east bed

Here's pix I took after work today:





And here's some Photoshoppery of what I hope it will look like in a few years:



ha ha, we'll see.

weekend update

Back yard: Northeast bed: T — friend's father-in-law — came by Saturday afternoon with his chainsaw. It was hot out, but stump was in shade, so not too bad. Everything was working great, until the saw ran out of gas and then had vapor lock from the heat and wouldn't restart. T had got most of the stump out by then though, and was able to hack the rest loose with the pick mattock. 14/10! Above and beyond, T! 👍



Stump remains, and the removed parts filled one of those Big Orange 5-gallon buckets:





On Sunday morning, I went out to shovel the pile of dirt back into the bed, then dig in sand, mushroom compost and Yum Yum mix. I got as far as shoveling the dirt in and dumping the other amendments on top before it got too hot and I had to go inside.

Waited until dusk-ish to mix the dirt and plant the mockorange, penstemons, agastaches, and columbines. Finally! Aside from not being able to get a proper "after" photo, I highly recommend evening gardening! I'll be looking into getting some crusher fines/gravel for mulch. The penstemons especially like a dry mulch.



The accent rock is the only thing you can (kind of) see! 😂

what's blooming

June 2017 Bloom Day
Daylilies:





New Mexico prickly pear (Opuntia phaeacantha):







Mexican evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa):



Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa):

weekend update

Back yard: Northeast bed: ugh. This bed. So, first, had a snafu sourcing a good-quality farm jack in town, so I ordered one online from Big Orange. It came in on Tuesday, Bram and I picked it up Wednesday evening. Thursday after work this happened:



Then the rope broke. Boo. Got some chain on Friday, then tried unsuccessfully on Saturday and (with Bram's help) on Sunday to extract the dang stump. Chain shenanigans, wrong jack placement, wrong 2x4 support placement, dirt too compacted (around the stump), dirt not compacted enough (under the jack/supports). Each attempt took like five minutes to reset the chain and/or jack. There were tears (me, not Bram). Plus it was too hot, and working in the full sun was killing us.



Stump wouldn't budge. I assume there must be some king hella taproot that goes all the way to Subterranea.



New plan: I've excavated more around the stump and have offered to give the jack to a friend's father-in-law in exchange for him bringing his chainsaw over and cutting the Stump From Hell off as far below grade as possible. Then I backfill, amend the soil and finally get those poor plants in the ground. *fingers crossed*