Spring Property Maintenance

 We have gotten a a lot of rain from these storms sweeping across the country.  I can't really walk across the back lawn.  The rest of the lawns are OK, but it stopped us from tackling any edging and mulching. The next early spring project on my To Do list is to remove the light blue Siberian irises from the well head...

Not a good day for digging.  But an excellent spot for Siberian Irises

... and replace them with some dark Caesar's Brother irises from the sidewalk area we are reworking. 

This nice clump of Irises are no longer where I want them

That project is going to have to wait, but in spring there is always another project to do.  We brought in a few yards of topsoil for repairing spots in the lawn.  We had it dumped up in the area where we took down all those trees and where we are gradually adding grass.  Rather than spend a lot of money on topsoil and grass seed we opted for the farmer's version of lawn repair.  We put down four bales of hay.  There is a lot of orchard grass seed in this hay and we are quite happy to have orchard grass up here.  After we get done using the pile of topsoil for other areas, whatever is left can be spread right there on the gravel and clay spot we dumped it on and covered with hay.

The first part of lawn repair will be filling in these holes.  Its time again for regular maintenance pumping out of the septic tank.  We uncovered the lids for the pumper and will fill the holes back in with fresh soil and plant grass seed.  They are just a little too big and deep to gracefully remove the sod in any way that we could piece it back together, but we could do that too.

Another post winter project - At the entrance to the big garage, we had a paver walkway that was crumbling.  We were tracking all kinds of grit and cement dust into the garage.  When we began to lift them, they completely disintegrated.

Then we had to decide on the easiest way to reconfigure the three that are still in good shape.  These pavers weigh 280 pounds each.  We use a lifter that the neighbor built for us so we can lift three foot pavers with the tractor.  There is a design quirk that makes it difficult to set pavers side by side, but without it there would be no way we could move them at all.

We decided on three in a row instead of a triangular configuration.

And then we started on the big project of the spring...

...removing the orange daylilies from the fence line.

This is hard work, but we need to do it while we still can to reduce the overall amount of work that these daylilies cause over the course of each year.  We got six sections dug out yesterday leaving nine more to go.  Then we will use the remainder of last year's mulch pile to fill in and level off the holes we leave.

Ad now news from the seed starting.  The teeny tiny Portulaca seedlings are putting out their first true leaves.  Portulaca has these weird, pointy, succulent leaves.  In the seedling stage, it takes a camera or a magnifying glass to see them!  They are so small!

And here is the sweet potato slip situation...

April Showers

The weather has been pretty cool and wet.  There have been some breaks of sunshine now and then but after you figure out that they do not last long enough for you to get outfitted and go outside, you realize that they may be best enjoyed through a window.  But every day I go out and do a garden patrol.  This is the time of year when the rabbits decide that the thyme under the apple trees would make a lovely location for a nest.  And I agree, it would be lovely.  But the itty-bitties are trouble enough when they are under foot in the lawn.  I sure don't need them based under the apple tree.  Usually just smoothing back the mulch and sprinkling some repellent granules around is enough to do the trick but this year they are busy enough that I have had to plug the hole with a big ol' rock.

The daffodils are beginning to bloom.  The little tete-a-tete daffs are the first.

The larger ones are not far behind.

The hardy primroses are still a little rough from being buried under snow for months but they are beginning to bloom.

I have been thinking of adding some bulbs to this corner by the deck steps.  I have to keep track of where things are planted.  This will come in handy in the fall when I can either plant accordingly or talk myself out of it completely.  The Winter Aconite should be showing up and blooming at the feet of the snow drops but they aren't.  I need to add some more this fall.

Oh look... the Hyacinths are coming up nice.

Last week I  planted some bareroot Seascape strawberries.  They are already greening up.

The elderberry bushes are leafing out.

I finally finished pruning on the apple trees.  I took a lot out of this one but it is still a very full tree.

Below are the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants.  They will be ready to set out in three weeks.  i am pleased with how compact they are staying under the new LED light set up.

And the micro tomatoes and ornamental peppers.  Such tiny little guys.

Yesterday I seeded the indeterminate tomatoes.