You know what they say about the best laid plans. Yep, while I was in Walmart yesterday, Cody texted me and said that Brennan couldn't get the day off she wanted -- which was the weekend of the 21-22, so they're coming tomorrow. Oh boy.
When I asked him to give me a heads up, I sort of meant more than two days. Oh well, we won't have our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but I bought a frozen lasagna and I'll cook that for them. Heh, and it looks like I bought that new slipcover just in time, too. I'd said they could help me put up my Christmas tree, but it's a bit too early for that. At least in my house. If you've got yours up already, that's perfectly fine, too.
But what all of that means is that I'll have to do my last minute panic cleaning tomorrow, and all the stuff I'd planned to do tomorrow had to be done today and the trip to Batesville I had planned to take today didn't get taken. I was hoping that Lowe's would still have some pansies or violas, since our Walmart doesn't have anything but mums right now, but that trip will have to wait. Maybe next weekend... And somewhere in the midst of all of this, I'll need to take time to bring all my plants inside, since we're facing the possibility of frost Sunday night.
With that in mind, I got up this morning and made a makeshift greenhouse over my remaining tomatoes.
I used some of my tomato cage parts and a couple of old drop cloths, but hopefully it'll hold enough heat to keep them from dying, and hopefully it'll also make those tomatoes go ahead and ripen before the winter sets in for good.
Once I was done with that, I finished cleaning up behind this side of the back fence, which there wasn't that much left to do.
A few logs and leaves, plus the fence the tree guy had taken down, which he tossed back there, too.
That still blows my mind that he thought it would be OK to pile all that stuff on someone else's property. And yes, he did know because I told him that the fence marked my property lines. Anyway, that side is completely cleaned up, and I was making pretty good progress on the other side until I found yes, another ground hornet nest.
I think the cat got stung this morning, because she came running into the house yowling and licking her leg. At the time, I'd thought she had run up against one of the honeybees, but now I think it was a hornet. She likes to sit on that big log, which is right above where the hornet nest is.
I got off pretty easy, seeing that I only got stung once this time. I ran inside and took a Claritin right away, so hopefully the reaction won't be so bad. Still, I decided that I'd probably be better off leaving that pile alone for the time being. I can get out there early in the morning...oh, wait, no I can't. I have to clean the house because the kids are coming!
Cody says they don't care, but I don't want them having to use a nasty bathroom.
With my leg still burning from the hornet venom, I switched gears and dug the red clay out of the bottom of the last 4' x 4' bed.
I filled the bottom with twigs and leaves from the tree trimmings,
then topped that off with some basil clippings.
It will break down over the winter, and as it does, I'll add more leaves and top it all off with soil. By spring, it should be ready to plant. All of the beds will need to be topped up, but now that I've got all of them except the last round planter at least partially filled, next year I'll be able to do my soil amendments in the fall when other gardeners do them.
I suppose I could have done them this year, but I wanted to leave the basil for the bees. Next year, I'll have my pollinator gardens going, so that won't even be an issue. I always said this would be a multi-year project, getting my garden going and all, so really, I'm kind of running ahead of schedule. Maybe tomorrow I can take a break from my panic cleaning and record a garden journal for you.
But for now, I think I'm going to check out and watch a cheesy Hallmark movie while knitting on my cousin's hat.
Laters.
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