Garden Woes in Bittersweet

We planted more in the garden. T had ordered garden soil from a local place. Im REALLY unhappy with it. Its SO compacted and when it gets wet it damn near turns into rock. Im using a spade to loosen up the soil, That I already tilled to plant! Some of my plants didnt make transplant and I already put seeds in, so I cant just go back and put in mulch. Im really upset that its “ready to plant” garden soil and its this nappy! I told T if none of my seeds come up in the next week or so. Im going to pull the watering system and mix mulch in everywhere i can. Which isnt everywhere because I have zukes, strawberries, garlic, onions, cabbage and maters coming up! But so far no seeds are.

I went ahead and cleaned out most of my pots. Most of my perennials didnt sprout :( So I cleaned my pots and put in a few new plants. Put in some seeds and gave everything a good drink. Lets see how it goes! I FOUND A DAMN RHUBARB! I said If I find one. Im buying it. I spent 10 bucks on the plant lmao. But I have one. I’m going to dig out near our downspout for the gutters and plant it there. In AK ours LOVED it there. So fingers crossed.
Lets see, I bought a mandarin bush ( grows inside) Some creeping phlox in pink and purple. My Iris’s are blooming beautifully right now. Im finally seeing colors. So it takes a year I guess after planting a bulb to see a flower haha. Ok! Whatever. My poppies are coming up. So are my dahlias. ONE of my four peonies is coming up! woo. The others are dead.
I bought two more house plants. Because I need more like a hole in the head.... I got a pink/green arrowhead vine and a marble queen pothos ( extremely variegated) Hmmm. Oh I got lettuce seeds. T only likes iceberg head lettuce. So I got those… I got some peatmoss to put into the soil for the potatoes. I got some flame flowers and some moss roses. Always good and easy growers. All of my pots have great soil! Well mulched with mushroom compost and peatmoss. So they are GREAT! I potted an asparagus fern and English ivy in teeny little 4 inch pots. I feel like they are going to take 6 years to grow to half decent size. Im going to need to get some plant hangers of some kinds. Shelves whatever. To put plants up. Right now, I have houseplants on every surface.
I have a black skull mug and I stuck a rex begonia in it. So it looks like it has hair lmao. Everyone is feeling plant crazy and i am here for it!!

OH I got a new hen and chicks succulent. Mine did AMAZING outside in its pot. I mixed potting soil with the gravel in my driveway haha. It survived the winter! So I got a 4 pack with about 2 dozen in it. My big one has two huge ones and about 15 chicks. I put her in a bigger pot so she can flex. Ideally I want to plant a bunch out in the center of my horseshoe shaped driveway. I have two beds of Iris and an Elm Tree whos top half died last year and sprouted a dozen baby branches of the trunk.. It looks like a bush currently but ok… I was thinking im going to get the phlox into it and the hen and chicks. Problem is. Its Colorado dead ass soil. Its slick like clay when wet and dry like dust and blows away. So I need to augment the soil heavily. For the succulent I need rock so it can drain the soil rather then what it does now which is the water sits on top and becomes this slick ass goopy nastiness. The soil is just DEAD. Only thing that lives in it is tumbleweeds and a few tiny tiny weeds that have roots an inch deep at best.

So if i get in there, with some good soil… But Im doing it in beds because it would take SO much soil and it blows away. Its a process here…

Anyway… We are going to see if any luck with our seeds in the garden boxes. Fingers crossed the soil isnt THAT hard that the root veggies cant grow :(