Sunday

I need longer weekends.

I spent all my outdoor time working on an area that comprises maybe one-fortieth my entire yard, if that much. It's a little rectangle that runs between my driveway and the neighbor's fence, maybe 20 feet long and 5 or 6 wide. This is the patch where I have one lilac that isn't looking so hot and another that died and was replaced with a Pink Tree Althea.

The tree is looking well. I have fed it a few times, and the branches have grown several inches and the leaves are a nice, rich green. But the soil is clay that is so clay-y that it actually springs back into shape after you step on it. The lilac had grass growing right up to the base, so I dug out around both shrubs, added compost and good dirt, pounded landscape trim circles around both, and mulched. I then took the sod that I dug out from around the lilac and filled in a few gaps in the backyard. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the dirt that I removed so I could put down the sod.

Maybe the low spot around the planter in the front.

Oh, and former owners who installed landscape stones? I have one word for them. It is the Ultimate Swearword, which, if uttered aloud, would lead to sunspot flares, scuttled communications, crisped satellites, and bad sunburns the world over. So we won't say it.

But we will think it, over and over and over.

That goes double for the &*%$#@ lava rock.

Lunch/early dinner was pot roast--a piece of chuck roasted with tomatoes, onion, and celery. The juices were then thickened with corn starch. Along with it, mashed red skin potatoes, cold beets with sliced onion, and carrots. Good stuff.

ETA: the part of the yard I worked on is actually less than one percent of the total square footage. Still frustrating, though, because, well, &^%$#@ landscaping stone.

Sunday

I need longer weekends.

I spent all my outdoor time working on an area that comprises maybe one-fortieth my entire yard, if that much. It's a little rectangle that runs between my driveway and the neighbor's fence, maybe 20 feet long and 5 or 6 wide. This is the patch where I have one lilac that isn't looking so hot and another that died and was replaced with a Pink Tree Althea.

The tree is looking well. I have fed it a few times, and the branches have grown several inches and the leaves are a nice, rich green. But the soil is clay that is so clay-y that it actually springs back into shape after you step on it. The lilac had grass growing right up to the base, so I dug out around both shrubs, added compost and good dirt, pounded landscape trim circles around both, and mulched. I then took the sod that I dug out from around the lilac and filled in a few gaps in the backyard. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the dirt that I removed so I could put down the sod.

Maybe the low spot around the planter in the front.

Oh, and former owners who installed landscape stones? I have one word for them. It is the Ultimate Swearword, which, if uttered aloud, would lead to sunspot flares, scuttled communications, crisped satellites, and bad sunburns the world over. So we won't say it.

But we will think it, over and over and over.

That goes double for the &*%$#@ lava rock.

Lunch/early dinner was pot roast--a piece of chuck roasted with tomatoes, onion, and celery. The juices were then thickened with corn starch. Along with it, mashed red skin potatoes, cold beets with sliced onion, and carrots. Good stuff.

ETA: the part of the yard I worked on is actually less than one percent of the total square footage. Still frustrating, though, because, well, &^%$#@ landscaping stone.