today, I did...

...nearly nothing. I have to work everyday until next Sunday, which will be everyone's day off, due to the store being closed. Do not expect to make a run to Publix to grab a few things to complete your Easter dinner. I did get the kitchen, bathroom, hall swept and mopped - floor cleaned up from the man and cat who are messy eaters.  It is possible I will clean bathrooms before going to bed.  I will not tell how long it has been since that has happened here, likely the last time someone who is not us came to spend the night and would be using the facilities.

I had great plans for getting stuff done in the yard. But not much happened there, as you can tell by the fact that I have been sitting here typing most of the day ;-)  There have been lots of weeds uprooted, and those agave that have been sitting in the wheelbarrow for two weeks planted. The planting occurred only because I was in need of the wheelbarrow for another project: making dirt.

I've been buying the 'ingredients' for dirt and making a 'recipe' to have buckets of potting stuff on hand for putting things in pots or in the ground. I think I used up the last of a bucket full when I planted foxglove across the front of the house several weeks ago, so I have the makings for creating more 'dirt'. How does one create dirt, you may ask? The ingredients vary, but I use  1) vermiculite, to keep the dirt from packing down, which would cause the plants to not get enough air on their roots, and possibly drown.  2)  Packaged, sterilized manure. 3) hummus or compost, and 4) peat. I generally add some 5) osmocote, time release fertilizer into the mix.

 Dump it all together and stir well, store in covered buckets until you feel the urge to plant things.The wheelbarrow is the only thing of any size I have to put all this conglomeration in and stir it up good. Sort of a giant mixing bowl. (Not surprising for the girl, who as a kid, in the blistering hot south GA summer, would get the garden hose and fill the wheelbarrow to use for a wading pool.  Good cheap fun if you don't mind having an older brother blackmail you over it for the rest of your natural life.)

I did not have any of the 'recipe' mixed up and could not use the wheelbarrow as it was full of those agave plants, that as you might guess, had gotten pretty raunchy due to sitting in a puddle for over a week. But I got them planted out there in No Man's Land, and cleaned out the bowl of the barrow so I can mix up some more happy plant stuff - and now it is raining. That is my excuse for not being productive for the remainder of the day. The planting saga will continue tomorrow...