Journal May 4

Ow, Ow, Ow. Stepped in a mess of fire ants today. Time to buy bait.
Picked up four bags of clippings on a swing through the neighborhood. It was slim pickins' as the weather pre-empted a lot of mowing, so if it clears up this week, next Monday should be great.
I love my rain gauge- according to it, we've had 5 1/2" inches since last Thursday.
Today- mulched with the grass, weeded. Finished de-sodding the new bed area in the NP,
added grass. Intend to add compost and dirt, once the dirt dries out.
Bagged up the weeds.
Fed the birds. V. pointed out a dead one under the feeder, so I buried it under the Althea bush.
Picked peas.
To do: finish bed in NP. Mulch flower beds. Repair statue niche. Hand new bird bath from NP fence.
Squash is up, and there are blossoms on the TP's.
Trying to come up with a format for these posts, so they're not a hodge-podge.

Reading "Flee to the Fields", papers from the Catholic Land Movement, which was active in England between the late '20's and the beginning of WWII. Interesting.

Journal April 21-22

Tuesday
Beautiful weather. Lots of work.
Cut and attached brace to tool rack and re-stained it.
Bundled up rose trimmings, put old chair out for the curb pick-up.
Picked up porch in general. It looks lovely uncluttered.
Re-seeded zucchini, beans and lettuce.
Dilemma: tomatoes and peppers are struggling back and I do love persistence. BUT I already purchased a new batch of replacement plants that have to go somewhere. I think I'll knock together a bed for the NP and put them there, to use up the last of the dirt. It was going to be sunflowers, but I'll tuck them in elsewhere.
Weeded and watered. Put up rain gauge on side fence.
Okra is coming up.
Cut broccoli for dinner. And greed onions for black beans.

Wednesday
Washed back porch, and windows. Moved green rocker to garage to go to storage.
Pulled up sod in back corner, put down weedblock and mulch.
Mulched pumpkins, added mulch to paths.
Cut boards for new bed in NP. Moved tool rack into place, replaced trunk. Tool rack needs hooks for: kid's shovel, the fork/hoe, possible the pruner.
The only things I want to keep permanently on porch: tool rack, trunk, caddy, bird food can, galvanized bucket, white litter container with kid's tools. Everything else in garage!
Jasmine is blooming. Wondered why it smelled odd, then realized I'd just pruned the cilantro without gloves, so was smelling that on my hands.
A few peas have set.

Journal April 15

After the cold killed so many seedlings, I determined not to re-plant 'til after Easter.
It has gotten warm enough for various flower seeds, the pumpkins and the cowpeas to sprout.
Today is the first day in almost two weeks that there was anything really to do, or nice enough weather to work in.
Weeded beds, re-set pavers in Bird Area, which will be known as the Nature Preserve (NP) from now on, weeded in NP. Harvested lettuce.
V. has almost completed the tool rack- I assured him I could finish it while he was at the coast. I'm thinking of staining it a rust color, to blend in with the house brick.
Leaves are so compacted in the compost bins that it may be a good idea to turn them. A two-person job that might need a captive daughter.
To do:
Buy, TP peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, basil.
Re-plant squash, beans, cukes
Buy 1x2's to brace tool rack. Finish rack. Stain?
Mulch weeded areas in NP
Move dirt, plant sunflowers in NP.
Birdola, suet, seeds.

Journal April 4

Put together Bed 6. Shaved sides off the dug bed until the frame was close enough to plumb for government work. Raked the soil smooth, laid down the newspapers and filled the bed.
When the bed was finished, I rolled out the weed-block on the rest of the paths and mulched.
The grass/leaf bags were from different houses, so the contents were varied- it makes a nice, patchwork effect.
Also mulched the Butterfly Barrow.
Decided to devote Bed 6 to okra and more cowpeas, and to plant only corn in Bed 3. Seeded all of those. Moved the pumpkin planter to the end of 6, added more soil and re-planted it. It wasn't getting enough sun against the fence, next to the compost heap.
Watered all areas.
And that's enough for one day...

Scoring

Snagged 13 bags of leaf/grass clippings yesterday in pre-dawn trips around the neighborhood. Why does that still feel vaguely illegal, even though it's all set out to be hauled away by the city?
A lot will be used for composting and some will be used for mulch.
I've decided two 4x4 beds at the end of the 4x8 rows (one of which is still in my imagination) are all that will fit before the ground slopes down.
There was a Carolina Chickadee at the feeder. It has gone bird-crazy around here.