Words

Words have meaning.  I try to chose mine carefully.  I, like most, frequently fail.  But one word that has been particularly annoying of late is the word dreary, as it is applied to those days when the weather is not that which is preferred by most living beings.  Even the animal world tends to seek shelter on days like these.

The sky is gray.  The air is damp.  Rain has been falling and will likely fall, off and on, for the rest of the day.  And for many, it is a dreary day which seems to automatically bring negative connotations and feelings of sadness or depression.

Yet, we need the rain.  For many in drought areas this year, the rain would be a blessing.  It clears the air.  It waters the plants. It refills aquifers.  And it refills us.  

The gray sky is the price paid so that rain can come.  It hides the sun, yet it brings us clouds heavily laden with life nourishing nutrients and moisture.  Rain that, as it falls, also cleans the air so that we can breathe easier.  Just as water cleans us directly when we need to be cleansed. 

Here, it is a day to sleep a little later.  To read some maybe.  Or to work on sewing. Or canning. Or cooking.  Or maybe even watching some videos to learn new skills and gain new knowledge.  Time to do all of the indoor things that get neglected when the weather is more accomodating for living beings to be out and about in the larger environment. 

And the soul, even while the body is busy, relaxes and releases.  As if the tears of the planet provide the release that cannot be found in the tears from the body.  As if something is washed away, allowing more room for healing and growth.

The day can be busy.  The day can be slow.  It is no more, and no less, than other days.  It is just different and brings different things.  Things that are just as necessary in life as the sunshine, the wind, the snow.

Sometimes I think back on childhood and wonder when the joy of dancing in the rain disappeared.  Okay, at least warm rain.  A part of me, a large part, desperately wants a covered front porch so I can sit outside and sit with this weather.  

I am looking for a new word.  I haven't found it yet.  But I need a new word for days like this.  A word that encompasses all that the day is.  Not to rid the day of the negative, because to see the positive you have to know the negative.  To see the light, you have to see the dark.  So a word that acknowledge the entirety of these days and the beauty and blessings that these days provide.

More Garden Space, and Gardening

Oh wow.  I lost track of time.  Well, it's been a mixed bag of things getting done.

I started with the decision to put the new vegetable garden bed at the far end of the garden beds.  This is opposite it's original intended space, but the more practical location at the moment.  This is the last raised garden bed that I can stick at this end of the of the raised beds.

Step one was getting the wood in place, and screwed together.  That was slightly more of a challenge than expected because that wood, as old as it is, did not want to allow the screws to enter.  Even with pre-drilled holes.  I might have gotten a bit aggravated and set the drill up to hammer drill in order to get all the screws in place. 

Then I got the area between the new garden bed and the other one mulched for a walk path.

And then I started the filling.  This is taking time because first I have to take a mattock to the dirt pile.  Then I have to shovel everything into the wheelbarrow, while stopping frequently to pull the quack grass, and other weeds and roots.

Once I have a full wheelbarrow, I lay either cardboard or newspaper across the grass inside the frame.  In this raised bed, I'm mostly using newpapers.  Because I'm out of cardboard at the moment.

You'll have to imagine the pictures for the in between day.  I thought I took them, but apparently not. It is what it is.  I'm sure not going to go remove all the dirt so I can take them now. 

Today I finished off the base for that last open corner.  The next few days will actually be filling in to the top.  It will likely take another three or four loads of dirt to top off this raised bed.

And then there will be the top layer of cardboard and mulch, before the winter planting of either onions or garlic.

And during errands, I got an amazing deal on some really nice chrysanthemums.  I want to grow them for a variety of reasons, including medicinal uses.  I also know that this is the worst time of year for planting them.  So the pots got buried in the deep mulch.  I'll keep them watered through the end of season.  And then, when deep cold hits, they'll get thermal mass bottles to help them hold through until spring.  Fingers crossed that they make it because chrysanthemums cannot be found around here in the spring.

Neither can seeds for them.  So I'll also be grabbing a few dried seed heads when the time comes.  Just in case.

I also took the last two elderberry bush babies and dug them into spots in the mulch.  They are going to another home but it's getting to be too late in the season to transplant them.  They should hold fine, tucked into the mulch with a few thermal mass bottles of their own.

And I'm also, a little late, getting the fall garden plants in.  One bed got broccoli.  It will also get greens mixed in between. My son and I always love fresh greens.

There is also cabbage and cauliflower to go in.  I'm currently hunting brussel sprout and red cabbage plants since none of mine sprouted.  Hopefully I can find those this coming weekend.

As for garden beds at the front of the long set that is alongside the driveway, well, two more will go in.  That will give me as many as I currently have, but with the new ones in much better lighting.  One of my original sets of garden beds is now in deep shade due to tree growth.  And barring winning a lottery for $1+ million, I'm not likely to afford what the tree companies want for some heavy pruning.

I'm still deciding what to do with those original garden beds.  There are medicinal plants that will handle deep shade just fine.  I may just pull the wood that forms the sides of those beds and plant those spots with those perennial medicinal and food plants. The wood can be used elsewhere if it's still in decent condition.

I do know that there will be naturally short fruit trees that are going in along the front of the yard.  That will have them far enough forward to get the sunlight they need, despite the Silver Maple monster.

And the plan is for blackberries and raspberries between the fruit trees.  A yummy front yard fence.

Canning

I was supposed to work outside yesterday.  But there were four recipes for canning prepped in the fridge.  And despite trying, I didn't get them handled over the weekend.  So instead of working outside, I got three of the recipes canned.  I now have a dozen jars of Sweet Garlic Pickles, eight jars of Bread and Butter Relish, and 13 jars of Bread and Butter Pickles.  Hopefully, tonight I'll get the Pear Relish done.   

That's all and yet so much.  I was going to leave the B&B pickles as fridge pickles but realized that they would probably go bad before I got around to eating them all.

All of these are "rebel" canning.  Due to health issues, I am on the keto diet.  So the sweetener used in each recipe is a mix of erythritol, stevia, and monk fruit.  There is a commercially available alternative that actually does taste exactly like sugar, but I react badly to the mix.  It has allulose in the mix.  I don't react badly to allulose by itself.  But all four mixed together is something my body does not like at all.  So instead I mix my own.

I normally try to put up enough for two years when I'm completely out of something in the pantry.  And I've been out of homemade pickles and relishes for a long time.  But since this is a "rebel" method and an experiment, I only did enough for a year.

Fingers crossed for success.

If I were just doing keto for the sake of keto, the amount of sugar in the recipes could be shifted to honey, or even just left as sugar.  Used in correct amounts, the carb count isn't high.  But since I need to cut sugar as much as possible, or anything that will be a possible issue for diabetes, I'm trying alternates.  I won't use any of the other sweeteners because of things learned over the years.  I am hoping to eventually be able to grow my own stevia and monk fruit.  Then I will work out a flavor balance between just those two.

Making Use of Old Wood

I have parts of an old pergola.  They were originally meant to be rebuilt to a half size to provide privacy outside the bathroom window.  But this is one of those projects that fatigue delayed.  As a result, this year the woodpeckers and carpenter bees have just chewed the wood.  And yeah, it's almost all new damage.  I'm not happy about it but I also refuse to waste the wood.

So today was spent first measuring it to make sure that it would work for what I was going to repurpose it to, which is the frame for another garden bed.  This bed will be slightly smaller on one side, which is actually good.  This garden bed will be going close to a water company access spot.  So slightly shorter on one side will give a better gap around that spot.

The next step was removing a few screws that were blocking my ability to remove the carraige bolts.  That done, I was going to use the drill to get out the carraige bolts.  But even on the hammer drill setting, it couldn't move them.  I had my suspicions why so I grabbed the socket wrench and went to work.  I lost count at 13 or 14 bolts.  All but one of the bolts are out.  All but 3 of the bolts snapped, leaving a good 2" in the wood.  I will have to be careful when cutting these boards.  Sometimes human strength and stubborness can do what power tools cannot.

As for the last bolt?  I'm waiting for feedback from someone who has used and abused many more wood projects than I have.  But I don't really want to pull out a demolition/fire rescue blade for this.  I already tried hammering the notched pieces back together some so I could possibly get just a bit of grip with the socket and work it from that.  That didn't work.  So my next resort, barring other suggestions, is to find my smallest wood chisel and clear out some of the wood around the head of the bolt.

And then, because my body said I needed more exercise, I did another foot and a half of mattock tilling.  By the time I finished the tilling and then getting all the weeds out of that section, I was done.  Now to take care of inside things.  Like those sewing totes.

That Job is Almost Done

So Wednesday I got back out there.  I moved cardboard around to get another area covered.  Then I mulched it all.  So I had the section down the side to just at the front of the house done.

As I was looking at the rest, I realized that I then needed to do the other end.  If I didn't I was going to find myself trying to maneuver in a very tight fit space and over mulch I had just put down.

The mulch is going down in layers that are 9" to 12" deep.  I don't really want to walk over it after they are down.  I definitely don't want to maneuver the wheelbarrow over it because the wheelbarrow will either sink in the mulch or drag it all over.

So Thurday, I headed back out and got the other end of this garden bed started.  I honestly thought that I was going to keep going for a few more days on this.  My body hasn't been exactly cooperating, and I've been tiring out much easier than normal.

I went back out this morning and spent the time to get the whole rest of the space covered in cardboard.  Thanks to a donation from a friend I had just enough to cover the whole needed area.  I'm now officially out of cardboard.

Anyways, I had to move a small pile of debris that had been raked up from the area.  I was originally going to just put it back.  But I don't know if it had gotten sprayed with the RoundUp and I didnt' want to risk my new plantings.  So it went back to the smallest compost pile where nature will have plenty of time to make sure that it is safe.

Then I started moving mulch.  At some point, I just started talking to folks upstairs.  "Hey, guys, you've been helping me keep my energy up but something has happened.  Did I miss something?  Could I have some guidance, please?" 

Why?  Because I have been sliding back to old fatigue levels.  And old fatigue levels means that chunks of the to do list go back to being a dream list.  And I'm really liking having the to do list shrink and the improvements that are occurring as it does.  I also really like feeling better, and the exercise from working in the yard has been going a long way to helping me feel better physically and mentally.

Did I get an answer?  I don't know.  But likely.  Answers don't have to be words. 

I just kept working.  I kept convincing myself to "just get this far".  I refuse to surrender easily to the fatigue. 

At some point, I started sweating and then it was like everything broke open.  I didn't need to keep convincing myself to keep going.  I wanted to keep going and get it done.  As crazy as it sounds, it actually felt good to be sweating.  And I hadn't been working up much of a sweat lately because the weather is cooling off. 

So instead of one more section, I finished off the mulching all the way around.  Everything is deep mulched all the way around and it looks good.

Over the next few weeks, as the spine permits, in between other projects, I'll continue using the mattock to till up the area for the fall blooming crocus and asparagus.  I think I've decided that one of the rosemary plants is going to go next to the garbage cans, in front of the camellia.  I'm still debating on that because of the rain water stuff I want to do.

As far as what's next, well, while finishing and working up that sweat, the brain popped right back on track for the to do list.  Next is setting up another garden bed.  And, as more cardboard becomes available, start deep mulching alongside the the vegetable garden beds.  The deep mulch "walkways" will, first, help keep some of the deep rooted, invasive grasses out of the vegetable garden beds.  And second, make less area for me to mow.  (You know I hate mowing right?)

There's a follow up to that garden bed.  Which project on the list happens depends on whether I can get some feed bags or sand bags and soil.  But one step at a time and we'll get there.  Somewhere in all of this, maybe this weekend, is getting the bucket seat made so I can get my butt moving on planting things.  And getting that pile of sewing stuff into its new homes in an organized manner, which may mean sewing some custom baskets for the shelves in the desk.

 

A Bit More Done

So last Thursday I dealt with roots and getting the last camellia planted.  And after that was done, for some reason, I decided that I needed to do more.  So I pulled out the mattock and tilled a section one foot wide by about 5 feet long.

Friday, from about 3 am onward, my spine had a few words to say about that decision.  So for the weekend I focused on cleaning the house, sorting through old stored totes of sewing stuff, and prepping recipes for canning.  Nature decided to help reinforce those decisions by providing lots of rain for the plants.

To be honest, sorting through the old sewing totes was surprising in more way than one.  First because there were twice the number of totes that I thought there were.  Second because there were a lot of my old projects mixed in with the items from my great grandmother and both grandmothers.  My button jar is now a massive button tin, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

 And then there was Monday.  I had to take a break in the work day to go get prescriptions.  Long story. Big headache. It was done and over but I wasn't able to get any outside time.

So today I made a few decisions.  One was that I was going to make sure that I got outside again, and that I would get the regular pattern reestablished.  It's been a bit too easy to slide out of the pattern of regular outside exercise time.

Second decision was that I was going to start going outside after I finish work for the day.  For right now, if I get started on my paying job super early, I get finished early.  That leaves me easily an hour before sundown to get some yardwork done.  And when the days get too short, I'll go out at lunch time.  This also leave me time in the evenings to just calm and settle, which results in me getting to sleep at a decent hour.

Third decision was that I'm going to start mulching my way around this section.  The cardboard will be moved to cover each next segment, and that will be mulched.  I'll keep doing this until I run out of cardboard.  At least this way most of it will be deep mulched as the cooler weather comes in.  And I can add on as more cardboard becomes available.

And last decision is that I will use the mattock to continue to till up the one foot area.  But only a little each day so I don't piss off my spine quite so much again.  When all of that is done, I will put in what plants and bulbs I have for that area and lightly mulch it as needed.

Running out of cardboard.

So some of my giddy up and go came back today for a visit.  The last three elderberry bushes got planted.  That was two holes dug with the mattock because of roots, and one dug with a shovel.

The plants that have been in the ground for a while now are definitely looking better and perking up.  

I went to do the last hole, for the camellia, and ran into a root that the mattock just could not go through.  It's not an ax.  Well, it has an ax blade side.  But the ax blade side had a chunk out of it when it came to me.  And the guy who sharpened it repaired it but you lose some of the edge and angle when you fix that big of a chunk.  An ax, or two, and a few other tools are still on the "get" list.

Either way, after fighting with it for a bit, the body was done.  Tomorrow I'll take out the sawzall with the pruning blade and handle the problem  Yes, cutting soil will toast the blade, but that blade is just about done already.

I wasn't quite ready to quit.  The body was actually pretty happy to be moving again, even if it didn't want to do anymore digging.  

So I started the next step.  With only one hole left to dig, I could start putting cardboard down.  I had a monster pile of cardboard, but it isn't enough.  I still have some pieces that didn't go down, because the body did finally declare a stop.  I'll grab that stuff tomorrow, after I finish the camellia planting.

From this point on it actually goes really fast for most of this garden bed.  Maybe.

I think I'm going to go ahead and do the one foot wide section for asparagus and fall blooming crocus.  It's easier to cover up an accident tilling up too much area than it is to cover up accidentally sending the mattock through mulch, landscape cloth, and cardboard layers.

Doing the one foot wide section won't be fast, depending on what is underneath.  It all depends on where the roots for the maple tree go through.  And how many more random shrubbery and sweet autumn clematis root bundles I'm going to find.

Fingers crossed, and if the giddy up and go sticks around, I might have that part done this week.

 

Chugging along.

Back to work outside.  The weather interrupted for the weekend.  I don't have rain gear that will let me work in rain without getting soaked, so no outside work this past weekend.

I got back to it this morning despite my body desperately trying to convince me that I shouldn't.  The last of the old plantings are now gone.  Despite all the rain, I had to use the mattock to get out the last of the plastic edging and the liriope.

Then I took the mattock to the root mass for the smilax and got that out.  And when I saw that the sweet autumn clematis was going to try for yet another comeback, I took the mattock to that root mass as well.  There is room for another 3 elderberry bushes and the second camellia plant.

How long it takes to get those in the ground depends on how hard the holes are to dig.  But unless natural interferes again, I should have them all planted in the next two days.

Then I start the next two parts of this project.  One is getting the mulch layer down for the plants.  The cardboard will be two foot from the house.  The landscape cloth will be over that.  Both will go out to 7.5 feet from the house.  From 7.5 feet to a little over 8 feet will get turned with the mattock and have more soil added.  Then asparagus and fall blooming crocus will be planted.  I will be carefully placing paper board, not cardboard, to keep the weeds down as much as possible until both of those plants take over enough to crowd out the weeds.  

While I hate weeding, this section of this garden bed is going to need maintenance until the plants grow in enough.  But it will always be blooming because the asparagus will bloom for the warmer months while the crocus start popping up in October and stay green through early spring.

I'm truly hoping that being moved into the ground will help the crocus to do better.  They've only been surviving in the planters. I'd like them to thrive and expand.

 

Detours on the path

Yesterday I needed to try to get as much work crammed in before errands as I could, paying work that is.  So I woke up and started working.  Before it was time for errands I was within $35 of my weekly goal and had a $20 job on hold.  That was a lot of work to be honest because when I started I was over $70 down for the week.  And that typically is a day and a half worth of work on this job.  Someone upstairs was watching out for me and tossed me some decent paying jobs.

Then I ran errands.  I debated on that, but the groceries orders had already been placed and I did not want to be out and about on Labor Day weekend.  Not that it helped much because lots of folks got off work early.  Then I came home and unloaded all the groceries.  And then I tackled the $20 job.  I managed to get another job and ended up $12 short for the week.  My budget is pretty precise with very little wiggle room lately, so I hit the computer again this morning again.  On a holiday weekend, it was a miracle, but I'm down to $3.  I might be able to grab something in the next few hours.

When work disappeared at the rate of no new jobs in 15 minutes, I started cleaning out the vehicle.  I needed to move my body and be outside for a while. In the last couple of weeks, with all the insanity, there was a bunch of stuff that was "waiting" in the vehicle.  It was all getting on my last nerve.  So I got stuff out and where it belonged.  I got the reusable shopping bags back into one bag in one place.  I got the little bits and pieces of trash cleaned out.  I generally tidied up the interior of the vehicle so it wasn't driving me nuts.

And as I was cleaning out the vehicle, I realized that the rain yesterday afternoon and last night had a whole bunch of cucs growing oversized.  Now National Pickling cucs taste okay when they're oversized, but I really didn't want a bunch more of the oversized ones.  So when the vehicle was finished, I picked a large bag of cucs.  And then a small mixed bag of tomatoes and sweet peppers.  And then another big bag of pears.  And that pretty much means that I've got more pickles to make this weekend, mixed in with everything else.

So detoured.  I may get back to the garden overhauls tomorrow.  Or I may breakout all the stuff to wash the vehicle and give it a really good scrubbing.  Because it really needs it.

Lions and Tiger and... Yellow Jackets! Oh, my!

 So I went back out yesterday and got more cleared.  The third compost bin is now not only full, but over full.  And after learning lessons earlier this year, I trimmed thing off in sizes that would easily fit the compost bin, although not the wheelbarrow.  

So when I left off, it was with the Nandina bushes about halfway down.  And the smilax stabby vine off and tucked to the side.  

Now you can actually see the old door that hasn't been used for over a decade.  And things are starting to look better.

Today I went out and took down the last of that.  And got to discover that deep in the last Nandina was a pretty decent size yellow jacket nest.  I'm highly, nastily allergic to yellow jackets.  Not quite anaphylaxis point, but not far from it either depending on where the sting is.  So it was an immediate stop and inside to get hornet spray.  

I don't normally have hornet spray on hand, but we had found another yellow jacket nest about two weeks ago.  So I got to play shoot the yellow jacket with moving targets.  And I've got better aim than I realized.  Only one survived, and it took off until I was almost completely done. 

The last bit of clearing out was done with the sawzall and a pruning blade because the canes of bamboo were too close together for the loppers.  And it was multiple times.  I had to get most of them down low enough that I could get the rake through there again.  And then take them down even further.  I finished today at this point.  I decided it was time to stop when the last yellow jacket decided to come back to explore. 

Tomorrow I'll pull that last section of edging with the mattock.  And the last of the liriope.  And then probably measure for the last of the elderberry and camellia bushes that will fit in this space.

A little more project, and a lot of everyday stuff

 The last few days have been a lot of "normal" stuff.  Mowing the lawn, working on the backyard, cleaning in the house, making pickles and relish.  And those things were part of the time I normally do morning outside work.

There was also a surprise day from my son.  He decided that he wanted to "go". So we went to visit with a friend for a while.  My son got his favorite sweet tea and to curl up in "his" space under a weighted blanket, somewhere that wasn't home.  And with people around that are not me.  Mom isn't the only person that occasionally needs a break.  I hadn't planned on this, but the friend was up for it, and nothing I had planned was written in concrete.  So I chilled for a while, he chilled for longer, and I got to do a quick run through a thrift store. Found some interesting comfy shirts.

I did get one section done.  The compost pile wasn't very happy with new additions at the moment but I got them to fit.  I did have a few cuss words for when the stabby vine got me a few times.  And there is a longer stabby vine section in the next part.

There is more liriope to handle.  But I want all the bush and stabby vine (smilax) out before I deal with that.  There is also another section of plastic edging to pull out that goes right through that liriope.

Then I can finally mark and start planting the other camellia.  I hoping for 2 more elderberry bushes in the ground but we'll see what the measurements say.

And now I need to find a home for an old fashioned stabby rose bush that actually makes rose hips.  That is floating through the brain so that, hopefully, I can do that transplant in the spring.

Two Days in One

 I certainly didn't plan on doing two days worth of work in one day.  But the body wasn't really happy with the skipped day.  I started with the things planned for today.  First was cleaning up the random plant pots and other items that were scattered in the work area.  After that, I cleaned up newly fallen pears so that they won't cause problems with mowing tomorrow.  That actually took a good 45 minutes.

Then I decided to go ahead and get one more of the elderberry bushes in.  Well, the body decided that I needed to do two of them.  Neither was easy.  Both holes were dug with the mattock.  But now three elderberry bushes are in the ground. I have to do some more removal before I can put anymore in.  That's this weekend and next week.

I was going to stop there.  I really was.  I went and got the mail and was headed in.  And the body just stopped at the door, turned around, and decided that the last of the strawberry plants needed to be in pots. It was one of those things where you are mentally going one way, and the next thing you know, you are doing something completely different.

So the remaining strawberry plants, approximately 15, are now in plant pots until I can decide their further fate.  And thoroughly watered.

And that was it.  Tomorrow is mowing, as long as the weather and the body cooperate.  It will be somewhat more annoying than normal because the gas company came through and left a trail of yellow flags running across the front of my lawn and in the ditch.  I'm so sorely tempted to use that as a reason not to mow the ditch this week, but I won't.  I can't wait until mowing season is done.

Next week will likely be a mix of things.  I still have plants to remove.  And then new plants to put in.  But I also need to start getting carrots, rutabagas, turnips, beets, and greens planted.  And I'm waiting to see if the seeds for broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage sprout.  And somewhere in there, or this weekend, I'm hoping to get a garden seat made so that my back doesn't get quite so abused.  And get the cucumbers and peppers picked and canned.

Alternate Priorities

Today was one of those days where my daily garden time didn't happen.  There are a few things that can interfere. Today it was my son in pain.  Everything got put on hold to help get him stable and calm.  And while the Fitbit says that none of that was exercise, the body does not agree.  Probably because the number one thing in helping my son is to keep myself and my heart rate calm while doing so.  Because it helps him keep a level of calm.

And since that took so long, it's not likely that I'll be able to take a break from work that is long enough for me to go and spend some time in the garden.  Breaks today will be focused on making sure that my son's pain is under control and making sure that it stays that way.  He is currently burrowed under blankets in my bed, because for him, there is no better place to be when he is not feeling good.

So I'll leave you with a picture of another area that I finished earlier in the year.  This is the window outside my office.  Those two big bushes were much, much larger initially.  And they will get another pruning in the correct season.  The three itty bitty plants in the front are coneflower.  The itty bitty plant in the center back is a Primrose lilac.  They are currently protected from the deep levels of mulch by rings made from the center of vinegar jugs.  All of them have been happy with their new homes and are improving rapidly.  While the lilac is supposed to get much taller, I think it will be next year before it starts to get into it's true size.

I'm going to go have a really late breakfast.  And I'm considering a cup of caffeinated tea to just help the body get over that last bit of tired.

Time to Use a Measuring Tape

 

I know myself.  I measured for the camellia.  I didn't measure for the first elderberry in anything but a general way.  I know that I have a tendency to do straight lines that angle.  So it was time to pull out the measuring tapes, yes, two of them.

The first measurement was the full width of the new garden bed.  The outside edge will be 8 feet from the house.  The big plants will be 5 foot from the house.  And the edging plants, asparagus and fall blooming crocus, will between the 7 foot and 8 foot mark.  I roughly marked the 8 foot point with bricks.

Then, using both tape measures, I marked the spots for the other elderberry plants and moved the pots into position.  Now I know where to accurately dig.

And I've got a lot of clearing to do down the side of the house still.  It looks like I can get in one more elderberry bush and the second camellia.  But that will be something to make a final judgement on when I can cleanly measure that area.

There's a short concrete walkway where the burn barrel is temporarily resting.  It leads to a door that hasn't been used in over 15 years.  For years now, I've blocked it with planters and outdoor plastic storage boxes.  Yet somehow, once in a blue moon, some fool delivery driver decides that is the front door and will leave packages there,  hidden behind the planters and boxes. That's all I'll say on that.

So I will be trying to plant the second camellia close enough to block most of the view of that door, while still far enough away that it shouldn't have a problem with the concrete.  And in spring, hopefully, if the body keeps cooperating, a knee height wooden planter will be placed across the concrete to block out people.  Or maybe a primitive wooden gate with lock, so I can still use most of the path to access the hose bib and that area.  That idea is still bouncing around.

Now, to the right, out of the photo shot, is a large silver maple.  The trunk is about 8 ft, maybe, from the brick marking the new garden bed edge.  My current debate there is whether or not to just expand the bed all the way out and around the tree, or not.  The base of  the tree is not a good spot to put plants or planters.  I've already tried both.  I'm currently debating sitting benches in a circle around it, with stone as "mulch". That would solve several of the issues with that spot, and reduce the area that requires mowing even more.  Again, another bouncing idea that the brain is working on. 

And the next batch of strawberries got planted today.  That's ten more strawberry plants in.  And I made the decision that, yes, I am going to expand that bed out about another foot.  Actually, from digging down some, I'm not expanding it, I'm putting it back where I had it originally.  But that was done about 4 years ago and nature has been encroaching on the edges.  So a new layer of cardboard and mulch will quickly resolve that problem.

By the way, the bush on the right, that they are all going around, is a blueberry bush.  And that bright yellow green plant that is the border on the left, is golden marjoram that has decided that it likes where it is.  So it has way overgrown the two pots it started in and is making it's way down the center of this porch garden bed.  I'm perfectly content to let it do so, although I'll be adding a few pavers so I can reach the strawberry plants in the back when it is harvest time.

That is a lot more strawberry plants than the photo makes it look like.  Hopefully, they will all survive and grow with lots of vigor.  I'm not sure I want anymore strawberry plants in that area, but there are other strawberry home options available for the future.  So tomorrow, I will get the remainder of the plants potted up and tucked into the front edge of the blueberry to hold for winter.  These will be in normal pots with the intention of pulling them in the spring.  So my main focus is just getting them into the pots.  Tucking them into the mulch bedding for winter will happen as I get the new layers of mulch placed over the next few weeks.  

And More Strawberries

  

This is where I left off yesterday.  All of the existing plants had their plastic rings removed.  The rings went to new spots and were filled with soil and new plants.

This is step one of doing this.  Scrap down through the mulch to bare ground.  Pull all the weeds.  Then put the rings in place.  These are made from the center sections of juice jugs and soda bottles.

Then fill with soil.  I'm using potting soil from various pots where the plants were planted out or just didn't survive to be planted.  Potting soil costs money so I'll keep cleaning out pots until there is not more.  And then I will buy more.

Todays pots also gifted me with an electric blue skink, a DeKay's brown snake, and part of an ant hill.  Nice things to see, well, except for the ants.

This is those same areas after I finished mulching between the rings, planting in the rings, and making sure they all got well watered.  Tomorrow I will be filling in some of the front gap.  And I'm debating whether I'm going to deepen this garden bed by a foot or so and add a row of strawberry plants in front of the blueberry bushes and mints.

I did get the first elderberry in the ground today.  You can see the bare bit of green if you look really close.  It's where the pot was yesterday, down in the bottom right corner of the photo.  Yeah, I'm not the greatest photographer. I've come to the conclusion that it's probably a good thing that I'm working both these projects at once.  It is taking the mattock to get through the rocks and old roots, and my body can only handle so much of that type of abuse.

And this is another of the sections that I completed over the last few weeks.  Those are two yaupon holly bushes and a beauty berry.  They are looking a bit better now that the weather pattern is cooling and there is more natural watering.  That nandina in the back is currently being killed so that the roots won't sprout back up again.  It is way too close to the house for me to dig and pull with a tow chain.  And unfortunately, a lot of the original plantings of them were that close to the house. I'll be glad when the last of them are replaced.

Anyways, time to go do some more schoolwork and earn some money. So I hope you have a good day.

What's a Little Rain?

 I got a really, really late start this morning.  And the body is more than a bit sore.  I was going to say from the neck down, until a headache decided to jump in as well.  There will be an epsom salt soak in a little while.

This is part of the strawberry patch.  This is also an area that I prefer to really deeply mulch every fall.  Because deep mulch keeps winds from whipping under the porch and against the house.  So my floors stay a bit warmer.

Anyways, the strawberry plants I bought, that survived to get planted, did well.  They are all planted in the middle section of a soda jug or vinegar jug that was filled with soil.  Now that the roots are well established, I pulled the plastic to use for new plantings.  And everything got a deep layer of mulch around the old and the new plantings.

I got about a third of the plantings done.  So that would be where all of the current existing plantings are in this picture.  I forgot to grab an after picture.  I'll do that tomorrow morning.  Because rain came to visit while I was doing this, and I just refused to give up.  So I kept going until I had emptied the wheelbarrow of mulch.

By then I was soaked and was really planning on calling it quits.  But I didn't quite feel that I had done enough work.  And while my back was very annoyed at the bending I had been doing, it seemed to be okay with the idea of digging.  As long as my feet and my weight did most of the work.

So I let my feet and weight do most of the work, although I did threaten the liriope with the mattock if it didn't stop being stubborn.

Not all of the liriope is gone.  But the front parts are.  I may actually have to resort to the mattock for the rest of it, but that's for another day.

Then I went ahead a set out the pots of plants that are going in next.  Those are four pots of black elderberry, sambucus nigra.  I got them as cuttings from a nursery about a year and a half ago.  They survived this long so it is time for them to get their permanent home.  These cultivars are Korsor and Samdyl.

Yes, I am crowding them to themselves.  The spacing between the elderberry, the house, and the camellia are all the correct spacing.  And yes, that means that this garden bed pretty much just doubled in width.  That falls into the "Oh my, less grass I need to mow." category.  And less grass to mow in a spot that is tedious to mow.

Anyways, back to spacing.  I'm good with the elderberry plants crowding each other.  They will provide a good hedge, and they will provide a plentiful supply of both flowers and berries for the household.  With the correct spacing between them and the house, they'll hide rainwater barrels pretty well when I can get to that project.

Now, off to eat breakfast. And then to dry off and get more laundry started.  Tomorrow is more strawberries, and hopefully at least one of the elderberries.

I'm leaving you with an image of one of the completed areas that is hidden behind the nandina in the above picture.  That is a tea olive.  In the long run, I'll be putting a walk path to the left side of it, because that is the path I have to take to the spigot.  And there are a few other things that need to happen in this area.  But I have to finish getting plants in the ground first.

Where Did the Day Go?

 Today has just been non-stop.  The body decided that I did not do enough physical work yesterday.  So I definitely did enough this morning.

That is the first camellia.  And to give you some size ideas, that is 5 foot off of both house walls.  That allows for it to grow to full size and still have 2 to 3 feet between it and the house.

And digging that hole was an adventure in which tool next.  But between the shovel and the mattock, I got a pretty good size hole dug.

Yes, that is a tomato cage holding it.  For some reason this plant had decided that it's two main branches needed to be at a 45 degree angle.  I've tried several ways of supporting it and finally decided to use one of the tomato cages.  When those branches straighten up and support themselves enough, I'll get it out of there.  But it'll be there through this winter at least.

For the moment, that spot over there is also the new temporary home for the garden tools that are currently being used on all the different projects.  Because the former resting spot has been moved.

There are still shrubs to clear that go down the side.  And still some liriope to clear in the front.  But the other random shrubs that were to the front of the house went away today.

The liriope has another home to go to if it survives.  I'm going to be honest, I'm not being gentle with it.  But if it decides to survive, there is a place for it.  I'll actually be dropping the plants in that spot to give them a chance.

I started with my loppers but the bases of the shrubs had too many stems crowded together.  So the sawzall with a pruning blade got to take most of it to the ground.

And then today became a whole bunch of errands which involved moving wood, getting cardboard, getting son's granola bars, and getting strawberry plants.  Oh, and the surprise I forgot about of canning jars.  Which is a bonus because the pepper plants have started to be generous in their gifting.

It is likely that this section will be on hold tomorrow, and maybe Monday, while I get the strawberry plants in the ground.  There are a lot of strawberry plants.  And a lot of space under the blueberry plants for the strawberry plants to make a home in.

Untreated Lumber and Moving a Ramp

 

I have a family member that is starting to make some wood things.  And there was a FB post for free untreated hickory and cherry. So that was this morning's first task.  I loaded up Munchkin and got to spend an hour pulling the pieces that looked the best.  

Why an hour?  Because it was a big pile and I didn't want to leave it messier than I found it.  So as I pulled pieces that I wanted, I also made sure that the pieces I didn't want did not get scattered all over the place.  That's just basic courtesy.

The brain also threw forward a project for me that could use some lumber, untreated or not, so I grabbed a few more pieces that I could use.  And when I get a dry space built, I'll probably go back to get more for the smoker.  Last I knew, hickory and cherry make good wood for the smoker.

This will all get used for different things.  I'm grateful to the business that offered it up for people to use.  I also got a bag of sawdust from untreated wood to use for making wind stops along the bottom of doors.

Task number two was both simpler and harder.  We have a ramp at the porch steps in case we have to remove my son from the house, again, in an emergency.  Or in case I have to get him back in the house again after an emergency.  It's nothing fancy, but enough to help in those situations.  We can't afford to build a full wheelchair ramp.  And the health issue that causes the need is so sporadic that we don't qualify to recieve a free wheelchair ramp from the charities.  It is what it is.

There is a friend who gets a kick out of using it to bring full cart loads of groceries up onto my porch if he's here to help unload on the once-a-month grocery pick up day. I have to admit, it does make it easier to get everything in.  But I don't mind the exercise from just going up and down the stairs a couple of dozen times, most of the time.

The ramp was locked to the right side of the steps which was going to be a problem for multiple things in getting the new garden setup done.  One of which is the ability to easily move the trash cans in and out of their home.

So this was one of those pain things.  I had to find the lock key. Then I had to find the WD-40 because the lock had gotten pretty rusted. Then it was up and down the steps to wrap the chain on the opposite side and lock it down again.  Meh.  

The ramp had to be dropped open before I locked the chain in place again so that I wouldn't tightened the chain to the point that the ramp would have problems opening when it's needed.  And it was the reminder that I need to get outdoor textured tape to put across it.

So that is the planned morning tasks.  Well, I've also got to go unload all of that lumber because tomorrow I go to get cardboard and strawberry plants.  But I'm waiting to hear if/when I'm meeting someone to pass on most of it.  Because there's no point in moving it extra times if I don't need to.

This is by no means all of my tasks for today.  But that's the outside stuff for now.

I Disappeared Again

 Life has been hectic.  There was a lot of health issues.  And in fixing some of the health issues I was able to get more active again.  I keep waiting for the body to issue one of it's stop notices, which it likes to do without warning.  But while it's willing, I'm going to tackle the to do list that has gotten insanely long.  So I've spent a lot of time, and I do mean a lot of time, working on the yard.  I honestly wasn't thinking much about this until someone asked for a lot of information on what and how.  

I'm already a giant chunk of the way through the overhaul, and I didn't take before/after pictures.  So I am going to take before/after pictures as I overhaul the section I'm working on now.  Because while it all looks so pretty afterwards, and seems so easy, it actually takes a lot of work to get it from A to Z. I'll put the after pictures of the other work on another post, but it's hard to show just how much work went into doing all of that. Those areas had raised beds and trellises in them and everything had to be stripped out.

I'm working about an hour each morning.  My body needs that time for a variety of reasons.  And that time has been helping my health and sanity, two good things to keep going in positive directions.  All in all, I spend 6 to 7 hours a week working on the yard in one way or another.  On the weeks I have to mow, about 2 to 3 hours of that time is handling the lawn.  Otherwise, it's the yard getting overhauled.  At my speed.

Start of day

This current project actually started on 8/17.  When I finished mulching under the last of the currently unused vegetable beds, I started this.  Step one, which I can't show you, was getting all the cardboard that I had laid down out of the space. I didn't take pictures so I can't show you that.  But the cardboard did what I needed it to do.  It kept the weeds, the spirea, and the sweet autumn clematis from taking over until I could get back to this spot.

So here are the raw photos for the area I'm working on for the next little while.  It will all be stripped back to bare earth and then rebuilt from there.  And there were a few surprises.

The cardboard did a good job of keep the weeds down.  But when pulled, it because obvious that some of the more stubborn things, like spirea and sweet autumn clematis, were trying to make a comeback.

Start of day

The actual first job was getting everything out of the way.  So those two rather large planters you see above had to move to a new home.  Each planter is an 18" square.  They are planted with Arp Rosemary.  Eventually those plants will get an in ground spot, but for now those pots are their homes.

Then was picking up all the small bits of accumulated random trash.  It was an interesting pile, and fortunately small.

That's when things got interesting.  If you look closely at the pictures, you can see sections of black plastic edging.  That edging has been there for 20+ years.  It's actually in pretty amazing condition for something that old. But that also meant that it was a pain to pull up.  And pull it up I had to, because it was going to be in the way of the new plantings.  Basically, the original garden bed had been planted way too close to the house.  The new garden bed will be correctly spaced.

Start of day

That black plastic actually goes/went all the way across the front and wraps around the side.  I started with a shovel.  That failed quickly.  So the mattock came out to work.  As of 8/18, most of the black plastic in the front has been pulled.  The side will be another day.

In pulling up the black plastic edging, I discovered that way back when, someone had placed plastic bags from soil/rocks/whatever as mulch cloth.  I don't do this for multiple reasons but I have to say, the bags held up pretty well.  It was a challenge to get most of them pulled out. But they got pulled out.

And I had to hand weed the random plant volunteers, including the goldenrod and the sweet autumn clematis.  That spot will be watched carefully to see if I'll have to resort to Round Up.  It is the core spot for most of the vines that I've been fighting the past few years.

End of day 

I also had to pull out the loppers.  I love those loppers.  I used them to get the bits of stump that were still aboveground.  And the small pieces of spirea that were still trying to come up.

I'm not worrying about stumps beyond killing them thoroughly.  They are actually all too close to the house.  Most of them will be buried under the new mulching.  And since I really don't want them coming back, there will probably be a few extra layers of cardboard over the spots that were still showing signs of life.

End of day

 

By quitting time for today, things were starting to look different.  Empty.  Blank.  That won't last for long, but it's the starting point for the new garden bed.

End of day

And this is just some of the plastic that was tucked under the soil.  I'm also finding lots of rocks.  I'm guessing that the original mulch for this area was rock.  That's okay.  The rocks can be reused in another spot.

So, am I going to disappear again?  I hope not.  I'm actually hoping to just keep right on trucking along on here.  There have been quite a few folks that have opened my eyes to a few things.  I keep forgetting that I've learned things that other folks haven't.  So maybe if I put it here, that knowledge can pass on to the people who need it.  Maybe before they need it.