First Shovelfuls

Last week on Sunday evening, we took out the hose to soak the ground at the back of the yard, preparing for our first transplant.

Patrick has started demolishing the small retaining wall and will soon be knocking rocks and concrete onto the old roses there, so we're moving them for their own safety. We started with preparing the new spot for it - digging into the soil for the first time, we were very happy with what we saw. After watering the area and preparing to dig a very difficult hole, I stood on our shovel for the first time and experienced something I've never experienced at my parents' house in Antioch. As I half-jumped on the shovel, I sunk nearly a foot down into the ground. Now, this area of California is prone to highly clay soil and our yard is no different. Over the past year I have been digging holes out in Antioch but I've just found out that the clay there and the clay here is very very different. Antioch being quite a bit inland compared to our new house, the clay is extremely compact and dense. But in our yard, it literally took only five minutes to dig a 2'x2'x1' hole for my mature rose (and that because I'm weak). The soil here must be well mixed with sand from the coast (maybe 2 miles away), because while it is still very much clay, it is infinitely softer than the stuff in Antioch.

The hole ready, we carefully tied the long gangly branches of the middle rose, an orange red one, and pried it up out of the ground. Not too difficult, I think we got most of the roots. Then, Patrick grabbed the base and carried it over to the hole and we firmly planted our first plant.

The next night, of course, I went over to the house and see that the rose is horribly wilted. So I soaked and soaked and soaked it again and will be back to check on it tonight. It hasn't been particularly hot so I hope it will perk up in the next couple days.

I also planted my first home grown plants. I started a lot of seeds in our condo this past winter and now, the ones that survived, are mostly trying to break out of their pots. My first selection was my Coreopsis. This winter was the first time I ever started seeds and these Coreopsis were my very first flowers from seed. Here are some pictures of my darlings slowly growing up.

And here they are in their new home.

I figure we'll start with a planting bed here in the back of the yard, slowly widening the non-crab grass and weed-free patches. I know that I should actually remove the grass and weed areas even farther from the plants than above but ugh, it's tiring getting that shovel through the weedy root zone and into the clay below. With each shovelful, we pretty much rip three inches off the top of the soil and throw it to the side to get rid of the weeds and roots. We're making a fair pile of castaways. I think we'll make a mound out of them in the back of the bed and eventually plant a shrub on top of it. Maybe a Ceanothus or a Redbud.