Well, i've been jabbering about all my yardwork (and lovin' it, too), so i snapped a few pix this a.m. Keep in mind it's an overcast day with rain on the way.


This is the "North Slope."

This is one of the beds in the front yard; those reddish things shooting up are some peonies that do very well here. The deer don't bother them and i get some spectacular magenta blooms. You can also see a copper birdbath, which is solar-powered, by the way and features a small fountain when it's sunny out. There's also a small pagoda i recently got.


This is the new veggie garden i put in, in the FRONT yard cus that's where all the sun is. It doesn't matter at all as my front yard is just as private as the back, so no one will see it anyway. It's small, about 5 x 7, and i just planted 2 tomato plants, cucumbers, stringbeans, snap peas and zucchini. My hose BARELY reaches the spot, as it's about 75 feet from the house. I hope that lightweight deer fencing will hold. If a deer rammed it, they could easily knock it down. The right side is a little temporary until i figure out what to do with it. I need one end that i can easily open and close so i can get in there for weeding, etc.

Note the wheelbarrow; that's the new (used) one I got from the guy i gave my locust wood to. It's very sturdy. In the background you'll see a large burning bush. I mean, it's huge. Turns red in fall. I want to cut the right side of it way back becus it's blocking the view of 2 very nice evergreens that have finally reached an impressive size. Problem is, i won't be able to prune the top of the burning bush, even on a ladder.


Nothing much to see here, just the massive stump of the black locust. The bluebird box is inhabited, but i'm not sure how permanent it is. Between my frequent presence working in the yard after work and on weekends, plus the neighbor's cat who comes running for a rubdown when it sees me and some crows that might be nesting in a huge white pine nearby, i'mnot positive those bluebirds are staying. They'd defintiely like to, but i'm just not sure how tolerant they are of activity so close to the nest.


This is in area in the back that i planted with rescued lungwort. I say "rescued" becus it had it's back to my asphalt driveway with pachysandra closing in. The rock sculpture is what i call a cairn, which they may use to mark hiking trails, but i like it as a garden accent that costs nothing to construct.



This is a dormant clematis coming to life. Now if i had "cleaned up" the garden too much and pulled down those dead-looking vines, I wouldn't have the spectacular mass of blooms later in the spring. All those vines are very much alive.


Lest you think i have nothing left to do, behold, the Picket Fence Garden. For some reason, this always ends up last on my list. Maybe becus i can't decide what to do with it. It's a pretty large enlcosed area. I raided it for plants when i thought i was moving to T.'s, but there's still lots of good stuff in here: 3 dwarf cherry trees, a willow, about 5 blueberry bushes, wild strawberries that are migrating to my brick patio, a gooseberry that's also expanding its turf, a bleeding heart, a few hostas, salomon's seal, jacob ladder, day lily and who knows what else.

It's just a mess in there. Prickly brambles keep popping up there and i yanked out what i saw (with gloves) a few weeks ago cus they'll RAPIDLY take over. The weeds just always take over if i tidy up in there and i can't seem to keep up with it with all my other yard duties.

So let's see, this weekend i was on my usual frenzied schedule to accomplish AS Much As Possible.

I took an early a.m (8 a.m.) trip to Lowes to see if they had a longer reetractable clothesline than th 20-footer i got from Home Depot. They didn't, so i just bought a 100-foot clothesline rope. I'm afraid the rope will stretch too much when i hang clothes, but we'll see. I also picked up some plastic fencing there and a nozzle for my hose, which i plan to return for the $7 it cost when i found a plastic but perfectly workable hose nozze at Xpect Discounts for .69!

I transplanted the rest of my seedlings arrived in the mail. Two hardy fuscia, one of which is dead (will call Spring Hill about that), the remaining blackhaw viburnum and 2 corkscrew willow.

Then loaded up just a little bit of trash and a whole lot of broken up tree branches and sticks, crammed all in my trunk and back seat, and away we went to the transfer station to unload.

Went to get a prescription filled and ended up spendign $22 on a long-sleeved t-shirt that says my town's name on it. (I'm very patriotic about my town.)

Rest of the day i continued yardwork, planting what i mentioned in the veggie garden, which is really an attempt to get fresh, organic produce and fight rising grocery costs.

I was very surprised last night to get a phone call from the manager of my local Stop N Shop. I had emailed Stop N Shop corporate complalining that they had a very limited selection of organic produce and they passed my message on to the local store. He acknolwedged they have serious supply problems and basically chalked it up to there not being enough large-scale organic growers who could supply a 500-store chain. I had suggested local growers (my sister, for instance) but i think the paperwork involved in doing that would be too involved to keep track of numerous small scale farmers, all of whom would only supply a part of the total offerings at the store.

As long as the woodchuck stays away, i have a chance to actually harvest something. Altho i've had even cute chipmunks gnaw on tomatos, so i'm not positive.

Had a physical on Thursday. We agreed that since they were taking blood anyway, they should test me for Lyme disease, too. I've been having somewhat continuous, low grade headaches which sometimes continue into the next day. Lyme disease in my state is an epidemic.

My friend and neighbor H. called to ask me a favor, to bring a repotted snake plant back into the house. Not a biggie.
She knows I'm Ms. Muscle Lady.

Vacuumed the upstairs here; it really needed it. Was thinking i might be able to squeeze in some lawn mowing, the 1st of the season, if the grass is dry. It sprinkled a little last night.