Barefoot Squarefoot Gardening

First Planting of the Season

2012-02-07T21:29:00.000-05:00

First seeds of the season planted and in the windowsill.

For info on what's being planted when, check out the handy-dandy planner I've set up here.

The trays and vermiculite are from Ontario Growers Supply. The potting soil I mixed with the vermiculite was from an old planter that's been sitting in our carport all fall/winter. (Don't worry, no car exhaust to be absorbed.) I mixed the vermiculite with the old soil about 50/50 to get a nice light seed starting medium... and noticed something:

Seed mix compared to back yard dirt.

Our back yard is going to need a lot more help than I thought. That is one of the buckets I had used to sprout the dollarstore seeds. No wonder the poor things never got established. We won't be fixing it yet because the back yard still looks like this:

Free firewood anyone?

My main thoughts are to box off the beds and dig in topsoil, manure, and vermiculite to give the garden a fighting chance. That may be too expensive and we'll wind up going the topsoil & manure only route with no bed edging. I wouldn't have thought covering the ground with plastic for a few years would result in such anemic dirt... but here's the proof. We won't have our own compost to add til Autumn 2013 so this is going to be interesting.

Spawning Season

2012-02-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

Love is in the air... well... at least mating pheromones are in the air. The squirrels are chattering away claiming territory, and even the fish are getting in the swing of things.

I know the glare makes it really hard to see but if you zoom in...

there's a gazillion fish!

We haven't really had a proper winter this year so I'm a bit concerned the critters may be getting a bit of a head start. Hopefully this unseasonable season doesn't throw off too much.

SEEDS ARRIVED!

2012-01-30T21:52:00.003-05:00

Except the two packets on back order... but YAY!

Pics and such to follow.

Yes, that's my messy messy kitchen table; what of it?

Seeds! Seeds! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!

Updates from December / January

2012-01-22T09:54:00.001-05:00

Started a paper route with the intention of earning extra money during this slow period at work.
The compost pile actually got warm enough one day to melt the snow off it(kinda impressive for something that size). We're working on building it properly so when spring comes there will be a good pile ready for the worms and microbes to do their stuff.
I got to visit with my mom & lil sis for a week and get mom's opinion on what to plant in the canning bed(since she's getting half). Turns out peas don't can well so there was some rearranging done.
The sprouts in the containers are gone They didn't wilt or wither away... they just disappeared. I'm blaming the cats.
The big tree branch that was blocking a lot of sun and tugging on the phone lines has been professionally removed. We now have a whole lot of wood for summer fires that needs to be cleared off the garden before any amendments or planting can be done.
I quit the paper route because it was way too much work for the money offered.
The seeds were bought with one minor change. We hadn't actually tried Swiss chard yet so we swapped it out for jalapeno peppers with the agreement that we'd get some chard soon and if it was liked, order the seeds later.
We're changing our eating habits to focus more on real food like meat, veg, and homemade baking instead of prepackaged convenience "food"s

Buying Seeds This Weekend

2012-01-19T09:58:00.001-05:00

Found a great supplier at WestCoastSeeds.com

Here's what our cart looks like (click to embigen):

I've been tweaking it for weeks and I think it's just right now. I've given you the list in this way so you can look up the codes to see the varieties selected (and so I can do the same next year if I need to).

Keep in mind each packet contains at least 20 seeds, some(like the lettuces) contain hundreds. These are all the smallest packets available there, but the seeds will last us years (even if we don't put away any from our produce).

Also, we're starting an herb garden from scratch so about $20 in seed is going just to that and we'll be buying some plants from a nursery if we can't find someone willing to share their Thyme (and Rosemary). Garlic and the sweetpotato slips will be started here from farmers market stock, and we may choose to buy onion sets for this year as we grow our own for the next.

Garden layout still hasn't been scanned so I don't have a digital copy yet but you'll see it soon.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T09:32:00.001-05:00

Please forgive the delay

2012-01-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to decide if the many thing I want to share belong on what I started as a garden blog, or if I want to start a second (or THIRD) blog. I don't want to over commit to writing because I'd run out of time to live a life worth writing about. Pics and proper posts comming soon.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

Best wishes to you and yours during these festive days and throughout the comming year.

Took Willow to the Vet Today

2011-12-16T15:07:00.001-05:00

I've been neglecting my blog because of a few things, one of which being Willow was ill.(the other reasons include scheduling tree pruning, and getting ready for the holidays)

Willow's vet appointment was today and it turns out her on-again/off-again chronic goopy eye and cough were caused by herpes(the cat variety). So now she's got four different medications to help her get through this flare up and might have to go on a long-term preventative medication but is otherwise okay.

Immune booster, antibiotics, eye drops, and airway clearer.

I'm very relieved it's not something life-threatening, or even life-changing. Mixing some meds into her morning wet food is a pittance of change when you think of all the things that could have been wrong. Thanks for understanding and we should be back to our regular programming in a few days.

Saw This In A Window Today

2011-12-13T17:46:00.000-05:00

Internet Explorer Hates Beauty

2011-12-12T12:15:00.000-05:00

Just realised all my modifications look like crud on IE.

Use Firefox people. IE hates beauty.

/grump

Is it just me, or is this taking forever?

2011-12-11T09:59:00.000-05:00

Tub A - Lettuce & Green Onion

Tub B - Lettuce, Radishes & Carrots

Tub C - Lettuce and Carrots

Mint. If you look REALLY close you can see tiny sprouts.

Leek. Growing new roots and more leaf.

Maybe it's just me but I kinda figured the sprouts would have stopped looking like sprouts and started looking like plants by now.

About the new addition, I was chopping some leeks to put in an omelet and I left a nice big chunk with the root end to see if I could sprout some new roots. Since the mint didn't seem to be sprouting I figured I'd just plant it in that tub... well now the mint's showing activity and I don't want to disturb it so... I need to find another tub I guess. :)

Silica, Seeds, and Snow

2011-12-10T09:42:00.000-05:00

Ran a few errands yesterday; one of which was buying Silica Gel to dehumidify my seed tub.


Only $19.20 after tax at Michael's	When the blue bits go pink it's time to re-dry it.


Instead of making packets or jars, I dumped it all in the tub.	The cardboard box of seeds fits nicely on top.

This snow has stuck around a full 24 hrs... and there's an icicle on my window. I now have to admit it's winter.

Made Some Changes; Added Some Pages

2011-12-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

I'm still tweaking the layout of this blog in order to get it to look just right. :) I probably will be for a while yet.

I've also added a couple more info pages to the tabs along the top of the page. Check them out and let me know what you think.

As Tigger says, TTFN.

See All the Green?

2011-12-08T17:13:00.003-05:00

Yay! Except... no, not really.

All those tall grass looking things are rye. Apparently when I scooped dirt from the garden I brought in some rye seeds too. The teeny-tiny sprouts are what I planted, and the one lettuce has yet to sprout at all. The tall "sprout-looking" sprouts(aka "hairy roots") I assume are the radishes because they're the fastest growing thing I planted.

The poor mint hasn't shown any spouts either (I planted a few seeds dead center). Looks like maybe they were too old. I've snipped at the soil every sprout that I'm over 95% sure is rye. In a few days we'll see how the rest are doing.

OMG YAY!

2011-12-05T11:38:00.000-05:00

Omg I won! Thank you so very much!
I never win anything! This is so exciting!

Early to Bed and Early to Rise.

2011-12-04T14:22:00.001-05:00

Found a calendar calculator on-line and I'm using it to calculate when to start seeds and set out transplants based on our average frost date (May 1).

It's looking like a longer season then I originally thought. First harvest of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage should be ready on or around May 29th. Wow! I know folks who don't even bother turning over their soil til the May-two-four weekend.

**happy dance**

Edging Complete!

2011-12-03T16:40:00.000-05:00


Beautiful border around the garden.	There's a weird little corner here, but I	finished what I started two weeks ago.

Figure I'll mark off all the beds tomorrow, put down walk ways, and get some of the garlic in for an early start.

Local Weather Update

2011-12-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

Some more snow this morning. It's been melting by afternoon.

River's going down(you can tell by the wet mark) but all this precipitation has it up over the graffiti.

Sprout pics

2011-11-30T18:20:00.000-05:00


Hairy roots. Dunno what it is yet.	Tiny still but things are sprouting!

Natures a Fickle Lady

2011-11-30T12:23:00.000-05:00

Left home for work this morning and found this. Hopes of edging the garden shattered.

The river's so high my favourite walking path is flooded so I had to go the long way around.

Of course, 2 1/2 hours later, walking home was another story.

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin', plannin' and dreaming

2011-11-30T07:41:00.000-05:00

Planning what goes where is harder then I thought... and apparently we have a TON of room.

Hopefully this is true and I'll have a chance to finish the edging before it rains again.

Small Packages

2011-11-28T18:46:00.001-05:00


Soon to be a spearmint plant.	Buckets have been seeded. Now we wait.

The coffee tub may get a makeover with labels to cover the branding but it will be the permanent indoor home of the Spearmint plant. Mints are awesome, but unfortunately opportunistic. One mint plant can take over your garden without strict containment.

Buckets A, B, and C (labeled on the handle) contain the following:
A- a central bunch of loose leaf lettuce, surrounded by green onions
B- a central head of boston type lettuce, surrounded by radishes and narrow type carrots(will probably add more radishes when the carrots are pulled)
C- a central bunch of loose leaf lettuce, surrounded by thick type carrots

The buckets will probably get a some mulch and a makeover like the coffee tub. I'm certain the neighbours might still be wondering why we have litter tubs in the window but at least they won't be ugly litter tubs. :)

Form or Function?

2011-11-28T05:55:00.000-05:00

Good morning all!

Got busy messing with the blog design last night and ran out of time to post the pics I took. I have to go to bed at 10 because I'm getting up at 5 for work; I can't focus otherwise.

As you can see now, you can still look up past posts by date, but now you can also view posts by topic. I got it working fairly quickly(thank you Blogger) but it took forever to get it to look anything like the other menu (thanks a lot Blogger).

Anyway, I promised you pics!


DollarStore seeds leftover from 2009.	Buckets of dirt with some gravel in the bottom.

The plan is to put one and two together, put them in the window and see if anything happens. Wish me luck?

The Plan Looked Wrong, So I Fixed It

2011-11-27T12:15:00.002-05:00

Final draft... I hope.

Now there's easier access to the compost, #8 has got itself vertical space and the yard should look nicer without paths that just go straight through the garden and smack into the fence. Also, when checking out the shadows in the yard yesterday John and I determined it's Bed #7, not #9 that should be the "hot house" bed. #9 is actually shaded by the houses most of the day this late in the year which means it will be in early spring too. #7 is the first to get sun and keeps it til late.

Also, some of the measurements on the west side were off. That's also been fixed.

Ran Out of Light, and Now Rain.

2011-11-27T09:51:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I woke to find:


Friday night we had visitors.	And the neighbours had visitors of the human kind.

I reburied the scraps. Everything they've pulled out has been from when I cleaned the slimy stuff out of the fridge and I haven't seen any bite marks. I'm hoping that finding inedible stuff is teaching the critters to leave the pile be... if not it's a squirrel buffet and as long as they don't spread it too far I don't care. :)

After lounging around and poking at my laptop a bit I decided I should probably get my butt in gear on that edging. I started around noon but there where things I had forgotten needed doing before I could even start the edging.


Garlic grows roots FAST.	Neat and tidy and off the grass.

I got the lil garlic and onions in the front bed and managed to tidy-up our mess of a woodpile into something resembling order. That black desk had been sitting in the carport since before we moved in. John and Meg moved it to the back for this. We're going to put a tarp over the desk part(under the logs) to keep the desk and kindling from getting too wet.


Finally started edging!	First bed (#9) and path edging complete at 3:30pm.

Don't worry about the drainpipe, we're not leaving it there. Plans are for a rain barrel. I had set up the strings just to give us a sense of proportion but I ran out of sturdy sticks so... You get the picture. At this point in the day there was only about an hour left of light and Megan wanted to go to the computer store again to get a couple more things for the early Christmas presents she was giving us. Can't really say no to that so I tidied up and went along. Then this happened:


Fabulous.	Indoors or out, there's plenty to do.

I had planed on getting up early and finishing the edging because it was supposed to sprinkle this morning and be clear tomorrow in case there was any left. They guessed wrong, and so did I. Rain, rain, rain. I'm hoping for another dry spell before it gets too cold or drops the dreaded white stuff. Looks like I'm doing planning on paper today, and tomorrow, and Tuesday... Maybe by next weekend I can finish the edging. Til then I'll be planning and puttering with planters.

New look, same great taste

2011-11-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

With the help of the lovely Megan and the lovely new computer Megan gave me for Christmas, I have prettied up the CSS of the blog a bit. There is much garden news to share but it's past my usual bedtime so it'll have to wait til tomorrow.

Sweet dreams.

Pray I Don't Alter it Further

2011-11-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

While deciding what plants go in which beds I realized I didn't have access to the east side of the east beds. My arms cannot comfortably stretch across four feet of garden to tend/harvest so I've altered the arrangement of the backyard beds.

All beds 4ft by 4ft and numbered for easy ID. All paths 2ft wide.

Bed #9 will probably be our hothouse bed. We can build it up a bit, put vertical supports along the east fence and hot house it with clear plastic to get things started early. It gets the most sun for the longest time so this should work well.

New Page!

2011-11-26T08:57:00.000-05:00

Put up an About/FAQ page. It will be added to over the next little while.

Would you please comment here with any questions you'd like to see answered?

Thanks. :)

Wow were we way off. Almost a full two feet off.

2011-11-25T18:01:00.001-05:00

We have an optical illusion yard. Even with this knowledge I can't see the angle out there.

So this is the new plan with much more accurate measurements. Had to give up one foot of width on one path but gained a vertical space so I say it's a win. We considered digging up to the gate but it's not a patio stone like the rest; it's actually poured concrete so that'll be staying put.

Busy, Busy Friday

2011-11-25T16:31:00.000-05:00

This morning has been fairly full of ideas, plans, purchases, revelations, etc.

When I was scooping the kitty-litter this morning(it's the very first thing I do every morning, even before putting the kettle on) I topped of the box with the last of the litter from the container and realized.... the empty containers would be perfect for indoor planters.


Look at the perfection. I could fit carrots in there.	And this window is far to perfect to go to waste

After coffee I packed up the baby plants in a cardboard box so they wouldn't be shocked when I took them outside.


Happy little plant babies	Cozy nursery in the shed

Turns out the box from Megan's Scout popcorn was the perfect size. :) I figure a day and night insulated from quick temperature changes like this should harden them off enough to put them in the ground safely tomorrow. Oh, and those red coffee cans in the shed? Those are full of ashes from our last fire. We put a sprinkle on the kitchen scraps each time they're brought out. Makes them smell less tasty to the squirrels and adds plenty of nutrients.

At that point I figured I should probably figure out exactly what was wrong in our yard. Last week when we moved the shed I had measured from the fence on the east side and found the dug bed much shorter than the 10' I measured on the west end of the bed (about a foot and a half shorter). This has been bothering me all week and I just had to get a visual and accurate measurements in order to assess the seriousness of the situation.


John's hand & fence pole = 10' from back fence	The house/patio/ect are crooked on the lot

I suppose it's not a big deal, it just means my pretty ASCII art needs and update(later). So with that out of the way I started research on compostable kitty litter and any risks/methods I needed to know to shrink my kitties carbon-paw-print by avoiding the nasty dusty clay litters. Found plenty of interesting info here and here. There was a bunch of nervous-nellies, but there was also a bunch of knowledgeable folks who had information (for and against). We've decided for.

With that in mind I set off to the local shops for some groceries, litter, and mesh.


Lovely new litter that will slowly be added.	Mesh to keep compost on our side of the fence.

Also picked up a few heads of garlic that looked perfect for our new found containers. I have some dollarstore seeds laying around that I'll try to grow Our good seeds won't be bought til January and by then we could have fresh herbs and lettuce and such in the window.

Home from the store around 1pm and there was leftover homemade chicken soup in the fridge for lunch.

Gotta love homemade soups.

Then, my boss called! I'll be training for a new position mid-next week. This is good because my hours have been shrinking and this job will bring me up to full time.

Now it's 4:30 pm and I'm going to update my ASCII art plan as well as work on the main garden planning of what goes where. Tomorrow I edge the garden(in a proper straight line) and plant the baby garlic and onions in the front bed. The weather's supposed to be nice(cloudy and 12C) so it sounds like a good day.

Things Are Growing!

2011-11-24T11:39:00.000-05:00

Remember how just yesterday I said I hoped the garlic was growing roots? Well...


Pretty sure we have to call this conclusive evidence.

So yay on that front!

Also, I was making chicken soup today and found some of our pearl onions had sprouted. Well I'm not gonna let that initiative go to waste.


Dunno why I didn't think of egg cartons for the garlic.

Assuming the onions perk up enough today to figure they're growing roots, they'll get transplanted into the garden with the garlic tomorrow.

Happy-Dance! Boogie-oogie-oogie!

P.S. For those who read "chicken soup" and were looking for pics:

Mmmm... real food.

The Garlic is Levitating

2011-11-23T18:35:00.002-05:00

Well, for lack of a better term. What would you call garlic rising out of it's bed?

I knew I should have had it exorcised first.

I'm gonna get some more soil and top it off so the poor cloves don't catch cold... but I hope this means they're growing roots. :)

Raining

2011-11-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

Edging garden with stones postponed on account of rain.

Managed to price the parts needed to install vertical supports in the spring though so I did get something accomplished.

My Empire of Dirt Begins!

2011-11-21T19:57:00.000-05:00

Without proper seed starting medium (or seeds for that mater) I still wanted to plant SOMETHING... but what could I do that wouldn't get dug under when we set up the beds in the spring... then I thought GARLIC!

There's cloves of garlic in there waiting to sprout, I swear it.

So the idea is I'll get them to sprout then move them out to the front garden(where we're gonna do flowers & herbs anyway) to winter in the ground so they can grow early and well next spring.

Do any of you over-winter anything?

How to Keep Seeds Good for Years

2011-11-20T20:31:00.004-05:00

Just posted a new info page on seed saving.

The info there will grow as I learn more of course but please have a look, and have a great night.

The "Problem" With Ordering Seeds

2011-11-20T19:09:00.004-05:00

I've been checking out the different varieties of the foods we want to grow and I've filled my online 'cart' with a wide variety of healthy veggies for our household only to be slightly discouraged. If I wanted to fill the whole garden with one plant it would cost less than $5 but who wants 600 spinach plants? The value (as described by price/quality*quantity) is AMAZING. We'll get over five years worth of 85-95% of our veggie intake for less than $150... but really?

Why must I buy 5 years worth all at once? Who needs 3000 heads of loose lettuce (the kind you pick a few leaves each day and the plant grows for the whole season). Who needs 75 tomato plants when each one will produce pounds-on-pounds of tomatoes? And 545 big thick long carrots? It's almost enough to go through the trouble of setting up a seed share program.

I'd considered putting an ad in Kijiji asking if someone wanted to split the bill... but they'd have to want exactly what we want and then there's the trusting a stranger thing and, well, I just don't see it working. Instead, I'll just have to see this as an investment and be sure to keep those seeds safe and viable for the years to come(more on that later).

I know; look at me whine about my first-world problems. :) I promise the next post will be more upbeat.

Seeds and Transplants

2011-11-20T08:03:00.002-05:00

My shoulder's acting up again so I woke to ow-ow-ow-ow-ow at 6:30am. Figured since I'm up with Advil in my belly and Arnica jell on my shoulder, I've got the time to post.

Here's the list of plants we're planning to have:

Basil, variety
Bay *
Beans, Pole(snap not string)
Beets
Cabbage, red
Calendula
Cantaloupe
Carrots, Red
Carrots, Orange(largeish)
Chamomile, German
Chives
Cucumbers, Pickling type
Cucumbers, Slicing type
Echinacea
Eggplant
Garlic*
Kale
Lavender
Lettuce, loose-leaf blend
Nasturtium
Onions, yellow
Oregano
Parsley
Parsnips
Peas
Peppers, Bell
Peppers, Hot
Pumpkins, Sweet pie type
Rosemary *
Sage
Salad Greens Blend
Spinach
Squash, Buttercup
Squash, Sweetmeat
Sunflower, Giant
Swiss Chard
Tarragon *
Thyme
Tomatoes, Cherry
Tomatoes, Paste
Tomatoes, Beefsteak
Zucchini

The starred(*) items do not come as seed from westcoastseeds.com (where I've selected the rest from) so we'll get them as plants from a nursery(or in the case of garlic, bulbs from the grocery store).

I'm actually thinking Bay and Rosemary might be to much trouble as they'd have to be indoors all winter and we don't have anywhere for a 3-5 foot tree in the house. Le-sigh, perhaps in a few years.

Do you have a favorite seed supplier?(do they ship to Canada?)
Do you have experience with westcoastseeds.com?(good or bad?)
What's your favorite useful plant?(useful, not just pretty)

Introductions

2011-11-19T20:10:00.001-05:00

The three of us(plus the cats) moved into a nice four bedroom house in London, Ontario about four or five months ago. We've still got a few boxes that need unpacking and some projects the landlord needs finishing but we're mostly settled into day-to-day life.

This is John. He's mr.fix-it, head-chef, and the pack mule. He works in Social Services and is planning on taking more schooling in the same.

This is Megan, programmer extraordinaire and random voice of reason. She was the entire IT department at her company til they recently decided she could have a minion.

This is Franklin (aka: cutie-pie, my lil man, and LittleOrangB@$t@rd) He's a sweetie who will cuddle you when you're sick, but he's also a terror who will do just about anything to get your attention if he wants.

This is Willow. She's decided she's Franklin's Auntie and tries to keep the boy amused and out of trouble. She has a funny meow and beautiful fur.

And this is me. I work in an office but things are slow so I've been looking for a part-time job to fill the gaps. My long-term goals are a self-sufficient farm in order to grow a family, and to build a successful business out of my natural bath and body products.

And now that you know us, I hope to get to know you as readers through our conversations in the comment sections of the posts. Have a great day. :)

Shed Successfully Moved

2011-11-19T17:58:00.003-05:00

The shed was hauled across the back yard this afternoon. It took all three of us but it was worth it.

Front garden weeded

2011-11-19T17:28:00.001-05:00

Before (roses trimmed back, no weeding done)

After (unproductive rose removed, all weeds pulled)


Nice clear bed. Hosta in top right, bulbs(unknown) far left, unknown sprout things bottom right.

All that's left in the front yard is for John to trim the grass back one last time before the snow.

I almost forgot.

2011-11-19T09:49:00.000-05:00

See that cardboard box? That's the start of our very own compost pile!

The veggies were getting gross (ick) but now they will transform into soil(yay!).

Not bad for a lazy Saturday morning

2011-11-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

Spent about a half hour in the back yard this morning. The plan was to pull up any remaining wood along the edge of the patio and dig up the half pavers to even up the large bed.


Mission Accomplished

Turns out the dirt and gravel I thought were obscuring the view of the pavers... were actually in place of most of them. There were only three large brick type pieces separating the patio from the wood framing the garden. The rest was this:


Gravel mixed with dirt. Lovely isn't it?

So it looks like I'll be picking gravel out of my garden all next year... but hopefully it'll be all gone by the following season.

In combination with info from a Google search, I had a thought, while I was digging this morning, that should save us some money on the set up.

The plan had been to buy garden edging(the stuff you use to keep the grass from creeping in and the mulch from falling out) to keep the soil in the beds and we would use planks or mulch for the walkways... but look how many stones/bricks/rocks we've dug out of this garden!

Now I may be wrong, but I'm certain that there's plenty to keep the edges clear around the perimeter of the garden. As for the point between the path and the beds, I think that using discarded carpet scraps for the path will not only suppress weeds, but will be much tidier than using mulch or gravel that could spill into the beds.

And now that the gamers of the household are starting to stir after a late night, I should probably consider breakfast. Have a great Saturday!

Design for the backyard

2011-11-18T21:35:00.002-05:00

The dimensions of the back garden will be 24' X 10' with a "tail" of 3' X 10'. In the NW corner are the compost piles as well as room to store dry material like straw for them. The shed hides this view from the road; and John's sunflowers might hide the shed. :)

The beds have their dimensions marked on them, the main west/east path is two feet wide; the north/south paths are three feet wide and the small paths are one foot wide. This should provide enough room to tend the larger beds and somewhere to put one's foot as one tends the smaller beds.

The ==== indicates vertical supports, and the XXXX indicates where the garden path meets the patio area.

Yesterday John said, "We should have took before-and-after pictures"...

2011-11-18T19:56:00.002-05:00

He was right of course but who ever thinks of stopping to take pictures of what-is. What-is is boring and day to day. Pictures don't even come to mind til there's a change that seems drastic enough to warrant documenting.

Pretty sure Megan didn't take any pictures, John took a couple when he was digging to show how extensive the root structure was... but I think the first picture I took was of sprouts... and now I can't seem to find that picture.

Well if if's and but's were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas, and since I don't have access to a TARDIS we'll just have to start with pics from yesterday (and maybe later we can have a "flash-back" with any pics John can dig up. :)

Lets start with the five cent tour:

North-East corner of the back yard. Dark green = grass, light green = alfalfa


North West corner of the backyard. Grey=patio stones, red=gravel.

As you can see, there's a bed already. It was covered with plastic and gravel when we arrived this summer so we tore it up, dug it up (pruning back a ton of tree roots) and planted alfalfa to revive the soil for spring. Wow...So much has already been done.

The North-West corner also had the plastic/gravel treatment under a couple planters. We moved the planters and we were pulling up the plastic yesterday so the gravel would have better drainage when one - spot - just - wouldn't - come - up. Turns out that when the owner chose to cover these lovely gardens with plastic and gravel... he had also filled in a pond! The plastic went right under a cinder-block and several other large rocks.(see the pile in the corner of the patio?) We had to carefully dig/haul them out in order to continue. The hole was refilled with soil, gravel, and leaves before being recovered with gravel. It should make great drainage for the compost pile.

The shed's in the sunniest corner so it must move of course. The southern part of the gravel is leveled out for just this reason, but that's planned for tomorrow.

Well that's the tour and the basics of what's already been done in the back yard. Be sure to come back regularly to see how things are progressing and to hear about the plans for spring.