Achy-back gardening blues: It feels good!
Like a blue eye, a glass bead stares up from a moss-covered rock—my daughter’s doing. She’s become quite the moss farmer lately, transplanting it, when she finds some, to a shady niche in the Lion King rock. She keeps it watered and enjoys the way it feels. Recently she filched one of the glass beads I use to mulch a potted aloe and decorated her moss with it. A nice addition, I think.
I’ve been busy in the garden too. On Monday I worked outdoors steadily from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. And on Tuesday I was paying for it with muscles that ached all over. But I got a lot done, and it was wonderful to be outdoors all day, digging and moving rock.
I transplanted one of my ‘Blue Ice’ Arizona cypresses (Cupressus arizonica) to the lower garden, where I can enjoy it from several seating areas and even the kitchen window. I had to remove several large overhanging limbs to open up a sunny spot for it, for it doesn’t like shade.
I planted a half-dozen other new plants as well. This is my favorite time of year to plant. Even though this winter has been unusually cold, I’m still banking on winter-planting to help my new additions and transplants get established before summer.
Fed up with tripping and slipping down a muddy slope into the lower garden, I finally tackled the building of stone steps, hauling large pieces of limestone and old, broken patio paving (leftover from a previous owner’s redo) from the lower garden and insetting them into a hillside tangled with tree roots. Some of the steps are actually embedded stone that I uncovered as I began digging out the steps. It’s not a work of art, by any means, but it works. Now to go after all those live-oak suckers coming up in the beds and residual lawn at the top of the steps.
Dwarf papyrus seedhead in the stock-tank pond
I’ve also been busy painting my front door, entry porch, and window trim, and I need to do a final coat once the sun returns and dries things out.
I’ll have pics soon, but for now the new plants are small, the painting is unfinished, and there’s more to be done. I’m tired, but it’s a good tired.
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Hi Pam, I just love seeing your kids get involved in the garden, you must be proud as punch! The blue bead is just the right touch, I agree. The rock steps already look fabulous. Embedded rock is not going anywhere either, as opposed to our massive, but shifting concrete steps on the main slope. Even with rebar into the ground several feet, the steps are getting wiggly, with erosion probably. Love all the blue you are showing and anticipate seeing the paint job and improvements you have made in the front. We have been working outside too, and ache. Oh it is such a happy ache though. 🙂
Frances
Pam, on the contrary regarding your steps down – those are truly gorgeous and extremely well-laid. There’s always a touch of randomness to the best rock settings. Making it look like Nature just happened to juxtaposition rocks so they’d make a path is an art and definitely not a science! I love the look. Also, count me in among the blue color fanciers. Very cool. You also have neat kids. I know what that’s like! Gotta love it.
Thanks so much, Steve. I’m glad some randomness is a desired quality in stone steps. I’m not sure mine have only “a touch” though. 😉 —Pam
What a lovely lot of blue you have, pots and the bottle tree, even you plants have blue tinged leaves. are you painting your door and window trim blue too 🙂
Thanks, Melanie. No, the front door is green and the window trim is a plain off-white. My blues are in the back garden. —Pam
Lucky you! I can hardly wait for things to dry out enough for “playing” in the yard and getting wonderfully tired & achy! Not that I’m complaining about the rain, I’m just anxious to get back outside! Must go to my real job today but tomorrow I’ll at least be picking up all the branches that fell during the storms of the past few days. Love the blue bead in the moss! I dug up a wee bit of moss and made a terrarium earlier this week. ;>)Moss is good!
Looks like your daughter has inherited your knack for garden decorating! I can’t help but be just a bit green with envy that you are working outside. Our weather has been so gloomy and nasty lately. I miss seeing the sunhine and feeling its warmth.
No wonder you are sore, lugging those stones around! It looks great!
You are quite the inspiration Pam. It it weren’t raining I would go outside to see what I could do. I know one thing I could pick up about a million sticks. I have been lax this winter since it has been so much colder than normal. Your daughter looks like she is developing into an Artist/Gardener. The blue stone looks beautiful with the moss. I am sure the garden fairies appreciate her work.
The blue is eye catching in that green moss. I love moss, what a wonderful thing for your daughter to enjoy gardening as well. I’ll be glas when I am feeling the same tired as you, maybe tomorrow, we have already received almost 4 inches of rain this morning.
Oh, goodness, Pam! What a smart cookie you are for getting such a good head start on the season! I LOVE those rock steps you put in and am inspired to see if I can dig up some materials I might not have considered to cover some muddy places in my back garden. Thanks for the inspiration. I also admire your ability to anticipate what a section of your garden would look like with, say, the new cypress you can now see from your kitchen window. Well done!
Hi, Pam ~ You have been very busy. I love the moss with the touch of blue. She must get that creative touch from you. It is going to be another great day in Austin! You’re smart for giving your plants a head start. I think I am going to get outside today.
Any tricks to moss farming??
Well, the way she does it is to lift up the moss along with a little of the soil beneath it and just plop it down on a shady rock. She keeps it moist when she remembers. So far it’s staying alive, but summer may do it in. —Pam
I think you’re fostering the garden spirit in your daughter Pam! That’s great. She’s learning from an incredible teacher. I also agree that your stone steps look great. That’s a very long day outdoors! I don’t think I could do it without paying dearly for it either. It’s going to be absolutely worth it tho, and this summer (when you’re laying back in that pool) you’ll be especially glad you did it.
I miss that ache! The stone steps are wonderful, I should use some of my concrete chunks to put some steps in off the side of my patio. I think it’s great your daughter is into moss farming. My daughter doesn’t appreciate moss, so I’m ceding some sun/part sun garden area to her instead.
Oh, reading about all of your accomplishments make feel guilty that I have not spent more time outdoors working on my garden. I (almost) enjoy it when I have sore muscles from working in the garden because it reminds me of all that I have accomplished.
That blue looks really nice in the garden – a very nice touch. (I love that moss, I want to touch it) You’re so lucky to have been able to work in the garden this week. It’s beautiful weather and here an I, stuck in the office all week. And what are we expecting on Saturday? Thunderstorms.. grrrrrr. Hopefully I can get out and do something in the garden on Sunday, or perhaps I should concentrate on getting my plans on paper first..
Oh I love that tired out from gardening feeling you describe and I can’t wait until I get to feel it again! Good for you getting out there and enjoying your climate. Your stairs look fabu and your I love your daughters moss gardening ways!
Wonderful to have gardening weather again! You’re projects look great, especially those new steps. The moss gardener in your family is skilled, too.
Cameron
There certainly is great satisfaction to spending a day in the garden, especially when you can look at your efforts and like what you did. I love your steps and they will certainly make moving around the garden easier. We never had any rocks until we came here and it is one of my favorite things to do; messing with rocks. What a fabulous day. We arrived home at 3pm and,, after a quick cup of tea I couldn’t resist getting out there and checking things out. Before I knew it my hands were dirty.
What a lot of work, Pam! I think *I* need a nap just looking at your photos and reading about your activities. Nice to be able to do this sort of stuff now, though. Long time away for me…
It all looks beautiful. I love the stone steps & the little blue marble in the moss. Can’t wait to see the color you picked out for your door!
Kudos to your daughter for her ingenious addition to the moss bed. The blue marble reflects the surrounding trees in a mysterious way. I can see why the back is suffering with those heavy steps. They do look great.
Wow-gorgeous yard! I’m smiling at your daughter’s moss-farming. You’re giving her a great heritage. She won’t remember learning to love plants and growing because it was always part of her life.
Your steps are awesome and I’m REALLY impressed that you hauled those slabs yourself. That takes muscle!
Thanks, Kathleen. The great thing about rock is, it rolls. When it’s too heavy to lift, roll it! —Pam
PS My neighbor is digging a pup of the variegated agave you liked. I’ll have it by Monday, I think.
I love that moss! Have you seen Moss Gardening by George Schenk? It is paperback size but has great photos. I wish it were a coffee table book…
Your daughter has your green eye (or is that blue?)! I love, love, love moss.
How DO you get those live oak suckers up? Any suggestions? I hate mine.
Ugh—live oak suckers. I just pull them up and yank them out or clip them. What a chore. —Pam
Do you ever sleep? I am 55 now and have always dreamed of having my own garden. We transplanted here from the DC area, partly because of the TX landscape
Discovering this blog is like coming upon a Secret Garden, very inspiring. My envy is that I am stuck in an office or commuting 10 hours a day. The last few years have been difficult, but I am ready to awaken the creative juices. For the past few weekends I have been weeding, raking, lugging, and dreaming. What is it that you talk about… start in small patches and grow as your budget and energy increases?
How I wish I didn’t have to sleep, Cat. I’d get so much more done. Actually, though, I love to sleep. (I’m big on naps.)
Welcome to central Texas! It sounds like you’ll be getting your new garden started soon. Dream big but start small, the adage goes. With your larger plan in mind, you can work your way toward your vision a little at a time. Have fun, and happy digging! —Pam