Grassy Cleanup

This morning we tackled the grass-filled rose bed in the front garden that I posted a few days ago. Thankfully, all the rain we had kept the soil soft and easy to work. My "wiggle-hoe" did a decent job, although there was a lot of pulling and pushing on the bigger clumps of grass. I shouldn't have let the bed go so long without weeding, but I was afraid of trying to work when it was too wet for fear of compacting the soil even worse than usual.

In 2 areas, along the gravel medians of the driveway and the gravel street-side parking area, I am experimenting with simply mowing the grass and see if it will retain any sort of acceptable look. I normally hoe these areas to remove the weeds, but, honestly, it is too much work for too little reward. We'll see how it works as the summer progresses. At least Joe gets a kick out of pushing our old-fashioned reel mower. After mowing an acre of grass every week when I was a kid, I never want to face it again, unless it is from the back of an air-conditioned, tractor-sized mower in a 5 acre (or more) field. (SMILE).

The Taming of the Band-Aid

I came across this web site via Cold Climate Gardening. Watching someone else restore their garden is a great way to learn about your own. Their attention to detail and excellent photos make the site a wonderful visit. I have subscribed to their RSS feed so I can keep up with their challenges and successes.

The Taming of the Band-Aid

This is my attempt at documenting the rather daunting task of returning our 75' X 660' lot to some sort of natural equilibrium. My goal is for our house and our family to exist in a harmonious way with the plants and animals that have been forced to move elsewhere due to poor stewardship on the previous occupants' parts."

Greener Grass

This is what happens when freshly turned soil meets several weeks of steady rain. This part of the front garden was excavated to replace our old sewer line which had succumbed to years of root invasion. Unfortunately, there were obviously a lot of weed and other grass seed in the soil and it seems that every last one has sprouted. Luckily, the soil is also quite friable and the plants come out easily. There is still a lot of work to do, though.

I have a few more troublesome areas like this, but once the rain stops they usually take care of themselves as they don't get any irrigation. I might take a few moments and lay out some newspaper and mulch to kill the grass and prevent the sprouting of more. That seems to have worked well in the past.

Beauty and a little work

Everything is popping around here this week. After a boat-load of rain, the sun has come out and temperatures are starting to warm. All the trees and plants seem to have taken this as a sign to get to work. The roses are sending out new growth. The locust, crape myrtle and Japanese Maple are throwing our new leaves with abandon.

Here are a couple of pictures to give you a feel. I need to take some more pictures tomorrow as today was consumed by my son's 7th Birthday Party in the garden. Many compliments were given to the garden and I feel like I need to tend to it a bit more it make up for my inattention of late.

Yesterday I spent a few minutes hoeing weeds out of the stone strips at the edge of the driveway. The rains cause a great deal of growth there. Of course, if I simply left it there, the coming heat and dry of summer would take care of it on its own. It does give me a small sense of accomplishment yo get something done.

Azaleas outside the front door

A bit of proof that I do get out in the garden...on occassion

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