i had the bright idea of layering the raspberry cane roots in strips of wet newspaper to keep them alive as i transported them to the annual spring plant swap. little did i realize that raspberry roots are very tough and not very bendable. besides, they were still muddy and i ended up making a big mess and could only layer the roots on top of the wet newspaper strips.

i took my cargo bike - skipping chain and all - and it took me twice as long as usual to get to my destination. along the way i discovered something else wrong with the bike - the front wheel had gone flat.

apparently i wasn't the only person to bring raspberries, which often over-produce and you're left with surplus canes. somebody saw me with my box and exclaimed disappointingly, "oh, more raspberries!" but let's be honest, what i had wasn't any ordinary raspberries, but rather golden raspberries, 2nd year, that will produce berries twice - once in the summer, once in the fall. these by far are the best raspberries. i was happy to see the popularity of raspberries. the few roots that remained, i persuaded on-the-fence gardeners to take them over the other raspberries. i feel good that these canes are going to good homes instead of just getting thrown out.

there's a very vulturey nature of the plant swap, as gardeners hover around waiting for new plants to show up, and quickly congregate around any new arrivals. though you're not required to bring anything to the swap, i still frown on people who take a bunch of plants but didn't contribute anything themselves. i left with a good haul: aloe, jade plant, monkshood, solomon's seal, new york fern, spiderworts (blue), white clematis. i'm happy to have my second monkshood, i'll be planting it in my parents' backyard. i'm actually tempted to relocate the community garden monkshood as well, it's sort of taking the spot of a potential vegetable plant.

i was afraid to bike home because of the flat tire, so i walked the bike for a few blocks before finally having had enough and biking home after all, flat tire skipping chain and all.

it rained in the morning but by early afternoon it'd stopped, though it still remained cloudy. i could finally take out my motorcycle, the first time since last monday. i packed all the plants in my saddle bag (except for the monkshood and the two succulents) and got ready to leave for belmont. paul was working outside, repainting a spot by his doorway and installing a new bell. we chatted briefly, i ended up helping him remove the old copper railing cap and drill holes for his doorbell bracket. i ended up leaving the electric drill with him, and gave him a tube of old wood putty.

i stopped at the cafe briefly to drop off an ugli fruit for my aunt. i noticed the sign my sister had put up outside by the area where some thief stole our garlic chives. this happened on tuesday. the security camera wasn't able to catch the thief in action, but judging from the before and after video, it happened in the late afternoon. i've since adjusted the camera so it'll record 24/7, regardless of motion detection.

all this rainy and cloudy weather is not good for the kwanzan flowering cherries. even though the flowers still remain on the tree, they kind of resemble pink used tissue paper. better luck next year. the only good thing is because it's also been unusually cold (50's during the daytime, 40's at nights), the weather has kept an fungal transmission in check (temperature has to be above 60's).

i planted the solomon's seals and new york fern in the shady western border of the backyard between the japanese maple and the quince, formerly the homes of peonies before we relocated them last year to the new southeastern perennial bed. the lilacs have started to come out as well as a single fuchsia-colored tulip emerging from the daffodil bed.

i dumped a bag of composted manure into half of rb3 where i dug up the foxgloves and daisies last weekend. i weeded some dandelions (not much, i've been pretty vigilant about lawn weeds) and carefully weeded the southern perennial bed, pulling out all the creeping bellflowers i could find growing between the spiderworts and ornamental grass. chances are they will still survive as i could only get to the leaves, but if keep this up long enough, eventually they won't have any energy and the roots and underground tubers will finally die. i also planted the few blue spiderworts i got from the plant swap, interspersed amongst the fuchsia spiderworts.

i'm beginning to think those fat buds on the wisterias are actually leaf buds and not flower buds. one thing i learned is to not fertilize wisteria too much, otherwise they make more leaves than flowers. if you must fertilize, add phosphorus which induces wisterias to make more flowers than leaves. unfortunately it's too late, not only did my father fertilize with his artificial fertilizer, i also gave each potted wisterias some organic fertilizer as well.

my father made some trader joe's kungpao chicken for dinner, a chance from the orange crispy chicken we've had twice already. it's okay, but i'm more of a fan of the orange crispy chicken.

after i motorcycled home, i immediately put the cover back on as rain is expected again for tomorrow.