Gardening chores are done! Well, not quite!

Yes, believe it or not, I finally managed to get all the bulbs planted that I'd ordered from one of the gardening centers.  I"d been procrastinating about this chore for a couple of weeks and now I hope I hadn't left it too late.  Somewhere I was told that the bulbs need to have enough time to develop a root system before winter shuts them down.  Don't know if that's true, but I guess we'll find out next spring.  

The reason I put off doing this job was that I knew it would be more than simply digging a hole and placing the bulb in.  Oh, no!  Because this is a newly created planting bed in an area that hadn't been touched by a spade in 40 years, I knew I had to turn over all the soil.  That was a good 2.5 hours of back breaking work, but I got it done.  Then a half hour of placing the tulip, daffy and crocus bulbs.  I was going to cover the entire bed with some well rotted compost but was too tired to get that part done.  Today it's raining so I don't know when I'll get the compost put on there.  Well, I think I have a week or more to get that done.

I planted these Rembrandt tulips, my favorites. I love the variation in the flowers.

  

And an assortment of other kinds of tulips and daffodils.  I planted them all mixed together so we'll see how that turns out except I planted the Rembrandts in 3 separate clusters. And these mixed giant crocuses in several clusters around the edge of the bed.

And, lucky me, a friend of mine mentioned yesterday that she was dividing her purple iris and simply throwing them out. Well, I couldn't let that pass, and I offered her some of my yellow iris in trade and she jumped at that!  So, if the rain stops, we'll make the exchange today.  I absolutely love irises! And that should be the end of my gardening for this year.

No sewing done yesterday. By the time I finished planting, I took a break before getting ready for the monthly guild meeting.  That went well, I think, but I realize that I'm an exhausted wreck when the meeting is over.  I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure everything goes exactly right--and it never does!  But all in all, it was a good meeting and after the business part, the group played a little "getting to know you" game (since we have a lot of new members and had a number of guests as well).  The social part of the evening that followed was the most animated I think I've ever seen!  I think my little game was a success as far as people feeling comfortable in the group. I'm happy.

Sewing room all day today--after an hour of housework.  I'm determined to stick to that commitment. Then, more little dresses.