A diary...

Monday

And the sun is been warming up the land strongly, and I have been taking my plants outside a little bit every day to have them acclimatized.  And I have find out that the precious bougainvillea I'd given it for dead is pretty much alive and it is now putting out precious little leaves on every spiky branch.  I also started spring cleaning the garden, little by little removing debris and mountains of dead leaves that's been accumulating throughout the winter on flowerbeds and such.  I have also started painting flower pots, and the other day I finally planted all those bulbs I had purchase a months ago, which were already putting forth shoots already in their bag.  Now I need to add new soil and fresh bark on every flowerbed, and I'm thinking that a new cloak of pea pebbles on the beautiful pea pebble paths may be needed.  

Last Sunday we finally bought the pond liner that's so much needed to finally keep the pond functioning effectively and looking like a real pond.  Our pond is concrete and aside from the fact that it has a leak, and that the water level drops considerably, I had never liked that we chose to painted it white instead of black.  If you have a pond, you'd know that any other color that's not black looks pretty nasty once the coating of algae starts to grow on the pond walls. You can't keep the algae off... it is normal and healthy and should be left alone. But against any color, it looks bad. That's why pond liners are usually always black. The black will not be so dark once the water is in and the algae starts to grow.  I can't hardly wait to start working on that project!

Tuesday

I have planted my two first pots—unconventional flower pots I should say... for this time I didn't planted flowers, but vegetables!  And I am at awe at myself for opting to plant vegetables instead of flowers as this had never been my preference, nor had it ever cross my mind to embellish my flowerpots with vegetables... but when we visited Charlotte, SC I was amazed at the lovely flower pots and window boxes people everywhere filled with vegetables and herbs—rosemary, and chard; and they looked amazing and exotic, particularly the chard with its beautiful deep green leaves and red stalks.  

And thus, I have opted to grow vegetables in containers to embellish my backyard porch, which I want to turn into an oasis secret garden of sort with all kind of containers and such... 

I'm wondering if palms would adapt to this area.  I see people everywhere in Fl growing lovely palms in containers, and I want one, or two, but don't know what to do with it in the winter time.  The huge, beautiful Macho Fern I bought last year didn't make it outside.  I had this idea, or had read somewhere before that these plants can endure harsh winters, and thus I left it outside, but that was not the case.  How lucky of you those girls in FL that you can grow all those lush, exotic tropical plants and have them all year too.  One day I will move to FL and will have an amazing tropical secret garden.   Magical things have come true for me time after time after time, so yeah I believe in dreams coming true... 

  

More more, many more containers to go here... a Macho Fern, a palm or two, birds of paradise and a lemon tree.

I raked more leaves and debris off the flowerbeds and added new soil to containers and beds where all the newly planted bulbs are.  The vinca is now almost out of the flowerbeds in its entirety.  Last fall I started the pulling work and have finished now with what was left.  Never again would I chose vinca for the ground and only use it in containers... they are the most annoying invasive plants ever if you leave them on the ground.  They grow unruly and messy looking as summer progress, and will take over everything for sure.  My garden will look so much cleaner and prettier without them!

Wednesday

I continued with the spring cleaning project in the garden today; removed mountains of leaves and yucky stuff and painted a few more flowerpots.  How did all those dead leaves got blown away the previous spring and the previous and the previous I don't know?  Where did they go?  I'm sure this place was not looking this disheveled last spring, when the sun was shinning strong and flowers were starting to bloom.  Nature never ceases to amaze me with the way it has about making things appear, disappear and reappear in the garden.   Keeping this place looking like a formal garden it seems just such an impossible thing right now.  So much debris!  So much unwanted stuff accumulated between, over and under every corner!  And is one supposed to be spring cleaning a wood anyway?  Because it seems that's what I'm doing.  Such an impossible endeavors trying to keep this wild woodsy place a garden... 

I had quite the miserable night last night in relation to the issues that are affecting my health lately.  Why do bad nights seem to never have an ending?  It is almost like living in some eternal lapse of time when all you see and all you feel is daunting darkness all around.  Around you, and over you and inside you, and you feel as if your body and mind are not yours; they've been rip stolen from you, and with the eyes of your soul you see those parts of you hanging from the fingertips of some strange deity without a face.  Morning light seems so far away. 

This afternoon the Fisherman decided to work from home and when he was done we went outside and trimmed off some of the bushes and bramble that were pushing against the walls at the end of the garden, already trying to get in.  And then, out of the spur of the moment and the sunshine and warmth hugging our souls came this determination of working on the pond.  One of the biggest projects we had planned for this spring, and almost done now.  Out came every stone big and small, all the debris and trash accumulated there over the winter.

Now, we let dry and start working on installing the liner... I can almost see it—the water sparkling and fish swimming!