Today's Update

The weather today has been cold and cloudy, which is a good thing.  After all the work in the yard over the weekend my body is trying to tell me I'm too old for this.  So I will take a break and recover a bit today, in preparation for the rest of the week, which is supposed to be sunny and cool.

After planting the cherry tree and the camellia I even managed to get out back and tear out another swath of blackberries.  It's starting to look like I will need to take a trip to the dump though to get rid of the last of the junk back there, and the blackberry vines I removed.  I also need to try to find a source for old newspaper.  I plan to use it to smother any remaining blackberries along the back of the house so I can put the lava rock back there and have a clear path across that yard.  Maybe I'll put a post on Craigslist and see if someone's got a stockpile they're willing to part with.

Once it's a bit nicer out I'll get some pictures up of the blackberry disaster, and my progress in removing it.

I have a lot of plans for the yard this year that have been put off for a while as I was investing in the garden itself.  This year it's time to spruce up the rest of the yard though.  Edging the grass, removing all the lava rock, adding bark mulch, laying new gravel in the paths.  Those areas have all gone a long time with little maintenance, and as the garden is expanding into them it's becoming time to finally get them up to snuff.  Also the mobile home park has a new manager who is more determined than ever to make this place look appealing to new tenants.  So I am forced to pay more attention to the public areas in front of the house.

For today, I will relax, and do some planning.  Making a list of stuff to buy for the garden needs to be done.  More bark, a bag or two of compost, and old newspaper are on the list already. 

My rhubarb root division should arrive in a couple weeks too, I cleared out the area for it yesterday while planting the camellia.  The artichokes will also go in that area, at the end of the strawberry bed.  I'm trying to keep my perennial edibles in one area so I can easily water and harvest them but they aren't mixed in with the annuals (where the soil is turned and amended yearly and would disturb them), it's a nice sunny spot too that should have excellent soil under all the lava rock.

Lastly, I scattered my packet of beneficial bug mix flowers in the empty lot in hopes of improving it's look, and attracting more beneficials to the area.  We shall see if that is helpful or was a waste of money soon enough.

That's my update for now; still planning a garlic culture post soon and an onion and garlic harvest post as well, so stay tuned.