Without question, the most significant aspect to this day is that it's raining. Was there even another July day this year with rain? July 2nd it stormed. I think that about sums it up.
The forecasters said the rain would come at noon. This means if I'm to plant, I better do it in the first half of the day. Millie and I were up at 6 and eating breakfast by 7.
Oh, puppy! You really are the most special little dog!
Because I have a very full day tomorrow, I'm letting Julie (from Happy Dogz, her previous babysitter) take her for the weekend. Were I to hand her over tomorrow, it would have to be early and I would have to drive out all the way to where Julie lives. But today, Julie can take her home straight from Happy Dogz, along with another doodle who is staying over for the weekend. Millie should be thrilled with having a playmate!
Me, I'm less thrilled at having her away from home. Yes, she goes to daycare three days a week, so I've surely been at Steffi's House (rushing to get things done) without her. But the knowledge that she is not coming home tonight weighs heavy on me. We do everything together, especially in the evenings, nights and mornings. Suddenly I feel the emptiness of a missing dog and it does not feel good!
Still, I have little time to think about it. I need to do my outdoor work because the drizzle is starting earlier than predicted. Ed comes over just to help with one especially tough hole and then I work the soils and put in two more roses and one mockorange.
You could say that the honeymoon -- where you think everything about your garden is absolutely brilliant and indeed perfect -- is fading. I'm starting to recognize the trouble spots. Yes, there's the rocky soil, but I thought I'd addressed that by digging out sizable holes to improve a large area around the root base. It appears that this will be insufficient. All along the fence line (where I planted half a dozen roses and two lilacs), the water from the rain is not draining properly. The holes still waiting for plants are filled with standing water from just a very light rain. This is terrible news for the roses. They hate waterlogged soil. (So do lilacs for that matter.)
I'm not sure why some areas of the parcel (but not others) are especially vulnerable to this, but I hate to think that my efforts to create a small rose garden will fail. (There's another spot by the garage that appears to have the same problem but there at least it's only a one rose issue.)
Ed points out that we've watched them level these parcels, compacting gravel and stone to make a buildable surface. So it's not even clay soil beneath some of the sod. It's however many inches (or feet for that matter) of construction matter. Stuff you put underneath roads and highways and apparently houses and their gardens.
I may have to do some plant moving.
(roses in places where water does not pool)
Ed reminds me that for these graded parcels (I'm on a slight incline), having a solid base is important. The house wont topple even if some of my roses may suffer.
By noon I'm done with digging and moving rocks. I still have six roses and two non-roses coming (some later today), but everything else is in. I come inside, bring out my sheep blanket, miss my little pup, and fall asleep. Yes, I am that tired.
In the evening Ed comes over. I make a light supper, we watch our show. I miss my dog, but Ed is an okay substitute for her. Or at least he takes my mind off the fact that she is not here!
Tomorrow is August. How could that be?!
with so much love...
