pira

Sort of fell off the earth.

Well not really....just been rolling around in it, and fighting it, and moving it, and sweeping it and raking it...

...you get the picture.

That bit under the windows hasn't been dug up for over 35 years. It was wedged tight with Daylily bulbs and other assorted roots. I'll be fighting the shoots for years but for the time being there is room for a vegetable garden.

Bricks have been stacked and the area for the basketball hoop dug (f**king WET CLAY! is SO HEAVY I was wrecked for a day) and bricks laid as a foundation. In my brilliance I had them place my bag of soil on the driveway at that very spot ~ so not only did I have to move around it to dig...but now I have to move the bottom half of that soil before I can wheel the hoop into place. ARGH.

Yesterday it was dreadfully hot for so early in the season (27C) and I spent the day weeding out an invasive perennial at the front of the garden...it was into and under everything I wanted to keep. I am not deluding myself that I erradicated it but I did major damage and will be vigilent in the future to make sure any shoots are dug out, since it doesn't just reseed but it sends out runners like mad.

It was cold and pouring rain today (8C), so the eldest spawnling and I decided to wait for tomorrow (and the forecast sun) to go get some flagstones to bolster the soil around the hoop and edges of the garden before I start sculpting the landscape with the remaining soil... and working out what perennials will work best where. Weeding is also on the agenda as things nose their way up out of the ground in what areas are still lawn. After they are yoinked up with my trusty weeder I can start with the mulch and actual sowing of seeds.

I would like to mention that the stone pagoda is 3 VERY HEAVY and ACKWARD pieces of ...well stone. >__<

ANYway...that is some of what I've been doing because my window of opportunity to do this before my yard turns to cement is April & early May.