on it, don't see that working out.  Kept my mouth shut and walked away.

Over 500 pots plus flats cleaned.  I have my garage back.  The car is full.   :hihi:  I take everything back to the greenhouse tomorrow.

Checked in with Marsha's husband to see how he's doing.  He's bringing more of her houseplants tomorrow to give away!   :hihi:

We are swampy.  Temps are way up there with high humidity.  The bugs are thriving.  Misquotes with the West Niles virus have been detected.  Good time to stay in and work on my growing room.

He's selling her car today.  If not, he may leave it in my driveway so it's easier for people to come see.  I am not ready for this.  I see that car everywhere and think of her.

Yeah, it's gone.  I picked him up from where he sold it.  He's just trying to find some closure.

We got a nice rain.  The gardens needed a drink.

I've got some cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, eggplant and one big ass zucchini.  Rosemary and basil.  Yo Sandy, what can we make out of this?  We're not sure but some how it calls for a barbeque.   :D

Finally learned how to cook an eggplant, chunk it.  All that made a good stir fry.  A whole stick of butter really helps.  We held back on the zucchini.  We're going to cut that up like bread sticks and make something called courgettes.

Excessive heat warning all week.  We keep getting dumped on with spot showers.  Saving me from having to water but we're going to be steamy.

The storms rolled through this afternoon and after they left a strong wind came through.  I lost a 9 foot branch.  I have a whole new sunny section in the front yard.  I'm thinking it's time to take that tree down.  Everytime it storms, it gets damaged.

Jim asks me tonight what is up with the greenhouse.  They want to plastic the floor and asked him how much fine rock to put down.  It's a big truck full.   :hihi:  He wanted to know what's wrong with the rock floor we have.  I ask Jim what he thinks.  He's the construction guy.  He's joining me in, I'm not hauling all that rock in there.   :hihi:   I asked Donna if Marsha knew about that and she said she did.  I asked about all the shit we drag over that and she said we have to put special feet on the table.  They are doing it because it will be easier on the feet and easier to clean.  Yeah, I don't know about this.

Totally forgot about handicapped accessible.  The herb garden is renovating their garden and I don't think their new design took that into account.  I really need to be done being overall lead.  My head isn't in it any more.

We got cloud cover just as the truck was pulling in with a yard of soil.  Tom was working on the last section of the boardwalk.  Little easier to be in Marsha's garden but it really needs weed wacked.

I reminded Kevin the bridge he is rebuilding has to meet the handicap slope guidelines.  He tells me we'll wait until somebody official tells us that.  She just did!  :rant:  Let it go, he's got a good heart.  Take all that manliness, get on that wheelbarrow because I overfilled it.   :hihi:

DJ stopped by to run her flats through the bleach water.  Her 91 year old dad has one of those diseases where the paranoia is taking over.  She said something about not having a pinus so her opinion doesn't matter with her dad.  Yeah my dad was the same way.  It's their age, boys were more valued in certain things then girls.  Doesn't mean they didn't love us. 

Take her family for example.  She, a white woman, married a big, black man who was head of a national motorcycle club, back in the 80's.  And her sister turned butch, to the point I thought she was just an ugly guy, and married a woman.  That's a lot for a guy from that time period to take.  I'm surprised the guy didn't have a heart attack years ago.   :hihi:  That's a lot of love for him to accept all of that.

I had to call Laura about the greenhouse.  She was apologizing again for going off on me after Marsha died.  She didn't have time to prepare and didn't get to see her one last time.  I knew back in May things were going south and I did get to see her and say goodbye.  Not going to mention that.  But I hope this is the last time she apologizes for going off on somebody when she's in a bad mood.

Anyway, I have another carload of shit to take back to the greenhouse.

Wait a fucking minute.  The board had agreed we needed to get the organization's finances under control.  The agreement was we would live within our budget this year and the money we made this year would be for next year's budgets.  We were only going to tap this year's earnings for emergencies or unforseen expenses.  There's one person who keeps coming up with shit and saying the board will pay for it.  Same person who wants to ask for money for the greenhouse floor.  I'm calling the board on it.  I've asked that we review where we are at within our spending.  A business should probably do that periodically through out the budget year, right?

The gardens spend most their money in the fall on projects.  If we need to adjust the money allocations to stay within the overall planned budget, the money has to come from the garden budget.  I kind of need to know that now.  I can cover some overage but we've got a bridge that needs rebuilt that we didn't put in our budget.

This is the part that takes away all my joy running the gardens.  I hate keeping track of the budget.

Got crickets on my email but the treasure jumped on it.  Spreadsheet on approved budget vs actual spending came out to all of us.  Then she went off on talking about an investment portfolio.  Oh hell no, we are not volunteering here to make money for investments.  Especially when they cut my budget by a third so we could get a little money in the bank.  Hate the money stuff.

Beka went to the Iris sale.  She was able to buy enough different Iris to get us certified as a heritage Iris garden.  Even got me a chocolate iris for the chocolate garden.  Okay but now what?  How do we educate the public on that?  And you know I'm on a kick about native plants and increasing our bug population.   :hihi: Do we really want our funding and manpower going there?

Hot out there but I was able to work in the shade for a while.  Feels good to get a sweat on  Going back tonight to work on the front of the building.  Not my job but the weeds were taking over.  Tomorrow I hit up my beds that are in the morning shade.  Good to be back working the gardens.

The beekeeper showed up.  You're going to piss off the bees, I'm out of here.   :hihi:  It's okay, I was ahead on tasks. less time I spend there tomorrow unless I find more to do.

Last day of intense heat.  I'm busy the next few mornings but my evenings are clear and I can get back to gardening.  The weeds and plants need cut back.  I can do clean up and dream a little bit.  I need to get some borders around those renovated beds.  I'm thinking something with bricks.  I'm going to have a whole pile of those coming up.  I'm kind of liking this:
(https://preview.redd.it/i-want-landscaping-edging-like-in-this-picture-what-can-i-v0-ddv2tgtujecb1.png?auto=webp&s=c370346334abbe55a26e7405c54b3f995c172183)
Except standing those back bricks up on their ends because I am a heavy mulcher.  I like the length on the bottom ones because our mowers just can't seem to get close enough to the edges to keep the weeds from growing in!

My two leads taking over for Marsha got lucky.  The University is doing 6 classes on advanced training for fruiting plants.  That should settle their nerves a little bit about taking over for her.

Okay, just got a good look at that picture.  What the hell is that box doing hanging out of the brick border?  That's a fuck up.   :hihi:

We didn't hit 80 today.  I spent 7 hours in the garden.  The weeds enjoyed all that heat!  Our chocolate and moon flower vines are blooming.  Lots of wheeling and dealing going on with wood, edging and plant acquisition.  I think everybody came out today.

We're going with a small flag for the Chocolate Garden as it's sign.  How cute is this?
(https://attachment.tapatalk-cdn.com/11754/202408/912995_844553130ae0fff767008b6144b59cfe.png)

I'm thinking the same script for garden as chocolate on that flag.

Beka harvested the chocolate mint and did a Forrest Gump listing on all the ways it can be used.  Just make some chocolate lemonade.  It will be cold and taste like chocolate.  I'll like it.  Not in my coffee though.  People keep wanting to put shit in my coffee.

I need to leave the state.  I'm in the middle of three rivers and allergies run rampt.  My eyes have been burning and swollen for months.  Or maybe I'm allergic to those lenses they put in my eyes.

We could use some rain but the gardens were beautiful today. 

Steering Committee, what can I say?  They looked at if we were on budget for the first two quarters only.  I couldn't get through to them and finally the other Kevin explained they needed to look to see if we were going to end the year on budget.  Donna who was a bookkeeper started questioning some of the expenses.  I walked out with my budget fully intact.  If we go over budget we'll just have to dip into the funds set aside for next year.  The president brought up doing some kind of fall fundraiser to set up a scholarship for horticultural education.  What part of we need to get money in savings for what we have going on if the plant sale fails is he not getting?!  Anyway, he wants to step down as president, the vice president and secretary along with me also want to step down.  Basically that only leaves 2 people on the Committee who have any history.  Not to worry, the old guard has left before.  You stumble for a few years but then committed people get it together.  New visions and new growth.

I'm organizing a block party.  We're going to run out to Leslie's farm and get about 80 cinder blocks. 

The other two signs for the renovated beds got decided.  The Moon Garden will be on a big silver plate with the moon painted on it.  The Bee Bar is 3 dimensional with 3 bees at a bar drinking out of a flowers vases.  Melanie is so creative.

Ken is okay with the kiosk going in the enabling garden.  Yes, we are getting the damn kiosk back.  Long fucking backstory with the kiosk but it will forever be known as the damn kiosk to some of us.   :hihi:

Daniel asked if Beka might want to come to the Old English Dance party he is having at the garden.  I've ben trying to match Beka up with a gardener for a while now.  I liked Jacob but Daniel, he's sounding pretty interesting with this party.  I have no idea what Old English dancing is but the man has an interesting hobby.  I'm not sure if Beka's religion allows her to dance and I know she has to have a chaperone, I'll do it  :hihi:  I don't think I know how to chaperone buy I'd like to see this party.

I started organizing the bridge work and the block party.  I'm back.  Going to be a busy September and October in the garden.

And now I'm out.   :hihi:  Fuck this shit.  One group wants the wood gone now, another group can't get to it for another week and storage doesn't want it.  I told you the policy, you folks decide what you are going to do.  I am not taking responsibility for it.  Like children squabbling on the playground.

The acorns are falling, usually that doesn't happen until September.  They are small and green so maybe it's lack of rain.  But some of my natives are blooming early too.

Heard the phone ring tonight while I was out in the garage.  Thought, oh that's Marsha, we frequently reviewed upcoming things for the week happening at the garden.  Yeah, no, that's not her and nobody else I want to talk to, let it ring.  It was Beka, called her back.  She was excited about the 15 historic iris she planted.  We chatted about the gardens.  Not the way Marha and I did but it was still nice to have somebody to make plans with.  It hadn't hit me until that call I would never see Marsha's name on my caller id again.

And I'm back in.   :hihi:  I am the garden lead, shifted into third and powered up.

Inspiration hit.  I can attach something to that composite and use them to make borders around my renovated beds.  I have dark brown composite for the Chocolate and Bee Gardens.  I have grey for the Moon Garden.  If there's enough left I'd like to do the milkweed display.  And then there's the wood storage rack.  I need decking to give Phebe back the cattle panel.  Some other boards are cracked.  I wanted to learn my power tools.  I have a call into Jim to teach me.  Look out, the girl is going to build stuff!  :hihi:  I should never be allowed to do that without supervision.

I've called my labor.  I get revved up, gets them excited and we do some shit.  Let's skip 4th gear and slip into 5th, cruising speed.  :D

I'm beginning to question if using the composite for edging is such a good idea.   :hihi:  Spent a couple of hours hauling it over, all the way across the garden.  Jim couldn't come up with anything real cheap to hold it in place so it's $1.50 per stake and I need 110 of them.  Then there's the whole composite isn't really made for ground contact so how long is this going to hold up.  I'm going to say long enough to get me to dead and I don't have to replace it.

My energy and back gave out before I got the boards for the shelves on the rack.  There's only about 10 of those, a lot heavier and tomorrow I have labor so I'm going to share the fun.   :hihi:  Tomorrow is likely a rain out but If we can work it, we should have all the wood cleared out, cardboard down and that area mulched.  If not, the temps are staying down and I can get to it in the next few days.  We need it to rain on the new berms so the soil settles and maybe next week they can plant the trees.

And we went out to check out the cinder blocks.  She's backed her donation off to 35.  They are down in a hole but we only need a truck to haul them back plus there were mosquitoes everywhere! Catherine doesn't think she will get to that project and is now wondering if she has the skills without Marsha.  I'm thinking we may just put that off this year.

I'm off to find a grant for our herb garden renovation.  I'm starting to rule out getting shit for free that involves my physical labor.   :hihi:

Hold on, Jim says I can use wooden stakes.  They are only 50 cents a piece.

I had the rest of the good wood out of Marsha's area by the time the team showed up.  A quick clean up, a bunch of cardboard down and a whole lot of wood chips.  That area has been under construction for 6 years and it's done.  Everybody was rejoicing.  I turned to look, not what Marsha had invision was all I could think and I missed how it would have been.  There's an empty section, can't remember what was going in there, that the team will address at some point but for now it's construction complete.  There's a few trees waiting on the berm to settle that will go in next.

Tom is going to cut and screw down the wood on the shelves for the rack.  Got enough to do three shelves.  He's going to let me try my hand at the circular saw.  And Maggie says she's got the construction part of the borders for the renovated beds.  We'll let the From the Ground Up team do that in September.  And that will wrap up Marsha's stuff.

I need to get back to weeding and planting.  One would think you would do that when gardening.   :hihi:  I have a small bed I'm adding plants to and moving some plants around.  That needs to wait until it cools off a bit so that leaves weeding.  Something relaxing about weeding.  :)

 :hihi:  I did it to myself.  I get up and moving and the rest of them jump on board.  Joe was so excited, he stopped by before he went to work to do something.  You can hear the energy in his voice.  I have no less than 7 projects in the works and about to kick in three more.  This of course generates numerous phone calls to me.  Good to hear from my team.  I've been disconnected from them all year.

And those wheelbarrows are talking to me.  The back muscles get achy but the hips are flat out pain.  Gets me right in the hip bones, the front sides of them.  I have to remind myself to stand up straight and tall when I get out of bed.  I feel like I'm going through the evolution of man, trying to reach homo erectus.   :hihi:

(https://media.geeksforgeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/20220803124915/HumanEvolution.png)

Dropped by the garden and Jim is replacing the bench tops we talked about Tuesday.  He's been working on the raised bed design for renovating the herb garden.  He's got the each bed down to a couple hundred bucks.  He plans to build them in the parking lot.  Okay, if you can get that plan together before the September leads meeting when I figure out how much money I have left in my budget, I may be able to afford a couple of those.  And then get the rest of them in next year's budget.  He said something about getting it done while he's still alive.  I hear ya and I hate taking years to complete a project.  Just what the hell are we going to do with all those leftover bricks?

Susan gave me this for the Moon Garden.  It's the Man in the Moon.  :hihi:

(https://attachment.tapatalk-cdn.com/11754/202408/912995_66763074bb47acab1a3b94236ef141c1_t.jpeg)

Talking to Kevin tonight.  Last year I got his two sheds cleaned out.  He was telling people, she's got me doing stuff I never would have done.  Tonight we were talking about the shelves on our outside racks.  He says to me, lets clean some of that stuff out.   :hihi:  In all fairness, Kevin is the kind of guy who I bet has everything organized at home.  The sheds were a mess long before he got there.  The only difference, I'm not going to live with that!

People are telling me plants are completing their life cycle early this year.  That doesn't mean an early fall.  Plants are triggered by the length of light they receive.  It's more likely an indicator that they weren't getting what they needed, like water or nutrients, to live longer.

My car is packed with shit to go to the garden and not one plant.  I've got tools, building supplies, hardscape and cookware to donate to the food pantry.

There's this whole thing with the gutters on the building.  Not my problem, the building is not under our control but they had the handiman reroute one of the downspouts.  He buried a pvc pipe to get it away from the building except the end of it poses a tripping hazard next to my bed.  Jim looked at it and says the water is going to come gushing out and erode the area.  I mentioned it to the lady in charge.  She's still pissed we unplugged the ice machine when it was about to overflow.  We've been yelled at to not touch any of their stuff so I was a little uneasy mentioning what I thought was a problem.  She said to put a flag by it.   :hihi:  Plus I'm looking at the reroute of the downspout.  There's 4 bends it that, one that curves it back across the building.  That's a large roof with a lot of water.  Is it going to be able to drain fast enough with all those bends?  I didn't mention that, not my concern but I really think they should have hired a pro.   :hihi:

And another whole thing about if we are teaching you how to build something in the garden if people can count it as hands on education time.  I want to as a carrot for people to come help and I'm tired of sitting in a chair being lectured to for my education hours.  I am not going to cuss and discuss this.  Hands on education is nothing new. 

I'm in gear to get some shit done.  I've got my problems, you folks deal with your own fucking problems.   :hihi:  I am not getting sucked in.

Decided using the composite for a boarder is not such a great idea.  Okay, I only got two levels done on the back rack with one to go before running out of wood.  We also have a smaller rack up front that could use shelving.  I can use the composite for that.  The herb girls were not happy when I told them $700 a bed was probably not going to fly with the other leads.  They have 6 beds.  Paul agreed to mentor the Fruit Arbor team.  He started the orchard so it's good he's jumping back in.  Marsha had taken it from him.

Some progress today.  :D  Heat is coming back next week.

Fucking garden leads   :hihi:  It cooled off and they want to play.  Woke up this morning to all kinds of texts, emails of shit they want to do.  Okay, I've somehow managed to get 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  They're ready to go and I'm going to counter with my shit.  Let's do this!  My team is calling me out.  Love those people.  Drag my ass out of this slump.

I'm fucking with Marsha's team.  She went to great lengths to collect all the letters for Fruit Arboretum in fuschia and was thrilled with it.  That's not a color I associate with fruit and Marsha didn't present as the kind of girl who liked pink.  But it's a pretty big sign hanging at the entrance to the garden.  In some of the stuff Marsha's husband gave back to us as belonging to the Fruit Arboretum was a can of Gloss Mambo Pink spray paint which the new leads promptly handed back to me saying they didn't want it.  Tonight I noticed some of those letters are starting to lose paint and the color is fading out.  So I email the new leads, you sure you don't want that can of spray paint back?   :hihi:  They know I like free, repurpose, use what we've got.  We'll see what they say.  :hihi:  I think I'll make it a hobby of mine to see how many times I can ask them if they are sure they don't want that pink paint back.

The "pro" they hired for the drainage issue "fixed" the protruding PVC pipe.  He put a mesh screen over it and a pile of rocks in the grass.  How do I mow around that without risking the mower throwing a rock?  That drain ends on a slope.  You sure it's not going to cause erosion?  I'm thinking this story is not over.

Beautiful day at the gardens.  Found myself on top of the dumpster trimming the willow tree.  Got one of those hairdos you can only get from squirting yourself in the head and running through the sprinklers. 

I was there 4 hours and only got the pantry watering done.  All business.  Oriented 2 new members to the gardens and helped map out the cottage garden.

Bob, Marsha's husband, came by and dropped us off more of her growing lights.  Only got to talk to him a minute.  He is willing to help us rebuild the cottage garden wall.  Looks like we have a block party.  Said something about his Saturdays are free, aww.

My turf lead and native lead are dating.  What?  His wife just got up and walked out on him in December.  Okay, you're good to go, enjoy.  Think I mentioned David has a girlfriend.  Much to the relief of the rest of the female staff.

Beka has agreed to be my colead, maybe assistant lead, maybe I'm staying, maybe I'm letting go, we'll work that out later.  In the meantime, we started on a plant to map every garden.  Know exactly what plants we have and where they are on property and what that will look like in the computer.  I feel a breeze in my sail.

Okay the pile of rocks doesn't look that bad.  I'll still have to hand trim it.

The heat is back.

We can grow nuts in the Fruit Arboretum:

Botanically, nuts are a type of dry fruit that have a single seed, a hard shell, and a protective husk. They are usually high in oil and enclosed in a leathery or solid outer layer. Some examples of true nuts include acorns, chestnuts, and hazelnuts.
However, what we call a nut in the kitchen or supermarket may be different than what is considered a nut botanically. For example, peanuts are actually legumes, and almonds are surrounded by a fleshy coat like a plum. The fruits of the cashew, almond, and pistachio plants are also not true nuts, but are rather classified as “drupes”. A drupe is a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a husk.

I'm thinking the nut tree should be the responsibility of the overall lead.   :hihi:

Sandy and I talked about it.  Not really worth it to rebuild the lawn mower.  Let her have it to see if she can sell it to a guy for parts.  I chickened out on learning the circular saw too.

We have another week of extreme heat and humidity.  I soaked all my beds and they are going to have to get by on that.  Damn, it's dark by 8:00 now.

Open up our Monday morning news, big picture of Marsha in your face.  Was not ready for that.

Dawn wants to do something like a scavenger hunt called geocachers or letterboxers.  Not familiar with those and I don't have the time to set it up but I've got somebody who says they want to do it so I'm squeezing it in.  It's suppose to bring people to the gardens.  I'm worried about them digging through our beds or ants in the check in box.

And the head of the property said something to the facility management team about paying for some of the work we need done for the garden. Wants them to walk the property with me.  Is she talking about fixing the other drainage problem or the herb beds?  I'm tried of trying get the funds for shit or scavenging for it.  And getting dragged into all these projects and meetings.

Yeah, that picture of Marsha just knocked me on my ass.  My sail fell on my head.

Holy shit!  She didn't even flinch when I said $700 a bed times 6 beds.  Problem is she's running out of money in that pot and needs the information now.  May not be able to do it all this year and have to pick up the rest next year.  Are you fucking kidding me?  We've always paid for this stuff out of our pocket.  Says I should have talked to her sooner before they spent it on other things.  Er, wasn't I just in here a few weeks ago talking about where to get grant money for this project?  Wonder if they would consider concreting the greenhouse floor or our paths?  We'll talk about that after I get my project.   :hihi:

This is why I am no good at sales.  I'm always watching other people's pocket book and not letting them spend money.   :hihi:  I'm kind of your direct opposite of a used car salesman.

Promised the write up to her by Thursday on the renovation and costs.  Submitted before noon today.  Woohoo I'm coming in early.  The team pulled it together.  They got the price down to $3300.

And it gets better.  The Fruit Arboretum is going to use those new steel beds they have been advertising for the blueberries.  Very easy to install, anybody can have a raised bed without a lot of work.  I've been wanting to demonstrate those.  The Herb girls didn't want to use those.  The blueberry beds were a next year project we can move ahead of schedule since we aren't doing the boardwalk.

Keeping my rep for bringing those projects in early and under budget.  Truthfully, I'm the kind of person who wanted those things done yesterday but I'll settle for scheduled and funded.

Oh no, somebody called and they are cleaning out their father's house and wants to give us all the garden tools.  I'm going to let Kevin handle this one.  Hoarder house and Marsha's stuff, I've done my time.

Ran into Tilden this morning.  He starts work on the bridge next Friday and is the kind of guy who plows through until it's done.  Scheduled the cinder block pick up with Leslie while collecting a few seeds to grow for the parks next year.  And gave a tour to the ladies from DAR.  I was only supposed to be dropping by to water the pots.   :hihi:

We're cranking up our fall work with an eye on next year.  Leads finished off their plant orders from the plants we'll have this fall and are sending me in their orders for next year.  I was far too idle with the gardens these last couple of months.  This is the pace I like to run at.   :D

God, I'm an idiot.  I informed the demo garden team I'm willing to be their overall next year.  Beka is going to step up to replace Marsha.  Beka's one of those people who is good for your soul.

You know, that's my baby out there and I can't let it go.  I'm beat up, I'm old, I'm tired and I'm just going to ignore all that.  :hihi:

Tom and I finished off the large rack with shelving.  The Arbor group installed the new steel beds.  Shit is moving along except Tilden got called out of town and can't work on the bridge for two weeks.  Kevin is getting into finding stuff for free.  He brought us boxes we can use for the plant sale and these cute little shovels.  He still has to go check out the other, this person died and we want to get rid of their shit.

Shit!  Long story short but I'm going to be on facebook live with a St Louis celebrity.  It was suppose to be a simple tour with pictures of the plants.  Now it's going to be a possible 170,000 viewers.  Okay, stop talking to me.  The other people are freaking out.  I was cool with it, okay fine, I can talk to anybody and ignore the phone.  Stop freaking out, you're freaking me out!   :hihi:  My real concern though is how many of my former clients are going to see that and know where I hang out?  It's been a very long time but some of them might just be getting out of jail.  For the most part I got along fine with my clients.  They might want to stop by and say hi but some of them have serious mental health issues.

We're burning up out there.  Fortunately we cool off tomorrow for a little while and I can water all my beds.

And shit again.   :hihi:  We got another $500 donation for the Fruit Arboretum.  (Finally spelled that word right!)  That's great, but they accept the donation but, don't add it to my budget and continue to show the expenses coming out of my budget.  My budget this year is going to show I'm over.  Hate that but I'm spending that money.   :hihi:

I was wrong about the honey bee.  It doesn't detach it's flight wing muscles to buzz pollinate.  It's the Bumblebee, Carpenter and a few others.  The honey bee only pollinates around 5 percent of the flowers it visits where the native Mason bee does 90 percent.   I've got my vision back so I can explore my interest in bugs.  :D

Oh fuck  :hihi:  Greenhouse has decided to put down a floor.  Currently we are all rock.  They are going to cover it with ground rock, screening, and then cover it with plastic.  Jim tells me it's going to be a thousand wheelbarrows.  Probably not that much but it's going to be a lot plus we have to take everything out of the greenhouse.  My jammed packed September has extended into the middle of October.  And my nice empty storage racks I just did are about to be filled up.  When they plan to do this, the Extension is having an open house so we have to hide all the shit from the greenhouse.

We cooled way off over the weekend but headed back up there again next week.  The native plants are happy little campers with the heat and no rain.  The ornamentals are suffering.  The grass doesn't need mowing.  :hihi:  I'm thinking were not going to be looking our best for facebook live.  Now they've got me all jumpy about that.  My intro narrative keeps running through my head.  I'd been fine if you just put me on the spot but now they've made me think about it!

Panicked and emailed Kevin.  I've had a scratchy cough for a week now.  Woke up at 4 and coughed for an hour and a half.  Probably shouldn't have slept with the window open but I can't do Facebook live coughing like that.  Kevin looks good on camera and can also talk his ass off about the gardens.  Hope he can do it.

https://fb.watch/uwjmI84Z1y/ (https://fb.watch/uwjmI84Z1y/)

I ended up talking until the coughing took over.  That's me in the green shirt and Kevin.  God the gardens are dry.  We would have been so much prettier if it had rained.  I got off on my soapbox about native plants and bugs, good back up from Deana on talking about pollinators.  Elliott has one plant, a palm tree, he has gone to great lengths to take care of this plant.   :hihi:  It's growing concern for everybody who watched the news.  1.2k views already.  Nice guy.

Tie my hands down and I can't talk.   :hihi:

I did follow up on the money for the Herb garden renovation.  She forgot about it!  But she does still have the money.  Jim on the other hand is on vacation half of October, he's the builder.

Well shit.  They installed the sigh in my bed right by the main door to the party this weekend.  Trampled all over it.  I'll probably grab some big mums and mulch the area.  The plants in there are perennials so they will be back.  I was planning on renovating that bed after the sign went in.  Little bit more to the left and not as tall would have been my preference but I'll garden around it.

Tom didn't show up today so we didn't work on the remaining shelving.  The guy never misses so I was a little freaked but he had emailed I saw when I got home.  Tomorrow we shop for Marsha's life celebration.  That's this weekend.

Trampled under foot when they put in a sign in my bed.
(https://attachment.tapatalk-cdn.com/11754/202409/912995_fed5e79ae016f6f7b702feb4c67f4167.jpeg)

Little bit of mulch to cover up the plants, add some potted plants, like it never happened.
(https://attachment.tapatalk-cdn.com/11754/202409/912995_e6188bdf1a956fec60e4aabcc2ee7b88.jpeg)

These are the flowers for Marsha's life celebration and the bed right out by the door everybody will come in.  I have a bigger pot of red mums by the door.  Looks nice.

Sigh, the room is set up for Marsha's life celebration.  It's tomorrow.

We didn't get shit for rain from the hurricane.  At least the cloud cover keeps it cool.  I have the kiosk scheduled to go up in time for the open house. 

We're at the beginning of a turf war.  Extension is wanting more approval of things that go on in the garden.  My fault, I've been trying to get them more interested in what goes on out there.  I didn't think that meant another source of funding, so good there.  It adds another step for approval slowing things down.  I'm getting the impression they don't feel they need our approval of things they want to do out there which isn't much and I have ears on what they are thinking.   :hihi:  They also don't really know what goes on out there unless I tell them.  I know some people are going to feel they are sticking their noses in when they don't do any of the work.  It is their property, back to why they need to approve what goes on out there.

We did good.  About 100 people, enough food for 200.  I got there before everybody else and cut the flowers for the big floral displays.  Bob and the family were happy.  Kept saying it was more than they expected.  I kept busy the whole time.  Did lots of garden tours.  I think people enjoyed it.

I feel like there's something more I should have to say about Marsha.  Bob left without all the cards so I have to text him tomorrow.  We hardly talked today except for things around running the party.  I did see him point at me once when he was talking to a guy.  The guy came over shortly there after to tell me he tore down decks and wanted to know if I needed any composite.  No Marsha and the boardwalk any more so, no, but I so wanted to run to Marsha and say we'd just scored.  I guess that's it, no Marsha in my life to accomplish things with or that person who takes joy in what you accomplish. 

I did meet one of our new trainees who just show up to announce she was in the online training class, Jane, old farmer.  She wants to be with like minded people, plant people.  She's good with fruits so I assigned her to Marsha's team.  She smokes and earns the holes in those jeans she was wearing, doesn't wear makeup, talks a lot.  Okay, mini me and Marsha?   :hihi:  And today of all days.

You know, I got through the day.  I'm due at the gardens tomorrow to water for a few hours.  Nobody should be around.  Not a day I would be expecting Marsha to drop in.

Not as quiet at the gardens.  Two of my leads were around, Bob came up to collect the cards for Marsha, we had a visitor and I had to call two other leads.  DJ called, I ignored it.  Then she texted to see how I was doing.  "I know you had a hard day yesterday."  Stop annoying me.  I don't need help identifying my feelings and dealing with them.  Hopefully that was closure for everybody.  Me, I just want some quiet.  "There's a feeling in my heart I can jot share."

Bob was so funny when he picked up the cards.  I had them in a cat basket.  Asked him if he wanted the basket.  He did.  He's been getting rid of a lot and not wanting any more but he looked at that and said yes.  I knew he had a soft spot in his heart for those cats they took in.  It wasn't just Marsha.   :hihi:

We had a nice storm cloud come over.  A lot of noise but not a drop of rain.  We're burning up out there.  Going back in the 90's later in the week.

The lady wanted to know what that white flower that blooms so well in the moon garden is.  Okay, the whole fucking garden is white!  I'm going with Euphorbia, looks like Baby's Breath.  I tried using it in Marsha's roses but it didn't hold up that well.  Right now it's a big bush and really showy.  Could be the Angelonia but that's my first guess.

How did that happen?  Extension offered to pay for the Herb Garden renovation and now suddenly, they have me going before the counsel to ask for the money.  We weren't asking, you were offering!  I would have never asked for the money.  Now instead of thanking them for their gift, I'm begging them for money!

How many times can my team call me about the gardens while my mother is visiting?  My family doesn't really support my work at the gardens.  I don't know why they should care and if I field a few phone calls or make a few when we are just sitting around watching TV, what's the big deal?

It was not even a flower!  It was a foliage plant, Dusty Miller.  Cool thing about that plant is the white fuzz is collected by bees to pad their nests.

In the beginning I handled this bullshit better, now I just want to scream do you read the emails, listen to what's being said, can you get to the fucking point?   :hihi:  Leads meeting today, enough said.  Budget is going to return a little money.  All projects scheduled.  Nobody volunteered to take my place, I'm doing a good job.  

My daughter sent me a flier they have out for the Extension with people's pictures on it.  Asks me if I recognize anybody?  Yeah, that's my butt.   :hihi:  Apparently my daughter knows me from my backside.

First day of fall.   :D  My kind of weather.  We got much needed rain last night and are getting more the next few days.  Many projects going on at the garden and I'm ready to get started.

Rainy day, soaking rain.  And wouldn't you know it when I round up people to fix the bridge we have a hurricane dumping on us.   :hihi:  Think that is going to cancel the cinder block party on Saturday too.

Oh I love this lead trying to dance her ass out of the shit she stirred up.  No less than 7 emails sent to me tonight.  Not answering them.  One of the other leads called me to say that is not what happen.  I know what she's doing, trying to creat a narrative based on including a bunch of people on the emails.  The troublesome lead is seeing me face to face tomorrow night.  We'll talk then.   :hihi:

The gardens got their rain and they look great.  We're installing new plants so they can get settled before winter.

I think I better pull all the houseplants in on Sunday.  Our lows are starting to get down there.  I never got around to rearranging the house so all the places they normally sit during the winter are ready to receive them.

Checking with the parks about what plants they want me to grow next year.  I'm seed collecting, plan to grow them large quantities of Butterfly Weed.  They burned their wood pile, checking to see if they started a new one.  Our compost bin needs some repairs.

We are discussing tonight about having a scavenger hunt at the gardens next year.  No, wasn't my idea but I'm damn good at that.   :hihi:

I figured that much after Friday night's email.  Apparently one guy over stepped and said they had money.  Laura said she knows of at least two no's for funding for the herb garden.  It's probably not getting approved.  I already contacted the parks department to see what they had in their wood pile.  We need long boards, 12 feet, and I don't think they have those.  Might be able to find some of the wood for the project.  I'm damn good at dumpster diving.   :hihi:

Looks like the hurricane rain will only be light for my area.  South St Louis is getting dumped on.  Of course they can be wrong.

Holy shit, I'm having a nice chat with the troublesome lead over email that I think is going well, trying to explain all our problems, she resigns again and I tell her I don't blame her for walking away and she goes psycho on me.  Calls me a bitch and a bunch of other stuff that just isn't true.  I apologize for what wasn't my intent, I don't think I did that but whatever keeps the peace, and tell her I am forwarding her complaints about me to the people above me which includes the chain of emails, she can see that, lets be transparent.  The head person responds and tells me, not to respond any more to her and she is moving to have her removed from the other role she serves on the counsel.  Then the lead sends out an email to the group twisting what happen and reframing stuff to make her look good and explaining why she resigned.  I don't know how she thinks that is going to fly when those people were in on all that.

You know, I can think like a bitch to myself but these are volunteers and I never lose my patience with them.  I will take any help I can get and always work something out with people.  I'm freaked out about this because I know somethings about her.  I'd already alerted the people above me before this happen because it was going the wrong way and we've all been involved with her before when she's pulled this shit.  She went to vicious pretty quick and I'm her target.  She's going to be really pissed when they remove her from counsel.  I'm seeing signs of mental health issues.

You know, I'd had enough of this girl before it even got really going.  Emails are flying this morning.

I nominated Beka for Master Gardener of the year.  They announce it at the convention tomorrow.  We've won the last two years on the people I nominated so I'm hoping they aren't feeling like they can't give it to somebody from our group again.  Plus there's no reason to suck up to us any more since we turned down doing the convention.

A decent rain and the plants are looking beautiful but too wet to get the mowers out.  The fall plants are starting to show.  Monarchs are few and far between.  Phebe thinks the wildfires in Canada had something to do with their reproduction this year.  May be another major hit to their numbers that they don't recover from for years.  Maureen hasn't had time to track them since they started massing at the great lakes to make their trip down here.  The hummingbirds are passing through.  I'd say a little less on them too.  I'm waiting on the fly by from the larger birds.  The St Louis Arch has it's lights off so it doesn't mess with their migration.  My area has developed the wetlands so I don't see as many of them passing through around here.  Hard to estimate their numbers.  The armadillos are here.  I haven't seen one yet but others have.  No idea what that's going to do or really anything about them except they are kind of freaky looking.  :hihi:

No she didn't win.  I'm sure there are lots of deserving people and only one award.

Took the decking off the bridge.  It's a total redo.  Hope the guy I asked to do this is up for that much work.

The troublesome lead did respond last night to a group email, er you're not a lead any more.  You know, I don't want her back on the team but I do want to work this out with her.  She made a lot of assumptions without all the information.  We'll see how this plays out.

Saw a cool video on burning cottonwood fluff.  We don't have that much of it here.
https://www.google.com/search?q=burning+cottonwood+fluff+video&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&oq=burning+cotton+wood&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgDEAAYChiABDIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAAGAoYgAQyCQgCEAAYChiABDIJCAMQABgKGIAEMgkIBBAAGAoYgAQyCQgFEAAYChiABDIJCAYQABgKGIAEMgkIBxAAGAoYgAQyCQgIEAAYChiABDIJCAkQABgKGIAE0gEJMTAxOTVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f83175e6,vid:5fgJfsc4UYo,st:0 (https://www.google.com/search?q=burning+cottonwood+fluff+video&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&oq=burning+cotton+wood&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgDEAAYChiABDIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAAGAoYgAQyCQgCEAAYChiABDIJCAMQABgKGIAEMgkIBBAAGAoYgAQyCQgFEAAYChiABDIJCAYQABgKGIAEMgkIBxAAGAoYgAQyCQgIEAAYChiABDIJCAkQABgKGIAE0gEJMTAxOTVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f83175e6,vid:5fgJfsc4UYo,st:0)

Oh god, I'm leading little Beka into sin.   :hihi:  Normally she won't say a bad thing about a person.  I try to be more like her but tonight she says, not to say anything against someone but that's weird.  It's how it starts, just saying.

Beka called me tonight with an issues about the gardens.  She's my new co lead replacing Marsha.  We talked for 45 minutes.  Something very familiar and nice about that.  :D

Meeting with the head of Extension on how to deal with the troublesome lead and the fact she is a voting member of the counsel.  Notice I was nice and called her troublesome instead of what I'm holding in?  :hihi:  They aren't questioning my behavior, they want her gone but it's too much trouble to do it.  Everyone is being made aware of what happen and just hoping she goes away.  I pissed her off without evening trying and made her go away, so good course of action. 

My bigger problem is funding for the herb garden.  Apparently people are talking about how much money we have in the bank.  Nobodies bank account balance tells the story.  All that money in there is not to spend freely, and do you look at other people's bank account balances before funding their requests?  You just happen to know ours.  I don't think we are going to get the money but there's a chance so I'm going to try.  Don't get it, I'll just go about it another way.  If there's a will, there's away and I always get what I go after.

Damn, Phebe can net those monarchs.  They are showing now.  Can't really tell how many there are.  Phebe is so good at spotting them.  She's grabbing her net and running for them the whole time she is on property.  They show up when she's around and she's got them.

Met with Tilden and Jim, the bridge is a complete rebuild.  Jim will design something and Tilden, myself and whoever else I can get on it.  It won't be done by the 10th and I don't have the funding for it.  The entire creek bed needs to be dug out from the sediment that has collected there for the last 10-15 years.  The Native team will tackle that when their plants come down.  This project is moved to next spring.

I had to cut out before the Okra lunch was ready.  Dodged a bullet there?   :hihi:  Deadheaded the Prairie Dock.  It's a very good seeder.  It's everywhere.  The fruit trees are back under the control of the Arbor.  The new Treescaped lead doesn't want them.  They are allowed to share them with their staff except the Serviceberry that is going in the Bird Garden.  What's left comes to me for disposal according to our policies and procedures.  First choice is other garden leads, then our community partners, then membership and then the compost bin.  Really, what's left will go to our community partner, the parks.  The former tree lead told our honorary tree lady she was replacing her PawPaw Tree with a Buckeye.  Not on my watch.  That kind of tree is special to her and I already have the new tree coming in.   ;)

Gardens were beautiful today and it was a beautiful day.  :D

Jumpy   :hihi:  The request for the funding for the Herb Garden is tonight.  The lady who offered up the money to begin with has discovered she has more coming out of her leftover budget than she thought she did.  They have to cut something to fund us.  But we're going to talk turkey.  Realistically, we can only build two of those raised beds before the end of the year and only need $1160.  I can go back to them after the first of the year and ask for more money.  I think they may go for the lower amount.

Oh that didn't go well.  The guy running the meeting was almost screaming at us, pointing his finger and shaking.  Said according to our memo of understanding, we are responsible for the gardens and that means we pay for it.  Okay, didn't know that.  I'm thinking, why were we invited to apply for this money and even make a presentation.  Then he went off on some rant about how our organization had disconnected ourselves from them when we made ourselves a 501 C3.  Er, that was because we were cheating when we used your 501 C3 and we should have paid taxes on our plant sale.  Money which we gave you and you refused to turn over to the tax people.  The University advised us to do it this way.  Then he went off on how much money we had in the bank and that we needed to learn to budget better.   :hihi:  Okay, you have no idea how we spend our money.

I wasn't going to argue all this out in a meeting just accepted verbally we couldn't ask for the money.  Once he said can't do it because of the memo, it should have been over.  The head lady was nice about pointing out all we do and that we had given them $5000 for a project.  A couple of other people chimed in and said why couldn't the memo be changed so it reflected a partnership for future endeavors.  When he finally started directing his rant at our president, I leaned over to the head lady and asked if we could go back to our seats.   :hihi:

So we were up again after that where I asked permission to install the kiosk they were giving us and stated we were taking care of the installation costs even though they thought the kiosk was donated and they could use it.  Followed that with permission to plant a tree on their property, no expense again to them.   :hihi:

I won't let one hothead ruin my feels towards things.  I'm not getting pissed off, collecting my toys and going home over this incident.

And the troublesome lead didn't show up to the meeting.  She zoomed in.  Didn't start any shit.

So someone had a conversation with him about his demeanor at the meeting.  I just keeping thinking if Marsha had been there, it would have been on.   :hihi:  Probably not during the meeting but she would have tracked his ass down.  Guess he won't be coming to the Christmas party this year.

The kiosk went in.  Not as professionally installed as I wanted but it's up.  And some of the corkboard needs glued back on.  We'll have it together by the Expo on Thursday.

I'm calling for a meeting on the Herb Garden renovation.  We're rushing this and it's not well planned out.  We can build something cheaper and will last longer.  I try to stay out of other people's gardens.  I learned that with Marsha.  I wasn't a support of all the money she poured into it but it really came out looking great and brought us up to a whole other level.

Emails are flying this morning about what to pick to honor Marsha at the gardens, bench or plaque?  I declined to participate in making choices but offered to pitch in on the cost.  Can't do it.  Those are cold and sad.  That was not my friend.  She was happy and known for her laughter.  I know what I'm doing.  I'm planning to get a little sign and mount it on one of the posts for the grapes, Marsha's Vineyard.  A play on Martha's Vineyard.  People who run across that little sign and knew her will laugh out loud.  Laughter in the gardens, that's how my friend should be remembered.

Cleaned up the growing room last night.  It's just so nice being in there.  Not much light so I had the grow lights on.  Radio too.  I have a bunch of seeds to collect out of their pods and should go through all that paperwork.  The longer paperwork sits in a pile, the easier it is to throw out.   :D

We got the greenhouse cleaned out this morning.  All that rock comes on Friday to do the floor.  The goal is to have it finished sometime Sunday.  Pole beans are going gang busters.  A little cold weather and they speed up production.

Tomorrow is the Expo.  The two people who went off on me will be there.  Talked to the lady who told me she could take the Herb Garden money out of her budget.  She now acts like she never offered it up.  But we've decided to take that project back to the drawing board.  I didn't like the price and I think we can make it cheaper out of something else.  I do love to dumpster dive.  Leslie thought we could just repair the bridge by using longer screws into the rotten wood so I let her.  It's a little soft in some places but it will hold.  She wants to paint it red.  Fine, I'm too tired to argue and she did do the work.

Extension has decided to brick the 3 walkways in the Perennial garden.  It's our best looking walkway.  They sell engraved bricks as a fundraiser.  I'm going to have a bunch of stepping stones to put somewhere else.  I know, won't help with the crumbling brick structure and want to tear up our best looking stuff.  Needless to say I don't have the funds to buy one of their bricks and that's the truth but they won't see it that way.  Landlords, what can you do?

Anyway, beautiful day in the garden.  Just what I needed.  :D

No drama.  The guy didn't show up and the girl stayed in her booth.  Caught her looking at me once but I was all over the place so we didn't run into each other.  The event was nice.  Found a vendor who makes plant markers and can put our name on them.  We could pass these out at the farmers markets.  My person who donated money for the fruit tress came to see them.  Three people from my garden club came and one of them signed up for master gardener classes.  We have the same first name.   With her that will make 5 of us.  That's a handful.   :hihi:

Tomorrow begins wheelbarrows of rock into the greenhouse.

They ordered way too much rock and no Jim, that isn't 1000 wheelbarrows.   :hihi:  First move went well.  It only took 3 hours to fill the greenhouse and the hoop house.  Watered it down so it would get in between the bigger rocks and we'll go at it again tomorrow.  What's left we need in other places in the garden and we can offer up some to the Master Naturalist to do their greenhouse floors.  It's all good.

Can't be more happier to be associated with this group.  Had enough people show up to help we were tripping over each other.  Kristine showed up with three loads of edging stones and people came over to unload her each time.  We were done before noon and off tomorrow.

So the leftover rock.  Extension Counsel is doing a brick fundraiser.  They could use a lot of that rock to install those bricks.  We're offering it up to them and before we can say free, they offer to pay for their share.  Yeah we're going to take that.  They are the ones defining our relationship.  We've given them $5,000, made property improvements and even repaired their building.  And one of them is going to yell at us when we hear they have extra they need to spend but don't want to give it to us.  Yeah, I'm still pissed.   :hihi:  It's that guy's wife who fueled his fire and she's in charge of the brick fundraiser.  Do I think she would feel bad about taking from us and giving nothing back?  No but it makes me feel good when it's so one sided.  And now that the relationship has been defined.  We're going to play their game.  Careful what you ask for, you may get it.

Okay this time I did probably upset one of my leads.  I emailed her and now I'm calling to make sure we are okay.  She has two gardens and wants to give up the bigger garden.  I don't want that.  She's a good lead and knows her stuff.  The littler garden can just go away if you ask me but I shouldn't have said that. 

Redid one of my beds with some Rattlesnake Master and Agave.  Divided the Russian Sage into three plants.  Moved a few of the coneflowers to the other side of the bed.  Got a pattern going on.  I think I'll fill in the open areas with zinnias next year.  Should be low maintenance.  Was going to put a grass in my clay bed but there's no getting a shovel through that.   :hihi:  Put it into the other bed where I can basically dig with my hands.  The clay soil bed, native seeds blow in there and grow on their own.  I'm good with that.   :hihi:

Busy week ahead of us.  While I'm out getting the cinder blocks, Catherine's team is going to start removing the edgers.  We'll probably go at that on Saturday.  We still have to get all the stuff back in the greenhouse.  We're digging up the perennials we sell next spring and putting them in pots.  I need to get the stone bed cut down so they can store them in there.  I am not digging all those canna bulbs out this year.  If they die over the winter, okay.  I'm tired of the design in that bed anyway.  Then again, if they live, I won't have to do anything but get the plants we are selling off them.

I may have hit the brick wall for my age.  I have never recovered this year to my go, go, go state.  I am dragging.  It feels good to be out there but my drive is gone.  I didn't take this on to be somebody but the status kind of grows on you.  Now that I'm backing away, it just feels a little weird.  Decisions are being made without me.  Other names are taking the place mine once had.  I remind myself, I've done this sort of thing many times.  Go into something a nobody and rise to the top only to walk away at some point, back down to a nobody again.  Might not do it again, I might be "old" but it is my nature.

Phebe is bow hunting Bambi this week.  We're supposed to go get the cinder blocks tomorrow.  She texts me:  "If I shoot one, it's anyone's guess.  Could be as early as 10:30 or as late as 2.  Oh, and I hope you don't mind that there is some dried deer blood in my pickup from the one I shot Friday.  The truck doesn't get washed until we are done with this managed hunt."  Knew I should have just spent my money and brought these blocks.   :hihi:  She processes it herself too.

41 cinder blocks, 30 pounds a piece.  Load them up and load them out.  We just set them at the entrance to the garden.  Phebe and I had to join Eleanor to get in the harvest.  We're getting our first frost tonight.  Only 40 cinder blocks to go.   :rofl:

Good news, in under 127.  I'll go as low as 124 but my pants fall down after that.   :hihi:

Beka is so good.  She is presenting the Herb garden with two other options for building the beds.  Bring them in around $2000 instead of the $3400 they had making them out of wood.  We meet with them tomorrow.

The frost wasn't that bad last night.  We might be in a little protected area.  At least I don't have to start cleaning up right away.

Greenhouse is all put back together.  I got stuck in a 3 hour meeting.  The herb girls agreed to a design change to the metal raised beds kits.  Really not that much cheaper.  And that is about as far as we got in the decision process.  They don't want to do the labor but they don't want anybody else to do it.  They don't care what we do but they won't let us do it.  And they want to add extra support because they don't trust the engineer's design, and bed liners, and they don't want to order supplies and pick them up.  Beka is going to work with them to see if she can nail some of this down.  We did establish she would be the project manager and it would be a trainee project next year.  Actually, it was just one person dragging their feet and throwing in obstacles.  She can only do one thing at a time, not a multitasker.  I don't think she's going to be able to handle 20 people showing up to tear it down and put it back up.   :hihi:  Hopefully, she doesn't show up on those days.

Serviceberry tree planted.  I got enough soil out of the hole to finish filling in the hole that makes me almost fall into the greenhouse everytime I mow.   :D  That's been on my hit list.  All the tomatoes came out.  Kevin is going to run the zero turn through the compost pile, taller than I am.  Everybody is ready to wrap this up.

My back did okay once it got warmed up.  Phebe offered to go get more cinder blocks.   :hihi:  Actually, we don't have any more room to store them until they move some.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I'm down three leads.  I probably have the perennial garden covered.  Need people on compost and the lasagna garden.  I'm wondering if we can build compost bins out of cinder blocks.   :hihi:  Bekah is still leaning towards cinder blocks on the herb garden.   :hihi:  Free materials and we're on it.

I'm still liking these steel raised beds.  Easy install and they last so much longer than wood.  With the price of wood up, I'm thinking we need get away from that and go with structures that last longer.

I had a great idea.  We built the lasagna years back and basically can't demonstrate that method any more because it has turned into soil.  I'm thinking dig it out and use the soil for the new higher herb beds and we can start demonstrating the lasagna method again.  Why keep buying soil when we can make it?  Problem is it is highly organic, herbs don't like that.

Cleaned out half of the bed where the canna bulbs are.  I'm not going to be able to leave them in the ground.  They make the soil too uneven for us to set pots on top of them.

Another one of my leads injured her back and she can't do fall clean up.  Not a big deal, it's a small bed.

Oh here we go again.  A while back Extension had a fundraiser to shore up the creek in back of the property and billed it as save the gardens and sold off naming rights to our greenhouse and individual beds.  They never asked us.  Now they are saving the bricks they are selling is to pave one of our paths.  Yes, we will benefit by having a paved path but we were fine with the path we had.  You're using our hard work to raise money for yourself.  If they had asked if they could promote it that way, we would say fine and probably get some people to buy bricks but without asking, it just feels like they are taking.

I hate canna bulbs.   :hihi:

How would this look replacing the rotting lattice work on the compost bin?
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/22/30/67/223067976a4d8f5f557b1845144b5205.jpg)

Maggie's idea.  I'm loving it.  She already makes things out of wine bottles and I'm assuming a good source for those bottles.   :beer:

"Watch each card you play and play it slow."  "It's a lesson to me."  I can manage a lot of moving parts but I have to get on it.  Had all the fall projects set up but then things kept getting thrown in there.  Quick to grab them up and try to get them moving but they were crashing mid development and not by me.  I don't like to do fire drills.  Makes your people less reactive when the real thing needs to get going.  Took 41 cinder blocks to slow me down.  :hihi:  We're going back to doing the projects we already had lined up.  These new projects can just stay on radar.

The brick pathway. :hihi:  Turns out she has to get approval from the same group where I got shit for asking for money.  There's not a lot of profit in that fundraiser and it could go belly up.  Good luck with that.  I'm not removing the stepping stones we have there until she's a go.

I don't know about that bottle wall replacing the lattice work.  Looks like it could be a easy project but those steel rods aren't cheap.  I can get wine bottles but I'm thinking they are too big for that little area.  And five panels of that might be a little too busy for my taste.  Maybe just one in the middle and something else for the other panels.  I've been looking for something.  It's a possibility but I want to see some more options.

Look Herb girls.  You've got to make up your mind what you want to do out there.  You work with Bekah and get it together.  You're off next year's project list until you know what you're doing.   :hihi:

My people who wanted to set their edging stones aren't responding to the free rock but you have to get it now.  We're just going to side step that and move the rock into the amendment bins and put that on next year's project list.

In the meantime, back to what I know what we can get done.  The cinder blocks are going in Saturday.  By all estimates, we still need 15 or 35.  15, we're buying those.  35, I'm going back to get the freebies.  And we still need the toppers, buying those.

Tom and I are scheduled to finish doing the shelving tomorrow.  The greenhouse crew is moving the rest of the stuff back into the greenhouse.  The new floor looks good.  Now how to move all the leftover rock when it's sitting on the tarp we wanted it to sit on in the new location.  I have a old queen size air mattress we can use and then throw the tarp over the top of it.  Or hey, why don't I just go buy a new tarp out of my own money.   :hihi:  Little tired of digging up freebies for this place.

We do deal with plants at the garden.  One would think that's what it is all about.  I have a garage floor full of drying canna bulbs waiting to be processed.  I still need to collect up the oxalis bulbs I have been propagating all over the place.  And Donna has dig and divide going on with the plants we are selling at the plant sale next year.   Speaking of next year's plant sale.  I picked up a rack for another set of lights.  I can now grow 15 flats and 21 if I have to.

Tom and I got derailed on the shelves.  Some of the greenhouse tables needed work.  The greenhouse is almost reloaded.  Helped Catherine dig the trench for the cinder blocks.  Trying to get that done before the guys come to set them on Saturday.  The Arbor gave up a border I was able to use around the Bee Bar.  And they took out a bunch of bricks I can use for a border around the Chocolate Garden.  Kind of excited to get started on that.  Not sure which design I'm using yet.  The plant debris waiting to be processed for compost is too wet to chop up and it's turned into a mountain!

Good workday at the gardens.  Weather is good and people are showing up to help.  :D

I got an interesting invitation to travel the world with an archeologist.  She's top secret military, something to do with training drone flyers if I remember right.  No idea how she got from her degree to that.  She just got back from Peru which is some place I would like to go.  She wanted to know where I wanted to go.  I didn't mention wanting to travel but I guess I showed interest in where she had been.  But is that even safe to go traveling with someone like that who's on vacation?  She could be accused of spying in some countries.

She did have some cool pictures.  What people thought was an amphitheater from the air was an advanced terrace gardening system.

Greg stepped up to be the compost lead but gave up turf.  Then decided he could still do turf too.  Nobody has taken lasagna yet so I'm one lead short.  New guy, who has built retaining walls, offered to help with ours on Saturday.  I did get the group to move the cinder blocks down to where we want them.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise"

You're suppose to travel when you retire.  I use to travel.  What better way to go then with an experienced traveler?  Then again, Joan and her husband sold off everything and learned to sail a boat.  I could go couldn't I?

Raided the parks burn pile.  Only got one board we can use.  Moved some of the screenings back to the amendment bin.  11 wheelbarrows of screenings and I quit.  :hihi:  Was doing them half full and five at a time.  Took too long of a break after number 10.   :hihi:

I did apply for a grant for the Herb Garden renovation.

Check this planter wall block for making a raised bed.  You just ram a rebar rod through the hole and add wood planks in the slot.  Quick and easy install.  The lady talks about it here:  https://graceinmyspace.com/easy-raised-garden-bed-diy-without-tools/

(https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/24890456-e38a-498a-ad6a-64cad8572506/svn/tan-oldcastle-raised-planter-boxes-16202336-64_1000.jpg)

Marsha's husband, Bob, showed up to help on the retaining wall.  We got about a third of it done.  Catherine thinks we only need about 10 more cinder blocks.  Then I said what about the areas where we need to double up?  Don't care any more, just buy them!   :hihi:  

Bob also has 5 or 6, 4x4 panels already constructed he wants to get rid of.  Perfect size for the compost bin panels. And he has some extra hoses.  Score!

Gabby wants to go hike the Alps.  God no.   :hihi:  "Woman belong on top", but not on top of that.

Damn it, I need 4X34" for panels.  I hope we can cut his down or he was wrong about the size.  He wasn't sure what they were.  I put a call out for any leftover stain people have from staining their decks.  Mix a few of them together and I should have enough to stain the compost bins too.  Got a fold up wagon from my sister's gambling booty.  We can probably use that for taking things to the farmer's market.

My other garden club is making burrito pillowcases.  Why?  And what is a burrito pillowcase?  Google it, nothing to do with gardening and er, not my taste people.   :hihi:  I'm skipping the sewing lesson.

Oh Greg.   :hihi:  He can be pig headed.  His words not mine.  I tell him how to do something and why and he does it his own way.  Later he admits he should have did it my way.  Love the guy he volunteers for stuff.  He just volunteered to be the compost lead.  He gets out there today and calls me complaining about the stuff people are putting in the compost pile.  Yeah, I know just kick it around and run it over with the mower.  He wants me to send out an email today telling people not to put certain stuff in there.  The mountain of debris waiting to be processed for composting has been on my hit list.  Tell him it's on my list for today and I'll be out pretty soon to help him.  Get there and he's gone already and hasn't chopped up any of it, just threw some of it on top of what is decomposing.  You can do it that way, just takes longer. 

An hour and a half later I text him a picture of the mountain now reduced to a chopped up pile.  He wants to know where I put all of that.  In the pile!  Ran it over with little tank, the name of the mower, and used the leaf blower to blow it into a pile.   :hihi:  Thinking, I've been at this a while, listen to the voice of experience.  He texts back I should be the compost lead.  I send him back the mountain of rock I'm now moving.  He stopped texting after that.   :hihi:

I'm not all that.  You take a leaf blower to chopped up, dry plant material and blow it towards a pile with the wind blowing at you and you get covered.   :hihi:  Shhh, don't tell Greg.

 :hihi:  Greg texted this morning, he needs to know how to run little tank.  He also likes to text me early in the morning, like before 8.  I think it's just to remind me he's still working and I'm retired.  Text back, "I'm on my 8th wheelbarrow on that rock."  Yeah, I've been working, you're just now getting there.   :hihi:  Pretty much happens every time he does that, I'm at the garden.  I'm sure he's cussing.

We're mid 80's today.  I did not want to be out there this afternoon hauling rock.  Got there with the dawn.  I have a meeting at 10 to work on what we are growing for the gardens next year.  After that, I'm going back to bed.   :D

Edging is coming my way.  We have a lot of brick.  I think the Chocolate Garden and the planter box around the Compost Bins will get that.  I got some interesting wood on rebar to use around the Bee Bar and I think I have more of that wood in the big tool shed that I can make enough to do the whole bed.

7 wheelbarrows in and Paul took over.   :D  He almost cleared the pile.  Took Kevin over to look at the rotting compost bin.  He was going to wait and work on it next week until he got a look in my new Dewalt drill bag and decided he wanted to play with that.   :hihi:  He took some of it apart.  We need those panels before we go any further.  Tom and I put a new top on one of the greenhouse tables and did one shelf.  One shelf left to go.  Catherine brought in the rest of the cinder blocks.  I sent newbies over to move those down.  David agreed to install Maureen's edging around her bed.  Good work session.  We're in the middle of fall projects.  I'm beat but I really want to finish the rock.

The grant people acknowledged my request for funding for the herb garden and it has been passed to the people who actually are in charge of the money.  Sounds encouraging.

Rain coming in tonight.  I think we went all of October without much.  Our vegetable garden is close to done.  Figs are almost done too.  Just need that killing frost to take it all down.

I did go back and finished the rock, yipee.  It's crushed rock so the dust that gets on me and mixes with my sweat is a thin layer of concrete in my hair.   :hihi:

That rain turned out to be a tornado warning at 2:30 in the morning.

All the leads turned in their budgets for next year today.  We're going to come in a few hundred over last year.  And I'll request an additional $2500 for the herb garden renovation.  Not sure if that will get approved.  We talk it over tomorrow.  Phebe brought a metal raised bed for the pantry garden instead of wood.  She's willing to reimagine that garden, cool, it's been looking like shit.  Wood panels come in for the compost bin tomorrow.  Hope we like them.  With a little bit of luck, we will close the gardens by Thanksgiving.

Fortunately I have a minor headache and my allergies are acting up.  Couldn't get a rise out of me if you tried.  Budget meeting went well.  The herb girls don't know what they are doing.  Revised budget came in $1000 more than the first time.  I put one bed in the budget and the other 5 on special request.  In the end, I have $100 left to make compost repairs out of this year's budget.  All that took 5 hours.   :hihi:  Meeting was only 2.  It's the budget dissection that is the pain.  First I have to know what each garden is spending so I can keep track of it for myself.  For the budget committee, I have to break it down the total budget into 5 categories such as plant, hardscape, etc.  Then I have to give them the month the money is to be spent in for the treasure.  All the columns did not add up right the first time.   The second go around, the month money was being spent in was off by $85, so I lied.   :hihi:  That one is just an approximation.  All in all, kicked ass on putting that together for them.  And I'm pretty much spot on with this year's budget, did not go over.

The panel donations included 3 panels of white, plastic lattice work.  I hate that shit.  I don't even use it at home and I'm a cheap ass.  Real wood people!  But we will use free at the gardens and Beka says I can paint it.  Hate it enough I probably will although I did live with some at the garden for a while before I gave it away.  We could really only use one of the hose donations.  It all helps.

Bob and the girls almost finished the base of the retaining wall!  Little bit left to go and then we can start glueing down the toppers.

Had to kill the herb garden plan.  The 4400 didn't include the other 1200.  They are way out of our ability to do this unless it's over several years.  Sending them back to the drawing board.

Now she's saying the 4400 is all of it and refusing to give me an updated sheet.  Fine, you're going before the money people and asking for funds.

Seriously, did I not just review our budget with him sitting?  Mentioned we were $2000 short in funds this year and we were spending what we had down to zero.  Authorized the president of the group to spend $160, leaving me only $100 to make compost repairs which may not cover it.  He texts me today saying he got a better price so he got more and went over by $8!  Okay, it's only $8 and the man can't hear worth a shit but I pride myself on keeping us under budget.   :hihi:

Raining a lot here and more expected.  Cool, I have a lot of ground to dig up.

The creek is out of it's banks.  At 8 this morning it was right there but we're sitting at 20.86 now and rising.  We're not in trouble until around 22.5 feet.  Our normal is 1.46.

Jim has agreed to build all 6 of the herb garden beds.  I'm taking the wait and see approach on the costs.

Three and a half sides of the garden flooded.  Our usual flooding.  It will be gone by the time I get there tomorrow.  Head of the office wants me to let her know if there is any puddling on property tomorrow.  Why?  The usual soggy parts.  My attitude just shows I've been there too long.  The people who ran out to check on it are the folks I know who care more than the rest.  I guess I'm really at I know it's okay and I don't need to run out there.  I do care, I'm just tired.

Catherine is steadily working on the retaining wall.  Kevin has the supply list for the compost bins and has it on his to do list for next Wednesday.  Jim and Beka scheduled to help him.  Tom is scheduled to finish the shelving.  That would be all the fall projects completed.   :D  I started cleaning up my beds.  The celosia while still pretty had to come out before it drops more seeds.  I think I'm going to go ahead and prune the crepe myrtle.  I did it last year because they were getting windows and it didn't seem to hurt them.  Normally they get pruned in March.  I'm not waiting much longer for the killing frost.  I need to get my beds cleaned up.

One of our members stopped by some political signs nobody picked up from the election before this and got us 8 T-posts.  Fair warning, pick that shit up or we will.  :hihi:  Not sure if we are stealing or cleaning up pollution.

Beka and I had our overall leads workday.  You can't get anything done on regular workdays when you're the overall lead.  I got there at 7:30.  She got there at 10:30.   :hihi:  I had some bushes to take down and we were wood chipping the front of the Bird Garden.  Did walk over to Pantry and discussed the redesign of that.  We want to put a fence around the whole thing so we don't have to use chicken wire.  Don't hate it but it is a problem.  I would also like to see a storage area and some seating.  Don't know where we'll get the funding for that but Beka will make it beautiful.  We'll probably lose two, half beds so the fence can fit between it and the annual beds.  We have a water system in there so she has to work around it.

The counsel approved Deana's brick fundraiser project so they will be bricking the pathways in the Perennial Garden.  We'll have to move all the stepping stones to the Native Garden.  Probably saving the install for next spring.

The flood gouged out part of my path around the greenhouse.  Waiting until it rains this weekend before I add that to the list.

No killing frost in sight.  I have some major clean up when that happens.  Nice out there today though.

These folks stir up a lot of shit.   :hihi:  I find out in steering committee the Extension Counsel expects us to install the engraved bricks after they install the blank ones.  Yeah the group where the guy yelled at me for asking for funding.  We are to pop one out when they ask, they will take it to be engraved and give it back to us to reinstall.  Sounds simple enough but we're talking 1000 bricks and popping in and out isn't that simple.  Then Leslie decides to go off topic and rant during an email about other gardens not deadheading their plants and them getting into her garden.  Well, if you're going to stir up shit, lets just get it out there.  I add a comment about those gardens and visitors complaining about chiggers in her garden coming to visit them.  And shut it down with a we'll discuss the issues at the March planning meeting.  She called but I didn't take that call.  Calm your ass down.  And then I dropped by the gardens and the new lead is totally tearing up one of the beds.  Good, it needs it and she'll do a good job.  The planting plan should get leads approval but the new lead is buying her own plants and the leads don't really care so I'm letting that slide.  Plus she's doing it when nobody is around so I expect it will be done before anybody even notices.   :hihi:

I did talk to Earl about the Fairy Garden.  Who knew a 70 year old man would be so into that?  The leads liked it but voted no money for it this year to which several people said aww.  Told them I had a plan to do it at no cost if they would help with some donations of fairy stuff.  Apparently Dollar General has some cheap stuff which I'm sure is not going to meet my tastes but we'll see.  We're doing something under the new sign in my bed.  It needs to be elevated for the height to look right.  We can build a platform or maybe use a bunch of tall pots with a contest for people to put a fairy garden in them or maybe we can use that shallow, rusting wheelbarrow.  I think the wheelbarrow idea is winning, it's me but then again, it's Earl's idea for a fairy garden.  I can't take it over.

If mother nature isn't going to kill them, I have too.  Busy putting the yard to bed for the winter and collecting seeds.  Donna is right, don't leave your milkweed seed pods out to dry.  The heater kicks on and they take flight all over your house.   :hihi:  Donna is done with digging up the perennials.  Sure sign to wrap it up and close the gardens.  I'm not watching tomorrow.  Lots of projects that should wrap up, fingers crossed.

Tom completed the shelving project.  Katherine didn't show for the wall but she works other days.  Might be done, I'll have to check.  The lattice work, most of it, got installed.  I had 3 experienced woodworkers on that.  They only got it half done in 3 hours and did the decorative stuff first.  Why wouldn't they start with function, the finishing bin?  If they want to spend another day playing, it's okay as long as it gets done.  Beka said it took them a while to figure out how to frame in the lattice. Not like they didn't have the example in front of them.  :hihi:  Then again, we don't let me build anything so I'm going to go with they are the experienced ones and I know two of them love to bullshit.  Plus Kevin forgot the extra panel he had at home.  I'll go look tomorrow.

Phebe got in her new steel bed, white/gray.  Looks pretty good.  I would have went with the orange color.  

We have a winter storm coming in the end of next week.  I'm closing the gardens for general work sessions Saturday.

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What do you think?  They still need to put the 2x4 across the top.  I'm thinking I want that black.  David says I shouldn't stain it but it looks pretty run down to me.

Fished out all the Oxalis bulbs from the pots I was propagating them in.  The Iron Cross bulb is way different from the Purple Shamrock.  It's more like a little bulb where the Shamrock is what they call a corm.  A long skinny group of little bulbs.  Not many of the Iron Cross.  We sell those only to us.  Maybe we should skip a year and let me build up a stock of them.  A little pricey but the purples are double that.

Done!  There's always something to do in the garden.  I finished off what I needed to do at the gardens and at  home.  Even pulled in the hose.

Catherine and Peggy were out putting the toppers on the retaining wall.  They will finish that up tomorrow.  Tom is coming Wednesday to cut a couple stones for them and that project will be done.

The white lattice doesn't look so bad when you take in the larger view.  Phebe's steel bed is kind of shaky but it's sitting on top of the ground and not filled up with soil.  We need to get that in ground some before the winter winds kick in or tie it down.  It's meant to be a border around the asparagus bed and we can't add much soil to that.  Looks nice though.  We'll probably, eventually, replace all the wood beds with the steel ones.

It was cold out there Saturday.  Immediately noticed the holes in my jeans.   :hihi:  Catherine did get the retaining wall done.  The girls did finish in the greenhouse.  Marsha would have been proud.  My connection brought us 900 pots we can use at the plant sale.  Today I got the big hand tools cleaned up and winterized.  Still need to do the little hand tools on Tuesday.  May put an edge on the shovels or just wait until I use one next year.  Still waiting on that killing frost and Kevin to finish up the compost bin repairs.

Nice day out.  Hand tools cleaned.  Catherine finished up the retaining wall.  Kevin drained all our water lines and winterized the watering stations.  We got a little wind damage from yesterday's storms.  Tomorrow will be okay but Thursday and Friday are going to be cold!  No killing frost though.  My cats come in at night now and sleep with me.  Pretty sure they are giving off more warmth than I am.   :hihi:

I'm tired of this one herb girl.  I ask for this and she gives me that.  Their fucking budget and format changes every time.  I'm already getting tripped up over my own policies and procedures.  They can all come to the steering committee to ask for funds and explain what's going on.  I don't want to sit through this conversation.  Still no response on the grant.  Geez, just tell me if we're being considered for it.

If all the bills come in at what they are budgeted for, I've got about $36 left.   :hihi:  That's with 30 people turning in receipts all year long.  That's if I've not been charged for shit I didn't know about or shit that should have been charged to someone else's budget.  And if I did the math right.   :hihi:

I think I freaked Beka out yesterday.  Talking to her about everything going on in the garden and what we we're doing next year.  It's a lot of things to keep track of.  I mentally visit each garden.  I'm not doing the work.  You just have to check in with each garden and ask where they are at.  Things that aren't covered by a lead you find someone to take care of it.  It's all scheduled.  You just click it off and add more stuff to the list.  She was sounding a little shell shocked.   :hihi:  I think it's easy but I didn't go too far into the educational activities.  That's a whole other thing the overall lead personally takes care, along with their own beds.  Overall lead doesn't normally man a garden.  I do and Beka has two she doesn't want to give up.  I've already told her the trick to that.  You have a separate day from the regular work sessions to come up and tend your own beds.

Yesterday I had a sneezing attack.  Been in the house all day, mainly the living room.  Couldn't figure out what new thing I brought in the house I was allergic to.  Maybe the outdoor cats staying in so much?  Finally occurred to me when I was in the shower the peace lily was blooming.  When I cut it off there was a couple tablespoons of pollen that fell out.  Better this morning but I need to give that plant a shower and wash off what I couldn't wipe off.  Problem is I can't lift it and it's too cold to roll it out to the hose.  Maybe I can vacuum it.

Killing frost Monday night.  And then we are cold after Thanksgiving.  I'll probably be out there in December cleaning up the dead plants.

Thank you Steve.  I asked him to fix the path to the tool shed someday and he did it yesterday.  The other Kevin purchased something for himself when he was buying stuff for us on our tax exempt number.  Straighten that out with the store but it cost me two bucks so I confiscated his $3 rebate.   :hihi:

I put a couple strands of my white lights back up on the patio.  Shouldn't interfere with the siding guys.  Gives me a little bit of Disneyland out there.  Normally I do 12 strands of lights.

I am not on the plant sale team.  I'm a grower.  I don't start until January.   :hihi:  Catherine emails me for the tax exempt letter.  That's plant sale, can't you email one of them?  This morning she calls at 8.  She seeded up the rosemary and needs me to babysit them while she's out of town for Thanksgiving.  Er, plant sale team takes care of the early stuff.  Took/taking care of both things for her.  They just assume I'm part of the plant sale team or I've been conscripted on to the plant sale team. 

Plant sale was Marsha's baby.  It hurts but I won't let her memory down.  Whatever I can do to make this a success.  Donna is heading it up.  Very competent woman too.  She didn't want the job but she was the best choice plus she stepped up.

It will be nice to have the plant lights on again.  I was going to start some rosemary from cuttings after the holiday anyway.  The seedlings can hang out with me if Catherine wants.

Why do I ever take these boots off?  My Red Wing hiking boots.  Didn't put on the wool socks but I should have. 

Killing frost last night.  Good night little garden.  I couldn't let my coleus sit out there and die.  Should have.  It's a big plant and I don't have enough room or light to support it through the winter.  It's pretty well beat up from staying out this long.  I have one plant I need to remove at the garden, the morning glory.  It vined all over the bed and it needs to come off the other plants.  We're cold for the next 10 days so it's not happening anytime soon.  I need one more day in the 50's to finish up.

I did the rosemary cuttings but the plant was already starting to dry up.  Don't think that is going to take.  I never do well with rosemary.  It needs to be misted in the house and I always forget that.