Saturday spent a long afternoon and early evening in the garden. More cleanup and all those little things like:

– cleaned up the ivy along the back wall.
I know this may be really anal but I am not going to let this ivy take over – I spent a bit of time pruning, cutting back and redirecting i.e., winding the ivy thru the ald rusted cast iron fence (left over from who know's when).

-tied and cleared up the clematis (Sweet Autumn) along the same fence.
Some of it had grown up and over the adjoining back fence of the neighbor behind me. There are new owners in that property and they spent that last week (thank goodness) clearing out the bamboo stand that the previous owner had let take hold of one of the back corners. I will NOT miss this – it shed and shaded that corner and back of the garden and is much appreciated. I feel like taking them a cake! Anyway, pulled gently on the runaway clematis vine (it was a nice big fat chunky one) and retied it to the top of the fence. By today there are already lots of little sprouts (yeah)

-pruned rather aggressively the tall Rose of Sharon in the back corner.
I only keep these cause the landlady likes them. But they get pruned back as far as I can get away with each year. This one was about 20 feet tall and by lots of stretching and using the extra long lopers I was able to prune the branches down to a reasonable height (and cut off all those deadheads too).

-cleared up around the climbing roses along the back fence
These are coming in very well thank goodness. Planted late last year in June I was worried about their winter survival. Both are New Dawns which I love . Happy to say that they are growing beautifully and sprouting lots of leaves and branching out – hopefully will have some nice blooms along that fence this year – and will be able to develop a nice framework for next year and so on.

-clematis upkeep
All of the clematises (pl?) are coming up and some very vigorously – so thrilled. I love clematis with a wild unreasoned passion. Don't know why – I have seven and will order probably a half dozen more. There is a lot of vertical space to cover in this backyard and what better way? Anyway, tied up tendrils to trellises and fences on all of them except for the one that is a little behind the rest – but will be catching up soon. Unfortunately, several shoot ends were broken off but they are rooting nicely now in glass bottles (kept specifically for this).

-potting bench cleanup
took everything off and bleached and cleaned it as well as the slate tiles that act as the cover (found in a heap by the side of the road two years ago). everything was bleached and cleaned and dried and rearranged.

-general cleanup
Lots of little prunings etc.

So that was a good day. Sunday spent most of the afternoon with the laptop on the patio (with a very weak wireless connection that has been resolved since – more later) updating my spreadsheets from last year as to what was bought etc

Started a master spreadsheet of the CURRENT Growing Things. Need to continue to work on that.

Yesterday was a big house chore day.

Which brings us to today. After much research, had ordered a range extender for my wireless network. Although had regretted becoming an Amazon Prime member earlier this year with its annual fee, I reaped the benefits by getting the item TODAY after ordering it Monday.

There were lots of posts on the Nets about the configuration of this – but my wireless router is Linksys and so decided to take a chance on the Linksys range extender. After faithfully following the instructions which got me nowhere except with a RESET of the router's settings (including new keys! argh), decided to go with my gut and "played" around for a bit.

Gave my laptop a static ip and attached the extender by cable to the laptop. Went into the extender's setup and configured it with the correct WEP key.

Voila!

Set the range extender in the kitchen high up on a shelf. All is well now and am getting the same speed as get when in the next room from the router. (54 mbps)

So right now I am sitting on the patio (its after 8 pm) with my wireless speaker playing whatever WQXR has programmed (something baroque) and typing this entry while watching the dusk descend. [and my neighbors are listening to the ball game with one of them smoking a cigar which is not too obnoxious – the joys of the neighborhood backyards]

And thinking of the Grand Garden List.

1. Plant the few perennials that overwintered in pots (ran out of steam last fall) – some astibles, mums and veronica, a hydrangea which may or may not be alive.

2. Plant the fig tree which means moving a bunch of bulbs (probably to one of the containers).

3. Figure out what to order to fill in what did not survive. Graceful Gardens and Bluestone Perennials and some more bulbs from Becky and Brents. If I get the GG order in tonight, maybe Amanda will send it tomorrow so I can plant it this weekend (having ordered before I know it takes about two days). Have to be careful about ordering so that the plants don't sit in a warehouse over the weekend!

4 Figure out what seeds can be started now – its been pretty warm this week but each night has plummeted back to the low 50s. Already planted sweet peas in their planters by the back corner behind the bench. Need to check the dates and temps for the rest (long list = another post)

And your treat for reading this…