May Gardening Update

A full month gone.  Excuses are numerous but not particularly interesting so I'll skip them and get to the updates.
Let's see, in the past month the crazy unseasonably warm weather continued a bit longer, then transitioned to more typical cool temps of April.  Not much rain though.  This allowed me to continue the work here and there where the job/kids/home/other life allowed.

I got sod down over part of the trench, so one eyesore has been partially re-mediated and another created.  The pond area is looking industrial again as I work to build the waterfall and veggie filter.  This has been a very slow process.  The reason is that we have opted to do it ourselves and have also chosen stones too big to lift.  I spent a few hours one day checking out how to move large stones without machines, you know like the Egyptians did!  Why no machines?  They don't fit, unless we go with one of those HUGE cranes that could park on the street and those numbers start in the four digits.  Which means, plant rollers and jock husband biceps will be used.

We had 1.5 tons of weathered limestone delivered.  Last week and started the process of placing the stones.  It is very slow going.  Because the rocks are so heavy they are very difficult to place.  You can't wiggle them around or you'll tear the liner.  You also have to place them so that the water will eventually flow in the way you want.  Never having done this before, it is difficult to predict.  Then there is the setting them in concrete and all the joys associated with mess with all that!

The most difficult part though is getting the rocks to the place you need them without hurting ourselves.  The rollers are great but the ground is not level and rollers...roll.  I have a blue finger to prove it!  I hope to have this first fall flowing this weekend if the weather holds and work tries to stay reasonably sane.  I'm loving all the moss and lichen on this stone.  Hoping that it will not have that new and unnatural look when all is complete.

Garden work has been about more than the pond.  The tomatoes are big and I started putting the rest of them out this week.  I decided to put the wooliest blue tomato next to the knock out roses with a bit of chard to make this bed more edible.  I'm considered putting the peas in front.  The green might not be enough contrast, but that would be easier than attacking the GIANT patch of weeds that is part of the back bed.  I started cleaning that up last week.  Good gravy this has never been this bad before.  Pictures of my shame?  Sure thing.  This blog is about reality, lol. 

I think the crooked Teepee adds a nice touch!

Here are some weeds, plus a few other not particularly inspiring photos' that are shown so we can compare what they look like in a month!  ;)

Tomato(Matina), fennel, oregano and purple annual plus water globe that needs some bleach.

Tomatoes in container, cheap big peony, pricy pathetic peony and columbine

Lettuce planted late, volunteer fennel, onions and weeds