Backbreaking Work!

The 922 Side

Today was a great day to be outdoors. I hate holes and digging them. There are always the inevitable issues that go along with them....the caliche is there, there is concrete below, electric wire, rock, roots, toys from 1975, and the list goes on and on. It's a great way to take out your frustration but it sucks. It's not fun and I usually have to separate my days for each project because I start becoming impatient at how slow digging a hole can be. I started this morning and figured out where the mulberry tree would go. I planted the orange tree and followed up with the palms. The palms....

On the property there is one large California palm...it's big and beautiful but it's the only one. The rule in gardening is that you go with 3's....why that number I don't know, but it works. So I purchased 3 Mexican palms which have a skinnier trunk....but in the process of planting them, I tore my big toe and hurt my foot as it slipped on the shovel. Like I said, digging holes suck, but I am in a better spot than yesterday when I didn't know where to put my mulberry tree. 60 dollars and I couldn't get the damn hole deep enough to put the tree....the solution was to move it to another bright and sunny spot and it worked. However spaces on the property are becoming few and I have to be very careful with my selections. I have so many favorites I would like to put on the property....the chocolate mimosa or the catalpa, or the chinese pistache, or the loquat.....the list goes on and on....so adding a palm doesn't take a lot of room. Back to the "rule of 3".

I planted 3 palms in the different areas of the courtyard to balance and tie the other palm into the courtyard. They are fast growers so it should be interesting to see the results. I left several spaces untouched as I have very specific plants for those areas. Needless to say, I took a break after killing my feet with the shovel and tripping over a metal something or other sticking out of the ground....

At the end of the day, you sit back and wonder......in 10 years what will this all look like? What will survive and what won't? That's all for now:)