Rock On

Since the warm weather has disappeared (we knew it would) we have had to change our spring clean up strategy.

Raking is out of the question with the wind blowing about 15-25mph . There is nothing worse than raking a pile of leaves, laying down your rake, turning your back to get a leaf bag only to return to see your pile blowing across the yard.

Working on the deck is out of the question because we need to glue and the temperatures are in the 40-50 degree range. So no deck work until probably Sunday.

So that leaves rocks and dirt. It's not glamorous but it still needs to be done.

Over the last 3 years we have been filling in a very large depression in the front lawn with the left over dirt or sod that resulted from edging the driveway or leveling high areas. The pile grew and finally needed to be leveled. R used the lawn tractor with the snow blade to give the pile a preliminary leveling before removing the blade and installing the mower deck for the summer. We will still need to hand rake and level the area but the really hard part is done. The area is still slightly lower than the rest of the lawn but at least it isn't the crater that was there before we filled it with dirt.BTW....R was complaining that he had to remove the snow blade without having used it. I told him, don't worry I think we will pay for this mild winter by having a real doozie of a winter next year. Remember you heard it first....right here at Gear Acres.

Next we decided it was time to widen the rose bed along the driveway. All of our flower beds are lined with large cobblestones and then some are filled in with smaller rocks and stones. The first thing we did was widen the bed by removing the existing sod. We then outlined the bed with rocks making sure to put the flat side of the rock or stone against the sod. I also tried to keep the color varied by not placing two stones of the same color up against one another. Last weekend when we were raking out the area along the back fence we came across some half buried pieces of slate. These work perfect under the outdoor faucet on the back of the house. This should help control the mud that might form from splashing and dripping water. I also have a hose hanger and if I planted anything in this area they would be damaged by the hose. My plan is to plant hostas along the side of the house. These should protect the foundation from dirt splatter during a rain storm because of the large leaf size of the hosta plant. Also, this is the north side of the house and only get a very small amount of direct sun light in the very early morning. This should make for perfect hosta growing. Plus, I love hostas and am always looking for a place to grow a new variety. So it's a win win deal.

Notice the large paint chips already laying on the slate. Maybe if the wind picked up just a little more it will blow all the paint flakes off the house. I can dream.
Tomorrow if it is still cold and windy (which it is forecasted) we are going to move the stack of vintage pavers. We may or may not get to that project this summer so we need to move the pavers to an out of the way place for safe keeping.