Busy Weekend

My husband and I re-did our front yard this weekend. The front yard was unevenly graded and full of grass...we dug up about half of the yard, as the other half was already dug up. We dug it up not only to grade it, but also to expose the weed seeds for the birds to eat and to amend and aerate the soil. We dumped some compost and peat moss over the area where the blueberry bushes are going to go. We put the sod we dug up back in two areas after aerating the soil. I got 2 of my 3 raised beds ready for planting. I planted about half of my peas because I ran out of seeds. I also got my cement blocks set up behind my raised beds. I'll be putting herbs in the cement blocks. My father-in-law should be coming this week to give us a bunch of manure. After that's incorporated in, I'm going to be able to plant my onions and create a path in the front yard.

Now all that's left for the front yard, for now, are about 4 trellises, and, of coarse, planting the rest of my seeds.

Digging In

Since last week a lot has gone on in the garden, though hardly anything has been planted. I did plant about half of my potatoes and start my pepper seeds. I planted potatoes in the garden bed next to the house. I think the front and side of the house will look interesting with some potato bushes growing there. I'm not concerned about hurting any of the foundation or the sidewalk because I allowed for enough space for the potatoes.

I also started green pepper, hot pepper, cayenne, and banana peppers. I am still considering starting jalapeños. I think it will depend on how far we get with the garden beds. We've gotten farther than I thought we would have by now.

It took me six hours to dig in my front horizontal bed this weekend. The bed measures approximately 18 feet by 6 feet. There are so many weed seeds in the bed, since the entire front yard was weeds when we moved in, that I decided to dig the whole thing to expose the seeds for the birds. Plus the bed looked like a giant mud puddle, with uneven divets everywhere, so I wanted to get that a little more even-looking so the neighbors don't start to complain.

My husband and my dad took out the giant caterpillar in the back, as I had been so lovingly calling an overgrown and neglected hedge that separated our yard and the neighbor's yard. Our next-door neighbors, on either side, are really awesome. On the side with the hedge, my husband and the guy who lives there are going to build a fence together. Ripping out the hedge gave us hundreds of extra square feet to work with- space for asparagus, some apple trees, and more room in the garden bed in the back.

My husband also dug in the back bed in the same manner as described for the front bed. The back bed in question is about 12 feet by 7 feet.

Earlier this week I dug in a smaller bed on the side of the house and also raked up most of the space under the grape vines, getting ready to plant oregano there when the weather warms up. As far as the smaller side bed, I'm still debating between herbs and peppers.