Tuesday, June 13

Gallery of Shame

In my next life, I plan to be one of those "good" people who finish each project before they begin another one. I will also send cards for all birthdays and holidays and maybe even get them in the mail at least 2 days in advance, and... well, nevermind the rest of the list. I just started this blogging thing, so I have plenty of time ahead of me to share my other shortcomings.

Back to the project issue. Yesterday I tried to take some pictures of the garden and was failing miserably in my attempts to get anything good recorded. Why is that? Well, my half-finished projects kept sneaking into the viewfinder and messing up the shot.

So here, for your enjoyment (and to give myself a kick in the rear) is my rogue's gallery of currently unfinished garden projects:


Project #1: Grape Arbor

This poor grape vine--that leafy light green thing that's draping itself over the perennial geranium in bloom--needs something to climb. I have the "Groundmaster" post holder partway in the ground, and I have the post stained and almost ready to go in the basement. It "just" needs to be sealed. It's needed to be sealed for a couple of weeks now.


Project #2: Various espalier

I have three dwarf Bartlett pears and two dwarf apple trees that all need to have a post-and-wire training grid put in place asap for espalier. Again, I have the posts stained and everything else bought... I just need to seal the posts already. Side note: This isn't even the "right" way to train an espalier, but these were free dwarf pears that had been hacked at the nursery so I'm going to play with them. The apples are being trained correctly, however.


Project #3: Flagstone Path

Theoretically, this flagstone path will enable you to walk between the tall espaliered "Sundance" apple tree on your left and a shorter espaliered Bartlett pear on your right... through a sublimely scented carpet of different thymes, banked with drifts of borage and sage... as you approach the Japanese rock garden my boyfriend surprised me with last year. In reality, plan to do this in about 2010 based on my work history in this part of the garden. (In my defense, leveling and laying flagstones is long, tedious work, darn it!)


Project #4: Lasagna Bed

The dirt that I'm removing from the flagstone area is being added to the lasagna bed on the north side of my house. So you can see how far this has gotten--and that I have yet to move the anemones that I plopped in that corner last fall. Hmm. Forgot about those until I looked at the picture just now.

Sadly, all of these projects are scattered all over the yard. Not even one part of the garden is really "finished" based on what I want to accomplish this year. There are a few other pictures that I could post, too, but I'm cutting myself off at four confessions for this evening.

After all, I really need to get some laundry done so I have work clothes for tomorrow... so what will actually happen is that I'll just log off and take the dog for a walk. After all, I do have my priorities--and it's trash day tomorrow a few streets over, so you never know what treasures I might miss if I waste too much time folding laundry!

3 comments:

Kasmira said...

I also have a tendency to wander from project to project in the garden (and house) without finishing the first one. It took me 9 months to finish laying stepping stones from the sidewalk to the front door. I agree that the laying and levelling is TEDIOUS work!
But, I did have the self-control to leave my pond form absolutely untouched in the garage while I finished the stepping stone project. The pond and accompanying seating area are my next projects.

Unknown said...

That really is good self-control! I think that where I get into trouble is that I put things sort of where they're going to go in the garden even if I don't have time to actually do the whole project. The idea is that I can better imagine it all finished in my mind's eye... but I've noticed that once you see a half-finished project sitting stagnant for a few weeks, it starts looking normal to you. It doesn't even register after a while!

David (Snappy) said...

The best idea that i read was do one area at a time.Breaking the garden down into jobs.Besides when you think you are done you think of new things to do, old areas to renew or change.Think of it as a garden in progress, between how it is and how you want it!!

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