Spring Break

I am not quite sure how I feel about Spring Break this year.  Last year, we hadn't even moved to the property and we had just started the clean up and remodel.  We were excited and full of energy and dreams!  I sometimes have to pause and remember how far we have come in a year's time.  We have put in so much hard work and it has been....difficult.  Worth it but not something I am sure I could ever repeat.

This Spring Break was essentially yard work.  We have been working on getting the garden structure in and then we will shape and add to it in the future.  I felt a sense of urgency to get started on the yard.  It was too much of a clean slate and knowing how long gardens take to mature, I wanted to get shrubs and trees planted.  I wanted to see the start of things to come.  In the same sense that a picture on the wall makes a house feel like a home, a garden makes a yard feel like home to me.  

It was slow going this week.  I worked hard and I have been sore all week.  I transplanted 29 trees and shrubs.  This feels rather ridiculous to me!  While a few of those things were plants that I had dug at my parents and planted here, most were just me moving things I had planted in the Fall.  My problem is that I have trouble with visualizing.  I change my mind and think things would look better elsewhere.  I also planted 31 additional plants.  I spent my birthday gift certificate at a nursery up in Portland and had some more trees and shrubs that we had ordered wholesale.  In addition to planting, I weeded, mowed, watered, and Phil did weedeating and hauled some of our belongs that were stored at my parents.  

Really, Spring Break was work work work and by Friday, I was out of steam.  I very much enjoyed NOT doing school and I wish I didn't have to continue on for another full 3 months before we take July off.  Phil did most of the meals so that was helpful.  I had wanted to fit in some house cleaning, unpacking, organization/planning for the rest of the year, and something fun but we didn't get to any of that.  Now, vacation is over and I can't help but think, "We worked so hard...where was the vacation part of vacation?" 

Nearly the Full Moon

Cold and snow at the beginning of the week, high clouds and some sun by the end.

Snake hunting season has begun.

Front yard before....

Knocking down the shed, hauling load after load after load of garbage to the dumpsters (11, 22 yard dumpsters total)

Endless blackberries and burnpiles

Now, boarder garden is in.  The main shrubs are planted and I will be filling in with flowers and smaller perennials.  This corner pictured will be built up with retaining blocks.

Before...

Dead grapes and lots of blackberries.

I have started to place shrubs around the house.  Eventually, I will turn this into a house boarder garden with ferns, hostas, and other shade plants. 

There is a side boarder garden to the left with part shade plants and in front is a tricolored beech tree that will be a nice colorful accent.

Before...

In December, when we first saw it.

Last Spring

Filled in with some maples and other small shrubs and trees to create a privacy screen and add much needed trees.

This was the first garden and clean up area I tackled.  I left this hedge here...

...and turned the rest of it into a conifer garden.  At one time gravel had been poured all along here and the soil is quite poor.  Hopefully the conifers won't mind and this will be evergreen and fill in to block the neighbors yard.  

The start of the rose garden.  I plan to eventually put in a vegetable garden with raised beds and pathways.  It will be lined by the fence, by a blueberry hedge, by a raspberry hedge, and the rose garden.

It may not look like much now but this field is the arboretum.  I have several favorite trees planted in here and some shrubs and I will continue to add to it.  The hope is that they will all grow up tall and fill in but they are spaced far enough apart that it won't create a forrest and we will be able to mow around them.

The orchard...my mom gave me some figs, and I have added a couple of apples, a pear, a persimmon, and a plum.  I still have room for a few more eventually.  I am hoping with the pruning and the new additions we will eventually have lots of fruit!

We started making rounds around the trees.  We will mulch and hog's fuel these and then be able to mow easier around them.

All mowed down.  Someday, we are going to have to address the moguls in the yard.  

You really can't tell from this picture but this is my bird and butterfly garden.  We have a long L shape to the North that takes the brunt of the summer wind and I am planning on filling it in with trees and shrubs to entice birds and butterflies and hopefully eventually offer a little protection around the house from the wind.  

 Color has been added!  It is so green here in the Spring and so golden in the Fall (and somewhere in between for the other seasons) that I am looking forward to adding splashes of colors and fragrant blooming things. 

This blasted wasp landed right as I was taking a picture of this lovely fragrant Daphne.  We had so many stings last year.  The yellow jackets are terrible!!

Oh, the coral bark maple!  I love winter bark.