My hardy water lilies from Lilypons Water Gardens arrived last night! I am a complete cheapskate... the water lilies at the local pond store are $27. I found my lilies for $14 online.
They arrive bare root and it's up to you to pot them. Fill a 7.5 qt pot 3/4 full with heavy clay soil, tamp it down good, place the lily root, more soil, pack it down and cover with pea gravel to keep the soil from coming out of the pot.
Simple.
Only with me, nothing is ever really simple.
I haven't told you but I have this thing with earthworms. I don't know WHERE this comes from. When I lived in the city - heck - even now, if I was or am out walking after a rainstorm, I would and still do - pick up the worms on the sidewalk and toss them back into the grass.
I was out with my dog in Denver, a long time ago, when I lived there as a single girl. My good, old dog was happily snorffling around in the grass... and I was crouched over the sidewalk saving worms. I had super short hair at the time and all of a sudden I hear this little kid yelling, "MISTER! HEY MISTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Gawd. I got caught saving the earthworms! I stood up, completely embarrassed, called my dog and promptly walked in a most business-like and adult manner (avoiding stepping on any worms of course) back home.
I asked Furry Husband to help me pot the lilies. I guess I was thinking of using his manly strength to place the heavy dirt and gravel filled pots into the water. I had my little hand trowel and I'd happily scoop up some dirt, look for worms, pick out any I found and place the worm free dirt into my lily pot.
Here comes Furry Husband. All man and testosterone. He's got his shovel. Why is she messing around with that tiny hand trowel? he thinks.
He promptly digs up a big ol' shovel full o' dirt and dumps it in the pot. There! THAT is how you fill a pot! he thinks proudly.
I see a bunch of worms in the dirt. "NOOOOOO ---- honey! We need to save the worms before we plant the lilies!"
Furry Husband stops and watches in disbelief while I sift through the soil pulling out earthworm after earthworm.
9 comments:
Dude! Gross!
I know right? I am a complete freak!
That is disgusting. The very reason I don't dig in dirt is because of worms and other tiny beasties. Hope your Lily's are beautiful.
Foxxy - I can almost see your wrinkling your nose in disgust! heh heh. The JUMPING bugs are what get me... grasshoppers, crickets... they leap out and suprise me! This girl at camp the only year I ever went, put on her underwear and proceeded to freak out - running all around in a blind panic - screaming and carrying on... she had a GRASSHOPPER in there. *shudder*
I admit I don't go as far as picking them up and rescuing them - ew! - but I do go out of my way to avoid squashing them. I won't ride my bike after a good rain for fear of running them over on the sidewalk.
O.M.G. I bet you still check anytime you go camping. Glad that was a lesson learned by someone else, huh?
Another fun camping story: Some of the boys from the neighboring camp covered the front steps/porch of our cabin with cicada shells over night. I was the one to discover them. In bare feet.
Cheryl - see? You are a girl after my own heart!
Heather - oh... oh... now THAT makes my skin crawl and gives me the serious heebie jeebies. serious.
Hi Shanster,
Yay for you, protector of the worms! We revere the worms because they are so important to the lawn and garden. Our compost area is chock full of them and we're glad to move them around the yard. Our compost is also prime sunning territory for our resident garter snakes, which we also enjoy seeing (though they freak our neighbor out). They're totally harmless and help control the voles and mice in the area ... btw, there are no venomous snakes in our part of Iowa so nothing to worry about other than getting startled once in a while!
IVG - Yes, I don't know where my love of worms comes from. Maybe it was Sesame Street cuz didn't Oscar the Grouch have a pet worm?? I don't know.
We have lots o' garter snakes too and they don't bother me either...
Last year we had a 6' long bull snake come and I thought it was a rattlesnake cuz it did the coil and rattle sound thing.
Guess they imitate the rattlers to get whatever is bothering them to leave them alone? I called a knowledgeable neighbor in sheer panic and she confirmed it was only a harmless (and BIG) bull snake.
I know we have rattlers around but we've never seen them on our place thank goodness!
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