Yesterday I tilled another long strip of earth in the front yard. Got my first blister. I wondered if I should wear gloves and then thought, nah, I won't need them. But my first thought was right. From now on I'll be wearing my gloves. No worries. Some good old fashioned soap and warm water and half a cotton ball and some duct tape and I'm ready to go.
My forsythia is in full bloom. Its crazy that on the 15th of March it should come into bloom. Some Crocuses are also blooming and the Tulips have grown several inches in the past couple of days. And the earth worms are in the soil now. Song birds have arrived. And when we should be in the last throws of winter we are in the low 80's.
Today I'll string up my passion flower vines that came down this winter. And move some flowers that don't have buds yet, to another area. And then I'll start seeding some starters and till another patch of land. It will all need to be done in a couple of weeks but I think I can do it. If it takes a little longer it won't matter.
I'm really curious if the large leafed melons and squash are going to help hold the moisture in the soil and keep the earth cool or at least cooler. I'm anticipating a dry hot long summer season with intense storms and intense downfalls of rain. So I'm trying to plan what I'm growing where to see if these ideas of growing different varieties in the same general area are going to pan out.
It is a huge amount of hard work really, to remove the lawn. What I might do in the areas where I'm planting the melons and squash is cut out mounds in rows and point the vines the way I want them to grow and see what happens. The vines and larger roots may take care of the lawn for me.
While I tilled the area that runs along the driveway I decided to work with the slope of the ground and then to make the edges of the herb and tea areas so that they are shaped like waves. I'm pointing the waves in the direction I want the water to flow. I'm going to imagine all of the tiny rows for flowers and herbs as rain catchers. Because I'm anticipating lots of rain at times and not much generally, I'm thinking that if I can slow the rain down by making the rows curvy and using the natural grate of the earth and what needs to be watered then I'm thinking, that's a good thing.
I've been giving some more thought to the woven wood sculpture and I'm thinking of creating a bird or maybe three birds for the front yard. I'm not sure how to anchor them down, if we get some strong winds with a storm. I'm thinking of putting a little concrete in the holes where I place the supporting poles. I'm thinking of planting my sunflowers and corn all around the sculptures. And mixing up the sunflowers and the corn. I'm going to plant some smaller flowers at the base of these plants to attract birds and bees and maybe help with inhibiting some of the weed growth.
Even if the sculptures should all break a part and blow away in a bad storm it won't matter. The focus will be on the creative part of the project. If wind decides to take my creation and make something else with it, who am I to question or complain? I'll rework the structure and do something else with it.
After a rest and a nice walk with Coco, my amazing Service Dog!! I'm ready to have some iced tea, dinner and Allman Brothers. Then maybe I'll work on cutting some more branches and finally rest and watch a movie. It's been a long and really nice day.
Here's a treat if you do and if you don't know who the Allman Brothers are.
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