The garden

It's a little wet outside today, otherwise I might be out in the garden. I haven't spent a lot of time out there over the last few years, but I it still cleans up fairly well. I was thinking about it after seeing Tim Latimer's garden update. My garden is naturally lush because we get a lot of moisture year round, but Tim is miles ahead when it comes to gardening.

My back yard garden is really a lovely little space, fairly secluded, with a stone path. There was once moss growing between the stones, but it hasn't done well. It mostly tries to grow over the stone and succumbs to weeds where there's dirt. Now, there are violets trying to grow in the path, and as much as I love violets, they're going to have to go somewhere else.

There's a trick to getting the whole yard done, and it involves timing the yard debris pick-up, which is only every other week. On the first pass through the garden a week ago Saturday, I got to the end of the yard on the main level, and the yard debris bin was full. Collection was the following Thursday, so I had to remember to get the bin to the curb. Easy enough when you're in the routine, but normally, I don't have a lot of recycling or yard debris. I'll fill the large bins a few times a year, but that's about the extent of it.

As a reminder, I left the bin in the middle of the yard where I'd see it every day. Of course, with each passing day I wanted it to go away more and more. So I remembered. Perfectly timed. I'm using the same idea with recycling. The large bin is full after I went through the mess in the attic, and the bin will go out to the curb tonight.

In case you haven't already guessed, the flurry of activity around the house is to prepare for a visit from Mom in a few weeks. She's coming from Maine, and hasn't been here since last September, when we celebrated her 80th birthday. She's actually a very good gardener, but if possible, I'd like my garden to be somewhat presentable by the time she arrives. All depends on the weather.

There was a visitor in the yard the other day.

So, I'm doing the indoor-outdoor tango. One week, fill the yard bin. The next week, fill the recycle bin. It's been nice to break up the bigger jobs this way...makes those tasks seem less overwhelming. Fill a bin, get something else done, rinse and repeat. Right on schedule, but it's a good thing I have a few weeks!