Butch, the Biker Bear

I had just finished working when I heard a loud racket out front; it sounded like the Hell's Angels were descending on my yard.  I rushed out to see what it was and there was Butch, the Biker Bear.  Apparently Butch and Larry met in New Orleans while they were both there for Mardi Gras and Larry had invited him to "come visit any time" so here he was.  I also found out they'd decided to form a motorcycle club, Mr B's MC and I'm the honorary president, so when do I get my "colors"?  Looks like Butch will be staying for an extended period, so welcome to the garden, Butch!

A tisket, a tasket, a pretty planted basket

I bought some baskets at Michael's on Sunday and got around to using them today.  The first one was added to the handlebars of the scooter that's been in the front yard since last May.  The basket was lined with weed blocker and the filled with red, pink and yellow snapdragons, then attached to the scooter with zip ties.  The drip line was extended to the basket so it doesn't have to be hand watered.

This is my grand kids old tricycle that had seen better days, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, so I decided to turn it into a planter and after looking at bicycle baskets and deciding they were too expensive, I found some on sale for just $2.50 each.  Like the one added to the handlebars of the scooter, these are lined with weed block fabric and attached with zip ties.  I found a flower I hadn't seen before, Stock, Matthiola incana "Harmony" and decided to plant the baskets with it, as I thought the color would go well the the red and white of the trike.  I need to run a new drip line to the front of the yard to water these baskets and the terra cotta pots on the lamp post as well as the new tipsy planter; looks like a project for the weekend.

Gardening at Lunch

Used my lunch hour to plant a few additional flowers, including four Stella d' Oro daylilies in the planter in front of Larry, some Peaches 'n Cream and Heatwave dahlias at the base of the Ein Shemer apple and some Asiatic lilies in the cherry basket I bought earlier.  Last year I planted Heatwave dahlias too late in the spring and only got a few blooms before the sun killed them, so I'm hoping by planting earlier and hopefully getting shade from the apple, they'll have a better chance this year. 

My first tipsy planter

I built my first tipsy planter yesterday and put it the front yard for maximum effect.  It consists of a piece of 1/2" rebar 58" long that was salvaged from a demolition project (cost: free), five 8" terra cotta pots from the 99 cent store (cost $5), compost from my pile (cost: free) and 5 six-packs of flowers from Home Depot (cost: $10) for a total cost of $15, but the results are priceless.  I pounded the rebar into the ground, leaving 

36" exposed, slipped the first pot on to it and filled it with compost, then slipped the next pot onto the rebar and tipped it at an angle and filled it as well, repeating the process at opposing angles until all the pots were on the rebar.  The bottom pot was planted with assorted pansies, the next one up has red petunias, the next is filled with yellow pansies, the next has white petunias and the top contains snapdragons.  I'm so happy with the result that others will surely be joining it.  The next one will be be planted entirely in trailing rosemary and I can definitely see one with a variety of succulents.

Making the bulb bed

Here's a pictorial on the making of the bulb bed; first one is my soil sifting rig, which I detailed in the post on planting the Ein Shemer apple.

Next is the partially completed trench, about 1/2 done.

The sifted soil from the trench was placed on a tarp and had to be covered when I wasn't working on the bed to keep the neighborhood cats from using it as a big litter box.

The finished bed, fully planted and mulched.  The trench was lined with weed block fabric to discourage the Bermuda grass, then filled 1/3 of the way with soil, which was then covered with 3 cubic feet of compost.  The bulbs were planted directly into the compost, then dusted with bone meal and covered with soil to within 2" of the top of the plastic edging and topped off with bark mulch. The daffodils are in the center, with tulips on either side; the east end (furthest away in the picture) has gladiolus in back and freesias in the front, while the west end has gladiolus in the back and crocosmia and ranunculus in the front.  Can't wait to see it in bloom.  Solar lights are from the 99 Cent Only Store.

Next up is a revamp of the sunflower bed, which is being expanded, as I have 8 varieties this year.  The current bed is inside an old palm tree stump which has slowly rotted out, except for the outer ring.  I think I'll need my pickaxe and maybe my chainsaw to get that part out.

Finally, the bulb bed is planted (and nearly finished)!!

After epic delays due to weather, work and family obligations, the new bulb bed is finally fully planted and nearly finished.  The plant list is as follows:

Tulips - Darwin Mix - 130
Daffodils - Prince Edward - 45+ (I was able to split some bulbs, so I'm not sure exactly how many there were)
Freesia - Mixed - 35
Ranunculus - Mixed - 20
Crocosmia - "Emberglow" - 10
Gladiolus - 6 each of the following:
Peter Pears, Fiorentina, Super Star, Plumtart, Lavender, Flowersong, Traderhorn and Early Bird

That a total of 280-290 bulbs, which should make for quite a powerful display.  Since I finished planting as darkness approached, pictures will have to wait until tomorrow, after I give the bed a good soaking to allow the soil to settle and then fill in more soil as needed, and finally, mulch it with bark to keep the cats from using the bed as a potty.

Larry's on Twitter!

Larry's on Twitter @Larryscarecrow and he's tweeting up a storm from New Orleans where he's hanging with his fellow scarecrows Mr. T and Marty (who used George's credit card to buy his ticket without his knowledge), having a good time and tearing up the Big Easy.  Just hope they don't end up as characters in James Lee Burke's next Dave Robicheaux novel (shameless plug for my favorite author).