Terry is 69 today. We spoke over breakfast, and I heard about his retired life playing golf and learning Spanish.
I watered and weeded all the beds after breakfast, soaking in the mulch. Rain is expected to start tonight and continue all day tomorrow. I also added coffee grounds to the home-made mulch pile, and applied the enriched mulch around the camellia and the rhaphiolepis in the triangle garden. That garden is mostly sheltered by the house and suffers less from the intense summer heat.
I gathered and placed a few stones to shore up the manzanita on the downward slope. It has received rain and supplemental water regularly over the past few weeks and was recently fertilized. The stone border is intended to prevent erosion of water and soil amendment down the hill.
I finished the week by mowing the lawn and pulling crab grass and Bermuda grass as I went. I also soaked both planter boxes and all the back yard plants and the vegetable garden. The lamium is waterlogged because the pot does not drain, and it may not survive. I set it out too early but did not expect the rainy season to continue through May.
I pruned the unproductive branches off the lemon tree. No blooms this past spring and no fruit now, but at least the tree is looking healthier. I may need to winter over after the transplant. Lots of limes next to it to act as encouragement.
My final chore was breaking up branches for kindling and adding them to the kindling box. In another eight months the box contents should be well seasoned.
Penumbra 10.15, Sunset 8.15
A Year at the Snake 