Cat Toy Stash And Meadow Planting

First, after posting Monday about figuring out the loss of cable service, I realized I had a couple of pictures that I could have used.  To get at the TV surge protector (to check the cable connections), I had to pull out my stereo rack (yeah I still have old stuff like that).    Well, I discovered 1) that I hadn't cleaned under there for a long time and 2)  Lori has been losing toys under there for a long time!

This is probably a better picture...

BTW, those wheels are a stand to ease rolling out the stereo rack.  I need to get in behind it and do some cable-checking; the stereo isn't working.  It is probably a failed controller box, but I need to hook up each device to the speakers individually to be sure.  I miss having high quality music!

Second, I planted the 40 meadow bed seedlings.  I tried making the holes with a bulb plasnter, but the soil was too hard.  Fortunately, I have an auger that fits into a drill.  Not my own drill and auger, but you get the idea...

That made things easier.  The seedling company suggests randomly planting the seedlings, but since they were of very different heights and it is a small "meadow",  I grouped the largest in the center and the smaller around the edge.  It took a while, and I was pretty tired afterwards.  All that bending over to drill and plant and backfill soil around seedlings is hard on my back and knees these days.  But I got it all done and then set a sprinkler to soak the bed for 2 hours.  

I do what I can to make things easier.  I wear kneepads, wear gloves, and keep an upturned bucket near to use as a support standing back up.  BTW, baseball gloves are great for gardening!  The leather is thin but tough and supple.  They give enough protection from small thorns and dried holly leaves, but you can still feel what you are holding.  If you have a gardener on your gift list, give them a try.

No pictures of that.  Forty 6" seedlings in a 30'x15' bed just don't show up.  I'll wait for flowers.  And there are other flowers in the bed.  I transplanted 8 Black-eyed-Susans from where I later planted the 11 heirloom tomatoes (in new disease-free soil).  Plus, I broadcast a large packet of native wildflowers in mid-May.  Hopefully, it will all be worth it later this year and for some years to come.

Third, after cooling off inside for a half hour, I decided to plant some beans.  Kind of late in the season, but I will get some Sept and Oct.  Even that took work.  I have invasive periwinkle wines  and had to pull many out of the bed and around it.  But it will be worth it to have fresh Italian Flat Beans again.  The canned ones are too soft and salty.

Fourth, still more to do.  My Bok Choy planter succumbed to aphids and some sort of tiny gnat inside.  There are various kinds.  Fungus gnats, drainage gnats, fruit gnats.  I read that the gnats get in when you open a door (and you can't see them) and that most of them find any damp soil with organic matter.  

There are yellow sticky sheets that attract and hold them.  I found  20 sheets of the sticky stuff (and they are double-sided) at Amazon for $9, but I'm sure they are available elsewhere.  I have caught thousands.

I was going to say I can't figure out how the aphids find my inside plants, but I looked up their life-cycle.  Sure enough, there is a winged phase in Spring!  OK, next year, I am going to drape fine-mesh garden fabric over the planters.  Let's see them get through THAT!

If there are aphids in the planters next year, then there were eggs in the planter soil.

Next project is to shallowly till the soil around the Saucer Magnolia in the front yard.  The daffodils have died back, so it is safe for the bulbs.  I will scatter a packet of "deer-resistant" flower seeds in the disturbed soil and see what happens.  

Always something to do.  And I haven't even mentioned in-house stuff.