The weather is warming up slowly. And my gardener's nerve was twitching pretty bad, telling me it was time to get some things in hand before they became emergencies. I don't like emergencies. I do not do my best work in a rush.
I hear there are some people who really like those kinds of conditions. Something in their brain kicks it into high gear and they do brilliant work when they are under the gun.
That would not be me.
However.... when the weather is right and the timing is good, I can pull off some impressive stunts once in a while.
Today was one of those days.
This disastrous looking mess has been clambering for attention for quite a while:
It used to be much neater before wind storms and rain and snow messed around with my cheap solution to killing the grass in the new area of the garden.
Not to mention a pile of dirt that had to be moved so the fence could be constructed.
However.... when I removed all the cardboard to the burn pile, and took off the tarp... my clever plan had actually worked!
Very little grass was left. I dug up the few patches that had gotten uncovered and had started to grow. Then Mr. P handed over his tiller and I set to....
I was quite worried, because this patch of ground has never been disturbed and I thought it was going to be loaded with rocks. I was quite wrong. It's not bad soil at all. It tilled up so easily, I decided to do ALL the tilling and finished up at the other end of the garden...
2 hours and 45 minutes later.... I was the boss of my garden.
Though to be sure, there is a lot of raking and tidying left to do. There's a bit more cardboard to add to the burn pile. I have to spread the mounds of soil around and do another run around with the tiller. But the main work is started now.
I'm still more than a little intimidated by the larger growing area. I already thought I had just about as much as I could handle. So it looks like I'm going to have to up my game this year.
I've taken some proactive aspirin and am fully prepared for sore muscles tomorrow, but by golly I'm the boss of my garden.
For now.
It used to be much neater before wind storms and rain and snow messed around with my cheap solution to killing the grass in the new area of the garden.
Not to mention a pile of dirt that had to be moved so the fence could be constructed.
However.... when I removed all the cardboard to the burn pile, and took off the tarp... my clever plan had actually worked!
Very little grass was left. I dug up the few patches that had gotten uncovered and had started to grow. Then Mr. P handed over his tiller and I set to....
I was quite worried, because this patch of ground has never been disturbed and I thought it was going to be loaded with rocks. I was quite wrong. It's not bad soil at all. It tilled up so easily, I decided to do ALL the tilling and finished up at the other end of the garden...
2 hours and 45 minutes later.... I was the boss of my garden.
Though to be sure, there is a lot of raking and tidying left to do. There's a bit more cardboard to add to the burn pile. I have to spread the mounds of soil around and do another run around with the tiller. But the main work is started now.
I'm still more than a little intimidated by the larger growing area. I already thought I had just about as much as I could handle. So it looks like I'm going to have to up my game this year.
I've taken some proactive aspirin and am fully prepared for sore muscles tomorrow, but by golly I'm the boss of my garden.
For now.