Last Friday, I had my 6-week check-up with my surgeon. He said, and I quote, “Do as much as your pain allows”. Of course, the first day I overdid it, trying to walk everywhere without crutches, and even tried the stairs, and now am back to using crutches again. (Stairs: not a good idea.)

Today was my first day to actually get out into my backyard since last December. I waited until the weather was at least 50F and not raining, which didn’t happen until today. I still used the crutches, and had my fiancé carry a few things out for me, but still! I was in the backyard! It was progress.

I found that one of my 30-year old rhubarb plants (one of which I had completely removed last fall, and the other of which I severely pruned) had survived. I now have one extremely large rhubarb plant, despite having removed a good 3/4 of the root system last fall. (I have photos I’ll post at some point; 30-year-old rhubarb roots are huge, moldy, and disgusting. And they extend for what seems like miles.)

I also found that I had apparently mulched my garlic beds too much. (Or, perhaps, I should have removed the mulch sooner.) I had out about 6″ of mixed leaf and grass clippings on it last November, worried that the garlic would freeze over winter. Some of the garlic shoots had made its way through the mulch, but most of it hadn’t. Once I removed the mulch I found that almost all of them did sprout, though, which is a good sign. Hopefully being exposed to the sun will strengthen up the shoots and help the plants rebound. This is my first year growing garlic, so I’m not exactly sure how it will go.

I also found that my rock garden was completely inundated with day lilies. I remembered it having a few lilies, yes, but it turns out the entire back half is covered with them. It’ll be a bigger job that I had planned on to remove them all. I’ll probably just have to remove the rocks and dig the entire garden out–the lilies have been growing there for at least 30 years as well 😛 I may have to give it a pass this year and tackle it next year instead. I already have too many projects right now as it is.

It looks like the plain white Shasta daisies have survived and are thriving. I have at least 6 well-established clumps of them in the long flower garden in the backyard–they are currently the most prominent flower in that garden. The plan is to remove all but, say, two of them–maybe I’ll even move one to my Moon Garden. I should also have a regular purple echinacea and a small pink rose bush in that garden–I found the rose, but not the echinacea as of yet. And, of course, the ubiquitous construction-cone orange day lilies.

(I actually have a few cool red-orange day lilies that I’ll save, but I believe those are all lining the alley–not in the garden itself. I despise the plain bright orange ones–they are everywhere in my neighborhood, and look so boring.)

Finally, the hostas, which up until a few years ago had been ringing an overgrown Eastern Cedar, look like they may finally have died. Hostas are a shade-loving plant, but since the cedar was removed a few years ago due to old age, they’ve had nothing but direct afternoon sun. I’m surprised they’ve lasted this long. In their place, I’m planning on putting some sweet peas and a trellis.

I’ll post phots of the backyard as planting and such progresses, but for now, I’m just happy to have been in the garden.