By the end of the day the wind stilled, the sun was bright, and Jim and I sat in the gravel garden and just enjoyed a beautiful March afternoon.
I used to like clearing the back hill. It felt so good to get at the bittersweet and get things "under control" over several days in spring. Not so any more. It's discouraging.I worked slowly and carefully, not ripping vines out as before, but carefully cutting canes, handling the pot of herbicide and brush with caution, and scrambling where I could to paint the stems. Slow, tedious work, and even this early in the season it is a jungle out there.
It looks neat and easy in the diagram, but it's a job out in the tangled mass of canes and vines. Not as rewarding as clearing out the brush used to be several years ago.
In the gardens I planted several new pots of drumstick alliums that I got at Warner's. Such little bulbs. I added them to the top of the driveway garden next to the new smokebush, and a few around the far edge of the gravel garden. You need a lot to make a statement.
I added lime and fertilizer to the clematis (Alba Luxurians by the patio, and Jackmanii in the big pot.)
Added bulb booster to the emerging alliums and to the tulips in pots. One pot is ready to bloom, the white ones at least.
