Yard News

Here on Hosner Mountain it's 60 degrees and sunny. It's supposed to rain all weeked, but I'm hoping the clouds will stay away long enough for me to get a good look at Mars as it tracks close to the Moon after nightfall. Mars is supposed to be about a Moon's width away from the Moon, so it should be easy to find.

I'm not running out to buy any flowers or anything, but I'm seriously ready for Spring. Am I reading too much into the return of the cowbirds? After all, the juncos are still here, too. The peonies are sprouting, but there's no sign of any daffodils.

To my surprise, some of the larger comets survived the Attack of the Herons last Autumn and made it through the Winter under the ice in the pond. Here's to their evading the herons until the lilies grow in. I'll leave some of the detritus that has washed into the pond as cover until then.

The snow melt combined with major rainstorms has caused the pond to overflow again with some erosion damage on either side of the weir. I aim to put a stop to this and to strengthen and elevate the banks of the pond in those areas in order to stop erosion and force excess water over the weir. My plan is to build stone walls about two feet above the present level and to make them watertight with cement. Then I'll fill in the gullies and elevate them and replant them with shrubs and ornamental grasses. If that doesn't work, then I reckon I'll just have to go with the flow and turn the gullies into permanent run off channels.

I went to the lumberyard and looked at wood for the raised garden beds. I'm thinking that I'll just get eight 2 by 12s and make myself two 8 by 8 frames and fill them with Moo Dirt. I will probably put weed barriers under the dirt. The crop that Mrs Vache Folle has approved consists of lettuce, grape tomatoes, cukes, squash, basil, parsley, spinach, and green onions. I aim to add to the raspberry patch this year and to do so will move a couple of rhodies.

If we don't have another silt disaster like last year, I hope to get a lot done in the garden. I may start mining stones from the mountainside as early as this weekend if my unending bronchitis clears up better.