*arbor day*

 Yay!  My new [old] arbor is in!  I love it.  It was made by a couple of local guys who used scrap wood they had lying around; they wanted to flesh out a design and see how it would go.  This is the prototype, so it's not fancy, not pressure treated, but I couldn't be happier.  There's an optical illusion with the slope of the ground that makes it look a little higher on one side, but they put a level to it on all sides and she's as plumb as can be.  

 Once I get the clematis and sweet peas planted on either side, you'll never even notice the off kilter vibe.  Once it gets cooler, I'll start the stone path from the arbor to the pond, and if there's enough stone, I'll make a small pad for the iron bench.  Now to get someone in to help get my alpine garden started...

I'm feelin' alright

 I was talking with my aunt last night and confessed something that was a very foreign feeling to me - I'm happy with where I'm at in the grand scheme of yard work.  My gardens have some weeds, sure, but overall they look pretty darned good.  The cold weather crops kind of took a hard hit in the last two heat waves, but everything else looks healthy.  I've been able to keep up with the mowing in areas I want mowed, so the back yard hasn't been lost in a sea of overgrowth.  I've been diligently watering the tomatoes and peppers in the polytunnel and they are thriving.  I've been gradually pulling weedy things out of the wildflower meadow and planting more cottage garden type plants in their place.  What perennials I planted last year that survived the winter are looking fantastic.  Yup, I'm feeling good about what I've accomplished so far, how much I've been able to maintain, and I'm not stressing about what I wanted to get done but haven't.  Cooler days are coming, and there are enough projects around this little farm to keep me busy for a decade.  For now, mulching the bank behind the wildflower meadow is the big push, and I'm having an arbor installed at the firepit patio this week. And this makes me a very happy biddy.

 

Let the games commence

 And by games, I obviously mean "projects I've been putting off all summer and suddenly need to have done before snow flies".  

My first project was to reclaim the lower patio.  Remember when I created it without edging and blithely declared that I wanted to be a part of the landscape, not apart from the landscape?  What a maroon.  Two years later and the landscape had basically begun to swallow my patio whole.  

It was obvious this would never become the hub of summer activity I'd hoped, so I decided to revamp it as a simple fire pit area.  I gathered all of the tools I would need and many I wouldn't, and began reclaiming the overgrown edges.

So I wouldn't have to fight back the weeds and grass, I finally conceded to a concrete block edging, since I have an abundance of block on hand.

 

 

All that was left was to purchase caps for the cinder blocks and add the fire pit and furniture.

The fire pit was picked up off the side of the road free, and I might get a few months out of it before I'll need to buy a new one.  I like being able to cook over a wood fire, and with some items I had on hand I was able to finagle a grate out of a couple pieces of rebar and the racks I grabbed from my mother's old stove when she had it replaced.

The fireplace insert and grate will come in handy as a firewood holder and table or plant stand.  Next year I plan to get a small gas grill and set it up down here, as well.

I purchased some landscape adhesive to glue to the block caps down, but I'm not sure if I'll do that or not.

Now, on to the next project.  I plan to put in a path from the patio to the water feature using the bluestone I have on hand.  If there's enough stone, I may just make a small area to set the iron bench on, so I don't have to move it every time I need to mow.  Obviously, from the length of the grass, I don't mow it often.  This is a troublesome little area that needs some TLC.  Off I go!

Springing

 You may think it's Christmas, but for me the most wonderful time of the year is definitely spring.  I love the crisp mornings and warm afternoons, and unlike autumn it's the sense of everything waking up rather than dying down.  

I've been able to get some of the young seedlings outside during the day for more natural light and air, and to also expose them to to temperature fluctuations. This process is called hardening off.  It's still much too cold to leave these tender plants out overnight - just this morning the pasture was coated with a heavy frost.  I'm going to get the polytunnel cover up today and hopefully I should be able to leave them out overnight in that fairly soon.

The grey container on the bottom step is yet another attempt to grow bulbs in pots, which I am pretty much giving up on.  The bulbs started out great guns but petered out quickly; I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or if it's just that our climate isn't hospitable to early pots, but I'm done.  From now on, it's bulbs in the ground, and pots are reserved for colorful annuals.

Speaking of bulbs, in the new hot borders flanking the path to the barn door, my Crown Imperial Fritillaria have survived!

It doesn't look like much now, but eventually it will form a long stem with drooping red bell-like flowers at the top.  The bulbs have a slight depression in the center and need to be planted on an angle so that ground water doesn't sit in the depression and rot the bulb.  Looks like I planted it just right.  The only odd thing about these plants is they really stink, literally.  They have a musky, skunky odor slightly reminiscent of marijuana. 

For the rampant crab grass situation I've purchased a new standing weeder tool.

This is a Fiskars 4 claw model, and it's freaking amazing.  You position the claws over the center of a weed, step down on the extended foot piece to drive the blades down into the ground, then step off and simply lever the weed out of the ground, and the claws close on the roots as you pry the weed out.  A quick release slide opens the claws and you're done.  I've found this to be fantastic if you're pulling weeds with tap roots, and it will pull large clumps of crab grass, but smaller clumps aren't as easily gripped.  At any rate, being able to stand and weed is much easier than being on my hands and knees.

After the last storm brought down so many trees and branches, I decided to really pursue my dead hedge project.  Lord knows there's enough material...or is there?  My first section went up yesterday, and what you see is a pickup truck load of brush.

  This is a mix of freshly fallen limbs and branches and various long dead pieces I pulled out of the forest garden area.  Traditional dead hedges are made using uprights that are also fashioned from limbs, but I am using grade stakes because I'm too lazy to carve points onto limbs.  It was difficult enough to drive the pointed stakes into the ground as there is so much ledge and stone, and I ended up using baling twine to keep the posts from leaning outward.  If I can pound them deeper into the ground, I may not have to do that for every section.  The plan is to make the next section cross the stone wall, then follow the ridge behind the honeysuckle bushes all the way to my hillside garden fence, then pick up the process on the other end of the garden fence and follow the stone wall to the end of the property at the road.      

 The nice thing about this fencing is that I'll always have material to add to it, and it's providing cover and lodging for insects and small creatures.  Also, it will help keep my mother's dog out of my garden...bonus.  If I like it enough, I may extend it to other areas around the property, like along the back pasture.  At least with this if a tree falls on it, there isn't hundreds of dollars worth of damage!  Some people may think it looks messy, but I like that it's a natural looking fence, I'm using found materials, and it's costing me hundreds of dollars less than metal, wire, or picket fencing.  Win/win.

Now...off to plant my peas!