Tue Jun 3, 2008

The cactus won

This wretched, miserable beast….

left tiny, sharp little cacti spiney things all over my body. There are still some I can’t get out. On my right ring finger. On the back of my upper right arm. And I swear there’s still one or two on my stomach somewhere.

To my lovely green garden gloves…

May you rest in peace. You fought a good fight. I will miss you. You did me well, for the time that we shared.

So, I didn’t end up getting the best “before” shot, but I’ll try to show you what I’ve been doing.

Before

After

Before

After

The tree in that last shot, the one on the left with the starters shooting up from the bottom, is gone.

I also started in on the other side of the driveway last night.

The rhode that remains, tucked behind the front porch is coming out. Lots of things not in the photos are still coming out. I’m going to rip out most of the grass and reshape the lawn. The new beds will be raised in the back a little, sloping towards the lawn. It’s going to be awhile before it’s done, but I’m getting really excited.

I have calls out for house painting bids, though I’m having a devil of a time trying to decide on a new color. (I can’t believe I’ve spent this long in a white and purple house. Purple?!?!?!?!) We need some siding repaired before we can paint, and, though I don’t think we can afford it, I’m dying to rip out the front porch and build something respectable.

So, wanna see what plant, in a yard up the hill, gave me the last nudge I needed to start all of this?

It’s pretty.

Behold, the Euphorbia Wulfenii…

wait, there’s another one-

I am SO putting as many of these as will fit into my yard. I hope they’re not expensive. They’re evergreen, even! I didn’t expect that. And the blooms last a really long time. They’re so pretty! And I think they’ll look good in front of the chocolate New Zealand Flax that Nate wants in the yard.

I finished the shawl, finally.

(Unblocked)

As I said, I ran out of yarn. If you recall, when I bought the Zen Garden sock yarn in January, I bought two colors, the lavender and purple, and the exact same color with some red splashed in it. So, I finished off the edging with the red. I think it actually frames the shawl nicely, but we’ll see how it blocks out.

7 Responses to “The cactus won”

  1. Abigail Says:

    Wow that is a LOT of work!!!

    We had the exterior our cabin painted by Eagle Eye Painters and they did a really nice job. I used a guy called Dave for our interior, I don’t know if he does exteriors but he did a great job for a lot less than Eagle Eye quoted for our interiors, I can get you his contact details if you are interested. Janell recommended him to me, he did her new house too.

    The shawl looks awesome, I had the same problem recently with running out of yarn right before the end of my first shawl and I used a different/coordinating yarn for the edge and I really like it.

  2. Liz Says:

    Euphorbia is super-invasive! Yes, it’s cheap, and yes, it thrives, but it crowds out native species, and it’s almost impossible to get rid of. (It spreads via seed and really fine hairy roots.)

    http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/leafyspurge.shtml

    p.s. sorry to hear about the cactus battle… yeouch.

  3. susan Says:

    Wow! MAJOR gardening. I’m so impressed.

    Thanks for the tip about the forget-me-nots — I’ve read/heard of them since I was little and it’s such a treat to know that’s what they are. Lovely things. I’ll have to try pressing them.

  4. Julie Says:

    I have a recommendation for a good painter, if you need another bid.

  5. Julie Says:

    p.s. I think the shawl looks really nice edged with the coordinating red!
    Good thinking!

  6. Sarah-Jane Davies Says:

    I have a feeling that euphorbia has sap in the stems that may be toxic. Worth checking out?

  7. reader Says:

    To remove cactus spines, put a piece of tape over the spine, gently push the tape on from both ends until you are near the spine, then pull off.

Leave a Reply