Haven't really gotten a lot of work done yet in the garden, but I have started cleaning the dead foliage etc. out of a couple of the beds. Took 3 wheelbarrows full of mostly zebra grass and siberian iris debris out of the Z5 garden. Another 4 out of the KK garden. I pruned the hydrangea back in that bed also - not sure if I did it correctly, but it's not taking over the path so bad now and looks a little tidier. Both beds are still a mess. I moved one of the russian sage from in front of the grinder to the dryer area in front of the lilacs. It was flopping all over the place. I think they like it dry, and I'm going to move a few more of them that want to flop. The one down in the windmill garden is gorgeous and it's in dry, sandy, not particularly fertile soil.
We got the septic tanks pumped out today so that area is a giant mess right now. Greg dug down to find the access hatches and we were both surprised that they were 2 feet deep. (It's probably been 15 years since we had it done last.) He dug some pretty big holes and put in some risers to make it easier next time. That equaled a butt load of dirt and sod, much of which ended up in my flower bed. I will be glad to get that backfilled and cleaned up.
I've gotten the greenhouse cleaned up and some seeds started - mainly tomatoes and peppers so far. I also moved the water plants that I overwintered in the garage frig into a tub of water. We'll see how that experiment works out. I had some dahlia tubers in there also, since I've had almost zero success overwintering those, and they are all potted up and hoping for the best. I've ordered more of all of these things in case it's a fail. It's impossible to overwinter the water plants in the pump house when we are gone for the winter, that was a complete fail.
The mice really made themselves at home in the greenhouse this winter, despite the cats being in there. They came through the usual hole in the corner (that I tried to plug up with steel wool) and made themselves a nest in the bottom pet bed. Living right under the cats! It was so mousy smelling in there that I couldn't stand it until it had been aired out for 2 days and sprayed with disinfectant. It seems as though we may have had raccoons in there as well. Sam said the water was muddy all the time. We had a couple teenage coons hanging around right before we left while we were still feeding the cats on the porch. I couldn't bring myself to shoot them because they weren't aggressive and didn't seem to be bothering the cats or anything. I can't believe they could fit through that little opening in the door! Maybe a mistake - Curly is gone, although she was apparently alive just 4 days before we got home. Mo is traumatized or lonely or something, and will barely go outside. Very skittish and quite skinny. I don't see him surviving next winter either, they were 14 years old this year. I didn't even know cats lived that long!
Today's project: Finish cutting the grasses back in various places, and get the Z5 garden back to kind of normal after the holes are backfilled. I also have some plants waiting at the post office to pick up. While I have the hose stretched out after spraying everything down after the septic project, I think I'll get my water feature going in the rock garden. Hope the little pump still works. And get out the hummingbird feeders - Greg said he saw one yesterday.
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