Friday flew by. It took ages to dig the hole for the new Apple tree because the ground is so, so dense with rocks, but I got it into the ground and managed to get a fence up around it to keep the deer at bay. Once done, I went into the village for watermelon. I was so hot from working, I craved the melon and they had lots of great fruit at Nester’s.
I mowed the lawns and watered the edible, tree, and courtyard gardens, and I really cleaned up the garden by the fence that leads into the forest. It felt great to get that garden clean. It’s long been rather neglected, but now it’s got many new plants and a top layer of lush fresh soil. Almost all the plants that I bought are now planted.
I’ll continue to work on the yard and gardens today, but I may start splitting the wood I bought. I’ve heard nothing from Joe about coming (this is not the brilliantly handsome Joe who split my felled and bucked trees, this is a different guy). So, I may wind up doing it myself. I’ll see how it goes, and if it’s too much, I’ll rent a splitter machine and split it that way. In a way, though, using a splitter is worse. It’s very noisy and I have to heave the big bucked pieces high to place them on the blade. Using the maul and going slowly may be the way to go.
During one rest, I finished editing a children’s book a friend has written. “Editing,” in this case, really meant highlighting words that I did not accept as being part of the functional vocabulary of a 10-year old child.
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My voice is a bit better. It’s still a long way from what it was before this sudden worsening, but my sense of there being improvement is a positive sign. I Facetimed with Steve and it wasn’t too bad at all.
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I think I may add ground cover to the raised beds hosting the Blueberries and Raspberries. It would bring lovely colour to the surface of the beds without impeding the growth of the fruit bushes.
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Since the onset of the good weather, I am out the door working on the yard in the cool of the morning. I’m often out by 8:00. Yesterday I was busy till 4:00, when I got into the spa. I ate and rested, then addressed the housework I’ve been ignoring since gardening became my daily task.
Today’s goals are refreshing a backyard garden and the front yard garden, raking the edible garden and planting the two Cedars. If I do all that today, tomorrow I’ll start splitting the purchased wood with my maul. This will burn a few calories, I’m sure. I plan to stack all the pieces of branch that don’t require splitting, and start splitting bucked pieces, starting with those of the smallest diameter. I’ll do all that I can, and then I’ll rent a splitter for the largest ones.
Then I scrape the deck with a rough wire brush to remove all the flaking paint, and after that, I use the maul to split all the wood in the back from the felled trees. Joe split it into large pieces, I need to split his pieces again. They are too large for my firebox.
I am not daunted by the work. I’m grateful for it because this is my exercise season and I prefer doing work to doing sports. My backyard is going to be a huge selling point for my home when I have to sell it.
Every time I go outside, I look at my backyard. It fills me with joy, it truly does. It’s like a drug. I go out at night to walk around the backyard. It’s my private park. When I had homes in the city, I never thought about the land. I had gardens when Steve and I were together, but once planted, we ignored them. It was entirely hearty perennials.
Now, I am very aware of my yard. The front yard looks like a city house. There’s what looks like a lawn, but the green is moss, weeds, clover in places, and some sparce grass. It’s mostly weeds, really. But I am at peace to have natural lawns. But you see the green carpet and the front of a log home. And as of today, there’s now an Apple tree, plus the Paulownia is there.
Then there’s the backyard: The courtyard of paving stones and then more weeds, moss and grass. Again, I love and am proud of my natural carpet. But there are gardens, a hammock, a dining table, and decorative shrubs and trees scattered around. And then, there’s a strip of raw forest behind my fence. It’s roughly 15 meters and extends the entire width of my lot. Thank God I didn’t know I owned that much land when I built the fence. I’m glad to have that land. It’s where I dump garden waste.
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At 8:00 this morning, it was already 20°. All my windows and screened doors are open. Today and tomorrow, the afternoon temperature is expected to reach the low 30s. So, today: more garden work, and tomorrow I begin serious chopping of wood.
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