Today was yet another beautiful day, but unfortunately, it is a Monday, so that meant stop playing in the dirt and "get back to the paying job."
But I did make a point to quit on time today so I could do a few things outside. First thing was to set the little oak tree seedlings back up on the well house. I had put them down on the ground yesterday afternoon thinking they might appreciate being in the shade. And what happened? Of course something (probably a rabbit) ate the top off of one!
I decided to dig up the Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) plants that had come up around the concrete pad holding the propane tank. I relocated them to the "flower bed to hide the ugly stump." I've seen dock in the fencerows and fields all my life, and always thought it was native to North America. Turns out that it's not. But I'll go ahead and grow it in that flowerbed because Huw Richards says it makes a great addition to a weed tea.
I know from past experience that it does keep putting up new leaves as you cut it back, so that's kind of what I'm hoping to do with it.
I also filled the old rusted out foot tub with sticks, straw, manure and dirt, and the put my groundnut (Apios americana) tubers in the tub. One tuber was squishy and rotted, but another one had a tiny little sprout on it! And at least the others just looked like they did last fall. So that was encouraging. I hope they'll grow up onto the compost bin and actually bloom this year.
And the last thing on my list was to try to decide on a home for my two Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) trees. They've shipped and are supposed to be delivered on Wednesday!
Guess what else is supposed to arrive on Wednesday....
Yep...the rain. Hopefully there will be a break by afternoon so I can get the trees in the ground. The poor little cherry tree was planted in the mud, and it looks like the Pawpaw trees will be too. If I want to get some compost or rich dirt to put down in the planting hole, I'm going to need to do that tomorrow afternoon!
I'm not sure why Food Forest Nursery didn't ship the Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) and the Royalty Purple Raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) at the same time they shipped the Pawpaws. But the order still says it is supposed to ship this week, so I'm going to be checking my order history every day in anticipation of that tracking number!