It's my first gardening season here at my new home and certainly a new experience.

I have less than a 1/4 acre with roughly 100 trees and 70 mature Mountain Laurel. With a grin, I add that I don't have one blade of grass. Prep was extensive since it had been neglected for so many years. We raked close to 700 bags of leaves and had 8 truck loads of branches.

My long term goal is to cover the lot with gardens separated by pine needles paths. This year, my goal is to get as many plants in as I can afford so I can shape the gardens and paths. I am stingily dividing,lol. A Hosta here with 4 stems, a Siberian Iris with six stems, etc. Market packs of annuals have become my new friend. Especially Impatiens as they earn their nickname "busy lizzies" and love my shade.

I suppose the best way to describe my yard, would be dry marsh, or dry shade. For the most part, I don't need a shovel as I plant. My soil is very loose but chock full of roots from the trees and Laurels. I cut very few as I go and instead try to make pockets in the ground for the roots. I have this growth on the top that I'm totaly unfamiliar with. It's like, first I have to part this netting of surface roots that is about 2 to 3 inches thick. I feel horribly stupid that I don't know what this stuff is. Bog moss? If anyone reading this does know, clue me in please,lol.

I've put in about 400 plants so far. I'm half way done. I have plants set aside for below Lindey's bedroom window but haven't gotten to it yet because I'm pretty sure I'm over thinking it. Purples, pinks and whites, of course.

I feel like I got to a late start or that I am behind. Don't we all feel that way? ;o) Water here is very expensive so my aim is to be dedicated to spot watering. I keep filling my bucket and carrying it with me as I go. I pay more per month than I did per year at my last home.

I'm in this weird busy phase. I think this makes people who care about me feel better. I, of course, will worry that it's some form of denial. "They"say, keep busy. This activity sure wards off feelings of overwhelming guilt of not doing anything productive but my heart doesn't feel any less broken than it did when I stared at the walls for six months.

I'm pushing myself at work too. Right now, I am working on a brutal job that requires a lot of scraping, mud work and sanding. It's only about 20x20 and we have gone through 15 gallons of mud and 6 tubes of caulk. It will be a relief to open a paint can.

Speaking of paint. Jimmy and I picked a yellow last summer for our house. We can't stand the color and need to repaint. Darn if we didn't buy new paint almost exactly the color that we picked last summer. You would think that after opening thousands of cans of paint we wouldn't make such a mistake. Me too. I cried,lol, as I went to buy a few gallons of white to make it paler.

Jimmy bought himself a 67' Mustang in horrible shape. Almost everyday for two months the UPS man comes with yet another smelly car part. I'm doing my best to ignore all of this. Perhaps this isn't fair and certainly cynical of me but I truly believe he is more into buying crapola on ebay for the piece of crapola he bought and will never restore it. Don't tell him I said that.

I have my maters in pots so I can move them around chasing the sun. I met a woman from Georgia who is just as sweet as our Jan. I'm growing okra for my new friend. I love it is soups. I must try it fried.

My brother is coming down here this weekend to his place. He asked me to join him on the beach Saturday.I feel as if I have to garden, paint the house, do paperwork or clean instead. I'm leaning towards not going. Something tells me to try to sit on the beach and soak up some sun.

So...what are your gardening updates and random ramblings?

~di