The weather forecast is unreal. Twenty-two degrees above normal for the next week plus. That is the only thing unreal about today's blogging. Some bring you close ups of lovely spring posies, cherry blossoms and robins. Here at Mutiny in the Garden we give you a taste of Chicago spring reality. First, ducks pooping in the new pond surrounded by the pond carnage itself. Hey at least the leaves are gone!
Next, more pond mess so that one can appreciate just how much work there is left to do here. If you think a large pond is little more than digging a hole and lining it. Think again. In the background is the snow blower being drained from its gasoline. Buying the snowblower is what gave us the ridiculously mild winter. Draining the snowblower will probably bring a blizzard. Maybe mother nature will give me a break if I get the yard beautification going.
There is a whole lot of beautification to be done. I started at it hard core this weekend. After picking up A LOT of sticks. I attacked the circle bed. Soil is completely thawed so time for spring amendments. A bit of organic bloodmeal and organic lime and a top coating of leaf mulch to keep down spring weeds. That's it. No soil destroying double digging or petroleum based chemicals in this bed. If you look in the far right you can just make out some newly planted onions. In the ground WAY ahead of schedule.
I forgot to take a picture of how messed up this bed was before it got its spring cleaning. No matter. It still is giving a good representation of March in Chicago. Mushy, Drab, Messy. It it all fits. Here and there though, tiny peaks of promise. No close ups though. Today is big picture day!
In the back corner, begins some of sites that got pretty neglected last year when the pond took over. Here we see some newly planted onions next to some dead purple cabbage and backed by dead perennials and some garlic I thought was dead. It is hard here to see the difference between the freshly amended soil and the mess of mess topping the rest of it, but I promise the 3x3 section surrounding the onions is done!
This is the shot you get of the berm bed when Stacy forgets to take a shot of the berm bed and is to lazy to get out of PJ's to do it. From this distance the berm bed is a pleasant earthy brown with a whole lot of dead stuff in it. The berm bed will be an entire two days to get in shape. It will have to wait, the corner bed, front bed and side beds are first (after the pond).
Amazing how that dead purple cabbage pulls you right into the corner bed. I almost look brilliant leaving it there all winter. It almost makes you miss the large dead weeds, blotchy grass, the general bed debris and the massive pile of limbs in the neighbor's yard. Almost. This bed is being targeted this week for those periods of time where I stop working on the pond because I am scared to mess something up.
Productivity is the goal this season! It is desperately needed. Today's photos haven't even begun to show you the worst of it. I have to get out of the jammies to get those taken. ;)
2 comments:
Oh so it's YOUR fault we had a mild winter... How about you install a brand new air conditioner system this summer, so it won't be too hot? :-) Your beds actually look really great with the leaf mulch and the neat edgings.
LOL,Oh not only that, the wet wet year last year was because I wanted to dig a pond. Mother Nature often hates me. Probably because I curse her a lot.
Thanks on the beds. They are a complete mess, but its hard to see that long distance with my awful camera skills. :)
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