Janie, those of us who garden and have friends who garden know that feeling, though I don't have anyone around here who is so meticulous with the plants. I have exchanged a lot of plants with neighbors, and when you think about it, it's amazing that our yards don't all look alike for all of the plants we've shared, but they don't. Something to ponder.

Bobert, I have some starter fluid for the tiller (that I haven't used in ages) so I'll see what I can do without blowing the top off of the mower. :)

I managed to work through the first rain today--drizzle, really--but as the second one came along I had to call it quits. The first was just dampness falling, but the second arrived on the gust of an outflow boundary and it was packing firepower via noisy thunder. I hustled my tools into the garage, emptied the dirt from wheelbarrow to garden (no point in a bucket of mud tomorrow) and quickly scattered some fertilizer. I think it soaked in versus washed away, because I have the mulch down to help hold things in place and catch the granules.

There are a bunch of ceramic pots around the side door and a few more on the front porch. They are either empty or occupied by weeds, very little came back. I pulled the weeds, and decided my budget just doesn't support bedding plants for the pots, let alone the larger established plants, so I sorted through my old seed packets and went to town. A surprising number of seeds are still viable several years later, and I over-planted, to compensate for fewer sprouting. So far I've put out three types of flowers as I emptied packets (marigolds, various zinnias, and portulaca). I have several more pots to go--maybe I'll put onions in this year. :)

SRS