More Gardening News

I wanted to come home and knit tonight, but nature intervened. It rained much of last week, and is supposed to rain much of this week, but as it often goes in the spring, I had a two-day break. It was sunny and breezy yesterday and today, drying out the yard just enough to mow. I finally got the weed whacker re-strung, then trimmed the front and back. I wasn't going to mow tonight, but when I realized it was dry enough (and wasn't going to be again any time soon), I went ahead and did that too - front and back. It was worth it. The back yard is looking great.

Over the weekend the Dread Reverend added to our patios.

I think this looks awesome. I'm really impressed with it. He got some more rocks today, and is going to expand the patio closest to the garage, to run along the side of the garage for a ways too - in part to fill in another muddy spot, and in part to make a place for us to store firewood.

Meanwhile, one of the stealth squirrels was out yesterday ...


... sneakily making his way down for a snack.


I bought these antlers at a flea market years ago, on a whim, and when I fixed up the pond bed, I mounted them there. Originally it was a full set, both sides matching (and usually staying upright). I began to notice squirrels chewing on them, and eventually they chewed one side off entirely (and always have them sideways from standing on them). Apparently they have a serious calcium deficiency.

But now they just look kind of silly. I think I'll take them down this year, and since the squirrels like them so much, maybe I'll put them up somewhere else, where they can munch to their heart's content.

Doing the yard work got me enthused about the planting - the one gardening thing I haven't gotten around to yet. I want to condition the pond bed with a couple bags of compost and manure (because right now it's just about pure clay), and then plant some new stuff in there! It's looked like hell for years, and my feeble sporadic attempts at planting there have just failed.

But this year I hope to do better. I've always wanted to have gardens, and nice landscaping. My dad was great at it. I don't think I inherited his green thumb, but in addition, I've just been too distracted and busy for the past, oh, 8 years or so to deal with it.

Now, I find myself having the time and energy for it. Since January or February I've been perusing gardening magazines and books, planning what I'd like to do there.

I've come up with just about squat. I've decided to get a couple cranesbills to start (hardy geraniums - blooming perennials, not to be confused with the the pot geraniums you can buy as a houseplant). Beyond that, I'm just unsure exactly what I want to do there.

I guess as long as I consider the entire thing an experiment and an adventure, I can't really go too far wrong. And it's high time to get busy ordering this stuff ... I'm ordering from a catalog this year because they have a deal, $25 off any order over $50. That's a pretty darned good deal, and I'm taking advantage of it - $50 worth of stuff for $25. $25 I can afford; $50 I can't.

So after doing the lawn, I spent some time filling out my order. I'm both excited and nervous - everything I've ever tried to plant around here has died within a year or two. I know part of that was my lack of knowledge and neglect. I'm hoping I can do better from here on out.