Yard Work

Last March I planted these Nasturtium seeds, and I'm happy to see that they survived the late frosts in April. Their vines are beginning to encroach on the lawn. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that. I'm thinking of digging up the lawn so the grass doesn't grow up between the Nasturtium vines.

Sometime last winter I threw an entire Pumpkin out here and let it decay. These Pumpkin plants came up from that rotting gourd. In the bottom right is a bunch of Borage plants from seeds I planted in early May. Borage is supposed to be edible, and the flowers attract honey bees.

This is the site of our "hummingbird" garden. There were three different types of seeds: peas (or beans) growing up the wattle near the wall, then some medium sized plants that I have forgotten what they were, with some low-lying Nasturtiums in the foreground. Afterwards I planted some Borage around the border. There are lots of weeds in here but I'm letting them grow a bit so I can positively identify them before plucking them out.

The metal mesh fence is there to slow down the marauding bunnies. They have already wreaked havoc by chewing up the peas/beans under the wattle. I chase a bunny out of our yard just about every day now.

Last Fall I cut the Thimbleberry bushes down below my knees and I cleared a pathway through the middle. I was counting on them growing back up but am surprised they are already as tall as me. They also filled in the gap in the pathway so I'll have to go thin that out a bit. This is where I have had most trouble with Bindweed vines. Thankfully they are only a minimal problem this year.

Yesterday, between rainstorms, I trimmed the hedges in front of the house using my new Stihl brand, gas powered trimmer. It makes cutting a straight line a lot easier than the old manual scissors trimmer.

I even had time to trim the knee high hedge along the sidewalk. The trees all have their leaves now. The maples and the oak have flowered and started growing seeds but the Linden is just now blooming. Can you see the flowers?

Here is a close-up of the Linden tree flowers. They're green so they're hard to see against the green of the leaves. In a week or so they will start to drip that sticky nectar and we'll have to do something to prevent it from being tracked into the house.