Ah, Sunshine!

Well, today finally brought some much-awaited sun and pleasant temperatures.  Perfect for working out-of-doors.  I took the opportunity to clean out the piles of leaves from the dead-limb removal project.  My goodness, those were good-sized piles of leaves, considering the tree in question has small leaves!  The rest of the branches, I just moved over to another part of the yard, where they will sit for 2 weeks until it is again "green week" on the trash pickup day. 

The leaves, well, I confess--we were 'naughty,' and dumped them into the normal trash. I know, I know... mulch, compost, etc. I've tried composting in the past. I just don't have the energy to keep up with it. It seems to be (for me, anyway) much more labor-intensive than the proponents would have you believe.

Note to self: grab and put on gloves prior to starting such a project, to avoid getting zapped with fiberglass splinters from mean, nasty old rake!

                                                                                      

This is what is left of the former "patio" area from the pool days. I plan to clean it up and leave it, as a place to 'sit and think for a spell' while watching the garden grow. This particular end of the area gets full-on sun only between high noon and about 3 p.m., otherwise, it is more in the shade. Further away from this end, though, it gets sunlight most of the day from mid-morning until almost sunset all summer long. Perfect for crops!   On each end of the long axis of this area are the 2 sprinkler heads that will water the garden.  They don't show up in this photo, however, as one is behind the camera position, and the other is a bit buried in dirt.

As a final prep project, the bush seen below, Miss Podocarpus Gracilior, will need to be trimmed and tidied up quite a bit, as the bottom limbs are dragging the ground.  Not good for the plant.  Although, I often wonder about that kind of statement.  Mother Nature certainly does not go around with clippers 'tidying' up her plants...they remain rather wild and rag-a-muffin looking.  ;-)

Behind this Podocarpus, you can see the fence-staining project--halted when we ran out of stain and had no funds to get more.  Can not believe the price of that stuff these days!!  Oh, well, it's on the inside--not the "show" side, so no worries.

Oh, boy, oh boy!  Now, to determine the exact time to plant!  Coming, soon, I'm sure, as March is only a few days away.  Perhaps I shall spend my birthday installing my vegetable garden.  (Weather permitting, of course!)

More to come.....