Smell the Fresh Cut Grass [Daily Thought]

Well in my opinion it is finally official, spring is here. What makes me say that now? It's elementary watson, the Azaleas have started blooming and I started mowing. Nothing else quite says "Hey it's Spring time!" like some fresh cut grass and blooming Azaleas, am I right?

Forgive all that mess, I have not raked the back yard yet

After getting the pond basin installed I finally decided on where I wanted to put the water fall. As far as the pond goes the only thing I really have left is running the electricity out to it in a more permanent way. While I would be happy with a really long ugly orange drop cable running from an outlet, kids seem to trip over it and more importantly the wife said, "NOOOO!"

It seems like the instant I started adding water, leaves started landing in the pond.

One of the biggest hurdles for this flower/pond bed has been the overly wet clay soil. After some good old fashioned thinking I came up with a win-win. I will be mixing in dead leaves / grass clippings before I start planting anything in the bed. This should help break up the clay and give the roots a chance to branch out properly I may end up adding some manure or possibly some high grade potting soil as well. Of course this means a lot more work, but that's the fun part right?

The addition of the fountain means more splash over, but that also means more fresh water added daily.

Besides the Azaleas coming in there are some other sprouts showing up around the yard, a purple Iris decided to show it's face a little early and one of the pond plants seems to have already started growing, though it has not yet broken the surface..

Spring is Here! The Adventure Begins Again!

Well folks, its that time again! Spring is here for 2011 so it's time to dust off that shovel, break out that hoe and get busy in the gardens again! A lot has changed since last year, a new house, a new addition to the family and a MUCH bigger yard to work with. While most of my time is still spent indoors at the moment I have begun work on the pond area.

Hoping to learn from some mistakes made when I installed it at the old house I plan on doing a few things differently this time. First of course is going to be using a level!!! I think one of the worst moments the last time around was filling up the pond and then realizing it was not sitting level. While it still looked good, it always nagged at me that I screwed up something so basic. Another change will be a properly run electrical for the pump and any lights I might add. Gone is the wad of duct tape and in its place will be a good length of buried PVC piping.

And of course what back yard adventure would be complete without a garden? While I have yet to start work on getting the ground ready I have already picked a great location that gets ton's of sun and should provide me with ample room for all the veggies planned this year.

Hope your spring is off to a great start everyone!