Garden Party

I love Saturdays. Doesn't matter how much Weekend Warrior stuff has to be done. It's STILL the weekend!

This morning Fred and I took Spanky to the vet for a pawdicure. He loves to go for a R-I-D-E and he actually enjoys his vet visits. He adores other dogs. (I could get on my soap box here and make a Michael Vick comment. But I won't. Except that I hope karma IS instant in Vick's case.)

Afterwards, we stopped by the Farmers Market to pick up our weekly CSA share from Suzanne & Dave of New Moon Farms. It's been 3 weeks since a pick-up, thanks to the drought. But Suzanne was as cheerful as ever, and so were we when we inspected the contents of our goodie bag --- it was chock full of organic eggplant, okra, butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

Next stop was Concentrix, our Home Away from Home. Fred needed to do a back-up and I wanted to retrieve the baby hostas that arrived on Friday. Which brings me to the title of today's post -- Garden Party.

Here's a picture of who was on the guest list.



Hostas. Peonies. Plumbago. Hollyhocks. Butterfly bushes. (And others whose botanical names I can't begin to spell.)
I invited them because they were on sale. And as they arrived I chuckled to myself and thought "Yay! Good! They're all very small so this won't be a gardening ordeal at all. Small holes. Easy." But the laugh was on me. You see, I ordered FORTY-SIX of these guys. And forty-six SMALL holes is still forty-six holes!

Small or not, that's a lot of diggin'.

By the end of the day I'd planted 20. And realizing that I was in over my head I "heeled in" the rest before the sun went down. They'll be fine until I can get them in the ground. Fall planting in our area can take us all the way into December!

In the fading light, I harvested the last of the basil (for pesto ) and got all of my babies in the backyard watered. Lastly, I planted some organic lettuce seeds. And with that the Garden Party ended.

But a party isn't a party without party games!



Needing a rest, I started a rubber band ball, fashioned from the bands that encircled 26 of my "guests" in their nursery pots. I saved the material the ball is lying on. It served as mulch during shipping from the nursery and, I hope, will serve as nesting material for the birds this spring. (Note to self --- throw a plate to hold nesting materials for the birds).

There are hostas and peonies yet to be planted, so I guess another Garden Party is in order. (Shrub roses and dwarf orange trees will likely arrive early this week. ) These darned Internet End of Season Sales are so alluring!!!

At Clayworks, we say "Step away from the pot." Maybe I need to say "Step away from the plant!"

But I know I won't.