Yard work

Well, I figured since Robert and Donna have both shared what yard work they have been doing lately, I'd show what we've done around here.

:-)  Not a whole lot, but every little bit helps, especially when we now have many yards to care for (ours, Berenice's, and the rental yards we're managing for the Fife's).

Here is Mike taking the neighbor's rototiller once around the garden. I took over once my cake came out of the oven. Eric had done it they day before, but Mike then dumped several bags of steer manure over it and that needed to be tilled in. Plus, we didn't feel like Eric tilled it deep enough to begin with. But it was a good start.

Here is our front yard flower bed. It's full of tiny irises and some dying tulips that were stunning a few short days ago. Mike added those big blue pots. I believe we have some strawberry plants to put in those. :0).  They are ready with dirt and everything.

 We also have two large pots in the back yard on the little diamond block wall that separates the lawn from the garden. Those don't have soil yet, but I'd like to put flowers in those and see how they do. The pots are clay and v e r y heavy.

I believe our apple tree may have a few little baby apples on it.  But they'll probably be frozen off before too long. It is just April, you know.  And we still have at least a couple more snows before winter is gone for sure.  Even though we've had to mow our lawns TWICE already this season--incredibly early for down here.

I think if you zoom in on the photo below, you can see two little asparagus sprigs coming up in that bed.  We love asparagus! I have 7 more shoots in my fridge, will pick these two tomorrow and we'll have them for dinner.  And that's that!  All gone for the season. ha. Good thing they are volunteers (came with the house 25 years ago) and require no work on my part. I just need to save them from the iris and daffodills that are crowding into their space under the apple tree.

Two big bushy peony plants by the back fence, with buds ready to pop out in beautiful dark  pink  blossoms. Or red. or dark, dark pink. They are pretty.

This back corner (above) has a little "Bulb Lasagna" I planted years ago. About the only thing that survived are the grape hyacinth.  Sometimes I see little crocuses in there, but they tend to come out before I venture into the back yard. 

Above is a cute little flower bed that Eric created some years ago. It did have bulbs, but the nasty grass has all but choked out anything pretty in there.  That thick dark stuff is icky grass, not bulb leaves. There's supposed to be jonquils, day lilies and some chives. Once we had star gazer lilies, but they all died. I don't water enough. So, grass grows.

I have a spindley little plum shrub growing next to an iris bed. The corner houses my peach tree (hiding).

And all along the back wooden fence, fully half of the back property line, are raspberry canes.  They were thriving last year, multiplied like crazy. We love raspberries so much, we may just allow them to take over just as much of the back yard/garden as they demand.

 And below is where I spent my afternoon nap because rototilling that garden spot was HARD. I had to push that machine over every inch. It did not move on it's own. I'd planned to plant at least some peas or something, but ran out of oomph.  And time. And I don't have any pea seeds anyway. Next week. :-)