Since my last posting, my husband capped the sprinkler pipe and I filled in the holes as best I could. The result is that the rest of the sprinklers on that section have ten times the force and two and three times the distance the water reaches.
On Saturday I planted two flats of St. Augustine grass plugs in the front yard to help fill in the bare areas where I have dug up crabgrass. I am nearly overwhelmed by the task of removing the crabgrass as I look more closely around the yards. But I keep telling myself "one step at a time" and "slow and steady wins the race."
Today I had a more positive outlook for my gardens. I finally got back to planting.
I started a little later than usual (8 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. -- had to sleep a little later on this holiday) but fortunately Mother Nature also slept late. The sky remained overcast for two hours so the temperature stayed lower (still high, but reasonable).
Filling 
the space left by the removal of the diseased rose bush in the back yard was the first task. I hadn't yet decided what to plant there until a trip to Home Depot made the decision for me. I had gone to the Depot to find more grass plugs and buy a few tomato and pepper plants. I was cruising the aisles looking for inspiration to fill that empty spot and, although there were many tempting possibilities, I hadn't seen that "a-ha" plant yet. Then, as I passed the tables of roses, a bright red spot caught my eye (see left). When I moved in for a closer look I saw that it was a Mr. Lincoln hybrid tea rose. Mr. Lincoln is my favorite rose to grow (you may remember I have a couple of them in the front yard's rose garden) and I knew that was the one. So that was the first of my plantings today.
the space left by the removal of the diseased rose bush in the back yard was the first task. I hadn't yet decided what to plant there until a trip to Home Depot made the decision for me. I had gone to the Depot to find more grass plugs and buy a few tomato and pepper plants. I was cruising the aisles looking for inspiration to fill that empty spot and, although there were many tempting possibilities, I hadn't seen that "a-ha" plant yet. Then, as I passed the tables of roses, a bright red spot caught my eye (see left). When I moved in for a closer look I saw that it was a Mr. Lincoln hybrid tea rose. Mr. Lincoln is my favorite rose to grow (you may remember I have a couple of them in the front yard's rose garden) and I knew that was the one. So that was the first of my plantings today.The second planting was the tomatoes and peppers, which is a new endeavour for me. In past years I have not grown any fall/winter crops. This year I thought, why not? It's not as ambitious an effort, more of a test to see what happens. I have two Big Boy tomato plants and two Super Chili red peppers.
Before I could plant anything however, I had to weed and clear out the vegetable corner. The weeds varied from crabgrass to half a dozen other leafy varieties. It took me longer to weed than to plant the vegetables. But, it's done.
Last of the tasks was pruning the snow-on-the-mountain bushes. Not only have they survived and grown well, they are putting out a lot of leggy growth that I want to contain. I've seen too many homes with the plants unpruned that are tall and leggy with new growth on top and bare branches below. I hope to keep mine fuller. The pink and white leaves on the new growth is what drew me to the plant in the first place. Below are the bushes after pruning and a close up of the new growth.
After those tasks were done, I was cleaning up and looking around the rest of the yard. My honeysuckle vines caught my eye and I photographed the flowers. Yellow is not a color I usually include in my gardens, but I enjoy these.That's all for today, and probably the week.
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