Monday, March 14, 2011

Gardening with dogs

Some digging needed to be done.

Tilly (in the front there) was the one who got it all started.

Everyone had excellent form.

Go, Tilly, go!

Elvis started to slack off and roll around in the dead leaves. Tilly had to take a break and go over and ask her dad what the heck was going on...in a nice way of course, because she is a very good puppy daughter.

Aussie got in there and started digging her own hole.

And finally Tilly got hold of what was giving them so much trouble underground.

An irrigation system. I had no idea there was a network of soaker hoses connected under all that dirt.

The daylilies and irises probably benefited from all that um, aeration too.

Okay, Aussie. If you keep digging you're going to make it to China in no time. I think it's time to stop...

...and take a water break.

Last November, Pix and her Mr. Pix brought me some little sassafras treelets from their hacienda. Tilly helped me dig the hole for them.

Once I covered the hole with mulch and convinced Tilly that her job was done, she ran on over to be with her brother and father and two aunts. Work time was now over. Play time was on!

Aussie continued to supervise absolutely everything of course.

Sassafras trees are supposed to be very difficult to transplant but the ones that Tilly and Aussie helped me get into the ground are alive and as of Sunday, sprouting new buds.

Those dogs might be a little too enthusiastic with their digging but I just look at it (this time) as a lot of help from some extra green thumbs....or paws.....or something. And regarding the irrigation system, I never would have known about it unless some motivated pup pulled part of it out of the ground.

(By the way-no moles or mice or snakes or any sort of underground varmint were hurt or discovered in this weekend excavation.....surprisingly.)

6 comments:

Rural Rambler said...

Awww Maria that is so dang cool. A little bit of our little bit of country is a part of your little bit of country on that land of yours in Kansas. Makes me smile this morning :) CH, um Mr. Pix, had just asked me Saturday if I thought the Sassafraser had made it. I told him I thought for sure it had. What a great picture of that little bud getting ready to pop. I am just all swelled up with happiness! Glad you got out to that land in Kansas and got to play with Aussie and the rest of the puppers. An irrigation system? I think you are going to be finding lots of surprises out there! I think we are going to have to make a trip out to your little bit of country very very soon :)

Maria said...

PIX!!!!! Sorry it's taken so long to respond to your nice comment. :-) I was pretty anxious about the sassafrasser's survival too. Over the winter I would give it a little fingernail scrape test to see if there was still some green underneath the bark and so far, so good. Looks like all three of them survived (so now I might uproot the two little ones and transplant them somewhere else....or not). I took the LONGEST time trying to find the best place to plant the sassafrassers based on their environmental needs but there is so much conflicting info out there. Sassafras is an understory tree, it needs full sun, it needs protection, it likes moist soil, it likes dry soil.....oh I just gave up and put it in a spot (front and center) where I will see it every day. :-) I forgot if I told you the story about how little Tilly helped dig the hole for your sassafrassers. She was an excellent digger. Even after it was all planted and mulched, she wanted to keep digging. I just had to turn her around and scoot her in the direction of her family and she agreed her job was done. Aussie would have taken care of it if Tilly continued digging. I swear that dog reads my mind. She's incredible.

Yes. An irrigation system.....but where it starts and where it ends.....I don't know if I'll ever find that out. :-/

And yes to another visit. That will be fun!!!!!! I look forward to it.

Hello to Mr. Pix! And hey, it's hard coming up with weird anonymous names for people. I thought "Mr. Pix" was a lot better than "NMCH." You know...."not my country husband." Hope he doesn't mind. :-)

Leenie said...

Too bad you can't channel all that energy! You'd have one heck of a roto-tiller. You've just got a random roto Tilly.

Maria said...

HAHAHAHAAHAHA! I thought I was being so darn clever coming up with "Aussie posse" but a "Roto-Tilly?..." Good one, Leenie!

Kimberly said...

L-U-V the pictures of the digging festival!

Maria said...

Kimberly-I enjoyed watching them too and oh my, what enthusiasm. Wish I had a little bit of that in me when I needed to get something done!