It’s time again….

It’s time to start dealing with the garden again.

I’ve declared 2012 the lost year.

And that holds for the garden in spades.  Last year it was a rough start getting everything cleaned up and ready.  I had to buy new fencing and consoled myself that it was an investment in the future.  I got that only through the grace of a chance windfall.

I must confess, I bought plants at Walmart.

And I suffered for my sin.  They were slow to start and the tomatoes never really produced that much.  The cherry tomatoes produced, but almost every tomato split before it ripened, despite daily watering.

Last year I got the garden planted by the seat of my pants.  Then as soon as everything was established, the temp soared into the hundreds and everything just stopped growing.  I kept it watered, but everything went into a holding pattern for the weeks of hundred degree temps.

Then the heat broke and everything started growing and then a tree fell on it.  Mangling the fence.

So 2012 was not a good year for the garden.

2013 is not looking too much better.  I’m getting a late start.  I need to do something about fencing.

And I have no money.

But I’m gonna start working on it anyway.  I’ve at least gotta go out and clean up and mow, check to see if any of the plants that are out there are going to come back.  I’m not holding out much hope for the blue berries….

And I’ve gotta do something with the tree…

 That was here…

In the neighbor’s yard….

With the grapevine growing all over it…

Is now here...

What’s left of it, in my yard.

I had a deal with the neighbor that if he got rid of all of that tree, pulse the branches that fell off my tree on the other side of the yard, I wouldn't say anything about the fence.  They got rid of most of it, but left the trunk for the old lady to deal with….

I’ve got some ideas for these.  We’ll have to wait and see.
Yesterday I got out and got the branches and twigs cleaned up.  
With the trees....

 

and Dusty...

Whose main past time is draging branches off the brush pile.....

This is more of a job than you might expect.
And I got the back yard mowed.  So front and back have had their first mowing of the year.

YEAH!

But it's still not pretty.  Seems like I take one step 1 step forward and 3 steps back with this yard.  With all the little carp left over from the tree, it's gonna be worse than the first year to get it all cleaned up and tilled.
We've gotten a lot of rain lately, getting time out in the yard hasn't been the easiest thing.
I'm not real excited by the prospects this year.  But I do have some ambition and seeds to plant....
Over coming the obstacles is gonna take a while.
The next door neighbor asked if I was attached to the trees around the shed.....

I am not fond of these trees.  The one growing in front of the door keeps me out of the shed when it rains.  The only reason they are still standing is, I don't have the money to get rid of them.  Well, it seems they are interfering with the power lines to his house.  And he waned to cut them down.  He'd take care of getting rid of them, yadda, yadda, yadda...
 Well, they are still in the garden.

There used to be blue berry bushes behind there.  I'm not holding out much hope for them.
Both of these are too heavy for me to move as is.
So I've either got to kick up the fire under his ass or, get out there and dismember them myself.  Not the most attractive option.  But still something to be done.
The fence is in bad shape.  Dusty jumps it with no problem.  Keeping her out of the plants is gonna be difficult this year.
Which increases my motivation for all the work to do, to no end....

The flower beds are a complete disaster....

The one good point on this front is that the rose bushes are doing very well.
One of the butterfly bushes is coming back strong.
I can't find the other butterfly bush.
I'm not sure that the lilac bush is going to survive.  When I dug it out of the clover yesterday, it didn't look very good.  But there are some tiny signs of green.  So I'm gonna wait and see.
I don't think the hydrangea bush has survived.  But it's kinda hard to tell right now.
I saw a Grater Snake, yesterday.  It looks smaller than the one that was hanging around last year.  Don't know if it's a replacement or an addition.  Dusty didn't seem to all fired up to mess with it, so maybe she's learning to leave them alone.
The Cardinals are back.
I think the Wood Chuck got run over.  Saw one in the road the other day, don't know if it's the one that was coming around the last couple of years.
It's raining today, so there's not much I can do right now....