Conquoring tree stumps

Showers Late Low 41° F Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 41F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

AM Showers High 60° F Showers in the morning, then cloudy in the afternoon. High around 60F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%

This past week has been very busy in the garden. Last weekend we transplanted the white hostas that were blocking the way into the garden. I ended up giving some to my mother and my sister-in-law, and still have enough to line the driveway, back fence, and area on the side of the garage. All in all, I had a full wheelbarrow of them. When I shut my eyes the image of hosta roots was burned into the back of my eyelids.

This past Monday I planted perriwinlke's cousin Myrtle between the two dogwoods in our yard, and began the herb garden where the hostas had been. Jon has put in a path in the middle of them with some stones, and will be building a small stair into the backyard as well. He also reseeded the backyard so hopefully we will have some beautiful grass this summer to sit on. I also began digging up the vegetable garden, and had gotten to the top of it when I discovered it: the hidden tree stump. All morning I had carried the brush pile off the potential garden plot, turned up the dead grass and tore out roots. Being that last fall I dug up 3 smaller stumps, I assumed that I could do it. Four hours later I was still digging. The stump had lots of large roots and a large base. Come Monday evening I was still digging and had to stop for the week.


On Saturday, we finished putting the herb garden in, and had a great victory over the pine stump in the garden. Jon kept saying we would need a truck to pull it out, but we went and bought a pinch bar and managed to dig and lever it out. It only took a few more hours, but we did it!
Here is a picture of the garden before we finished it...more pics posted later :)

Spring Frenzy

	Clear Low 29° F Precip: 10% Generally clear. Low 29F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.	Sunny High 64° F Precip: 10% A mainly sunny sky. High 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
	Sunset: 7:28 PM	Sunrise: 6:02 AM

With Tax Day now here, there is a frenzy in the air. Unfortunately, for me it hasn't spread too much to the garden. However, while I've been working on presentations and taxes, Jon took last weekend off from gaming to officially (and safely!) connect the house and garage's electricity together. He dug about a 20-foot ditch that was 10ish inches deep to bury a cable wire that brings power to our freezer, workbench area, and car emporium.

The hostas have begun to come up on the side of the house and in front a bit, and we need to get going on diving and conquoring them. Last year they were very much a lush part of our garden, but as at every party, the overly lush is only tolerated for so long. The hostas eventually blocked our entrance into the back yard, and combined with the lilies, tried to overtake the front walk too. The ones we are most concerned with are the backyard blocking ones, so we will be moving them to the side of the house to border the driveway, and pruning back the ones that border the front walk. I've been offering them to people, and since my mother is so far the only taker, we may have to learn to live with them--or train them better anyway. Instead of diving through the jungle to get to the yard, we plan on putting the herb garden near the back path, and placing stepping stones to get into the yard. The area gets a good amount of sun (southern facing) and will be a real treat for us coming home from work, as we can enjoy the herbal smell as we enter our house. Also, it's a quick jump to the bar-b-que for grilling with fresh herbs!

Today I finished cleaning out the dead leaves from the side of the garage, and turned the soil nice. I am thinking of picking up some pansies this weekend and have a few places in mind {like here by the garage} and I really want to get a few hanging baskets for outside the front door.

Also this weekend I really need to dig out the garden plot. The peas are ready to be planted in the soil. We first need to get rid of the brush pile we've been storing there all winter though.
The flowers are really coming up now, with the established daffodils in bloom. One I planted is in bloom, but rest of them, along with the tulips and hyacinth are really growing. One thing that I am really excited to see coming up in the garden is the bleeding heart plants. I love their flowers in the summer...like dripping little hearts.

Go play in the dirt!


Left: Established daffodils outside the back door. Right: Bleeding heart emerging from the soil.

Waiting in the wings

Sunny High 55° F Precip: 0% Sunny. High around 55F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.	Rain / Snow Showers Late Low 35° F Precip: 40% Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies with light rain and snow developing overnight. Low around 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

The cold weather moved back in the past few days with a biting wind, making it hard to work outside. Yesterday I got home in time to check on the new bulbs coming up and took some pictures. To the right is one of my crocus patches. Yes, I need to clear those leaves, but the wind is really shuffling things around our yard...and blowing our neighbors unbagged leaves all over our lawn.


The tulips are coming up more each day. Here on the left is a row that are coming up in the front of the house. I planted a whole bunch, and it's nice to see my hours out in the garden last fall are paying off!

New buds have formed on the lilacs (pic to the right!) and forsythia bushes. We are lucky to have 5 lilacs and two giant forsythias to give us flowers quiet soon. I found a friend hiding under the forsythia bush...a robin! Our yard has been full of robins lately and I hope that they make a few nests around our house. We have lots of earth worms for them.

I am glad that I cleaned out the lilies last week because I noticed some new growth! It's great seeing green come up from the cracking earth.

This weekend I am hoping the weather holds out so I can finish cleaning the yard up. I am also going to organize my supplies and see what I need to start seeds and such. Even though the frost free date is well over a month away, I'm very eager to begin. Just one or two more weeks before I can begin sowing indoors. As our southern facing back porch gets lots of warm sunshine, it is the perfect place to set up shop. Once we finish drywalling and setting the floor of course!