Ahhhh ... it's that time of year.

Well, at least temporarily. I got to do yardwork today. Though it was the tedious not-as-fun kind, it was worth it. Looks much better out there. The yard had a lot of debris from winter - leaves we never quite got all raked up, tons of sticks and small branches. I cleaned all that up, and raked most of the whole yard just because I've been reading it's good for your yard in spring. I only saw a couple of pretty thatchy places, but when I raked them all up, they were all fluffy and tons of the dead grass / thatch came out, so I think that'll be good. I read online that when it's still minor you don't have to remove all of it, you just have to get it fluffed up and opened up enough to let air and water in, then it should be fine.

I still have the 'dining room garden' area to work on - the area behind the shrubs, between the shrubs and the house itself. You can't see it from the street, but it's the area I chose to focus on first, my little 'private garden' area (ish - it is in the front of the house so will not be all that private).

I want to put a small fountain in under the spare room window, but criminy - the prices they want for these things. I saw some at a local garden center today I liked, but the medium-sized ones were all over $400, and the little tiny ones were all between $170 and $240. Umm, no.

I checked K-Mart, and they have two for $129, which is somewhat more reasonable (still too much, but apparently it doesn't get much better for what I want) ... but I wasn't really thrilled with either of them.

I'm starting to contemplate making my own. It's easy, provided you can find appropriate components. I mean, the stuff I use has to be weather- and water-proof, is all. Since I'm going for a bit of a 'cottage garden' look all I really need is a sort of bird bath, with a hole in the center to let the water bubble up - it doesn't have to be a full-on waterfall or anything like that. (I'll save that for another area of the yard).

I'll do some more checking.

I said it's that time of year 'temporarily' because it's only early April - there could still be some nasty weather yet. But for the most part, spring's ramping up, and I'm psyched about getting more accomplished in my gardens this year.