Why I Oughta...

The annual return of these red, sharp-pointed tips are a welcome sing of Spring.  These are (below) a couple of clumps of peonies that are emerging in the beds (kitchen curved) in our backyard.  They're emerging later than last year - here's same peonies about a month earlier in 2024 .   Note the Milorganite in the photo below.  I hand-spread a full 40-pound bag of Milroganite recently on all the beds ahead of the application of mulch.  I've had mixed results with peonies in our current garden.  First, starting them in the way back - too much shade.  And, subsequently moving them over the years.   They are Nat's favorite flower and her first love.  (She wrote a blog called 'i heart peonies'.) So, growing them is important.  But, finding the right home to make that happen has taken years.  These two peonies are younger than the one out front - IB2DWs.  That one produced the MOST flowers and really popped-off last year ...

Our three-bin compost bin setup includes a finishing bin (on the right), a mixed bin (in the middle) and a holding/storage bin (on the left).  You can see those three in the photo below - along with the 'FEED ME' Compost bin sign hanging on the holding bin on the left.  Also note, on the right - finishing bin - the new cedar planks that I added last Fall to the bottom to help hold in the finished material: Last Fall, I filled the two non-finishing bins with gathered leaves and other garden waste .  Over the Winter, I've been adding our kitchen scraps to the holding bin .  Also, Nat got a new coffee machine that produces A TON of grounds, so the bin is filling up with spent grounds.  And, most recently, this early Spring, I've been putting our garden waste like turf, seed heads, etc - other than the 'chop and drop' material - in the holding bin.  You can see that piled on top of the leaves.   I'll plan on turning these bins later this year - some...

The pair of square beds that sit on either side of our back concrete stoop have changed over the years.  Starting with a pair of Rhododendrons, I replaced them with Spring Grove Ginkgo trees (dwarf trees) in Spring 2023 .   I also added some (volunteer) Angelina Sedum to both sides that has had ups-and-downs. After doing a clean-up in this bed, here below are what the two square beds look like currently.  The trees have been attacked by (Dang!) rabbits.  And the sedum has seen better days.  I'm hoping that the weather will warm up and these sedums will spring to life.   First is the south bed - close to our grill: And, here below is the south bed.  In between the stoop and the screened porch door:

Progress on the pizza oven MVP continues.  At least in terms of the hard surface part of the project.  Back ten days ago, I showed the first timber (6x6x8 treated ground-contact) being placed on site and talked about how much more excavation was required.  A few days ago, I posted a photo showing the three other timbers that I brought home from the lumber store that were ready to get placed for dry-fitting .  Now that I have the first four timbers on-site, I can start to see how much more excavation is required.  With the wall being about ten-inches-tall, that means that I would like to have about ten-inches of gravel behind the wall.  Thus, excavation is for the space required for the timbers to be square plus ten-inches in each direction.  Below is a look at the current state of the area:  All four timbers are on-site and I've been pulling away at the earth that needs to be retained: My plan is to use a flat shovel to create a clean edge in the...

 Below is a photo of the small colony of yellow daffodils that we inherited in our backyard.  They've sort-of naturalized a bit and have moved over time - but they're always in the bed behind the Northern Red Oak tree on the south side of the lawn.   The clumps of those strap-like tips are a sure sign of Spring: Last year, these were further along by early March .  And were blooming the first week of April .  We're a week away from April and these are no-where-close to blooming.  The flower buds haven't even come up.   I don't know what caused the slower-to-emerge cycle, but I'm noting it for everything else.   We had a VERY MILD Winter from December 2023 to March 2024.  So much so, that the ground was un-frozen enough for me to begin excavation of the pizza oven in February .  February!   I'll see if this two-week delay holds true to other perennials this Spring. 

Yesterday was the first day of Spring.  And, we woke up to a view in our garden to a decidely-not-spring-like situation.  Everything was covered in a layer of snow and sleet.   And, it could not have been more beautiful.   The pair of Greenspire Linden espalier trees had that snow cling to every branch and REALLY HIGHLIGHTED the structure and the four horizontal cordon layers.  Even the boxwoods got in on the "winter interest" action.  Towering over those Lindens is a row of Green Giant Thujas that are planted by my neighbor on the other side of our fence.  This 'borrowed view' sure is handsome - as those evergreen trees show off their snow-covered tips: And, here below, is the view from our back stoop.  Everything is white - and the limbs are striking in their contrast.   Spring is here.  Let's roll. 

I continue to find small bits of time to excavate and prep the ground in front of the pizza oven slab.  After work, on weekends.  A little bit at a time.  This is #2 on my list of 'priority projects', but that full project also includes weather-proofing the actual oven .  The other part is the hard-surface to stand-on, in-front of the oven.  My (current) thinking is that I'll create an 8x8(ish) area that is edged with landscape timbers.  I'll use a nonwoven geotextile underneath the whole thing and install a couple of timbers as a retaining wall - to help handle the grade change.   Here's my initial excavation post showing some of the dirt removal .   And, just last week, I measured the depth of grade-change at the seven-foot-deep-mark.  About 12" of earth that needs to be held back .  Over the weekend, I picked up one (1) 6x6x8 treated ground-contact landscape timber from the big box lumber store.  It is H E A V Y.  ...

Over on the north border of the 'understory bed', there are some signs of life via these green tips of Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria (Lungwort) that are emerging from the leaf litter.  The temperatures last week varied between 65 and 25, but I'm thinking that the soil is warming up and that's sending some signals to these perennials that they need to 'come alive'.    I'm not sure how many of these are over there, but they're from the division/transplant project that took place across the yard in the Fall of 2023 .   You can see the pair of spotted, fuzzy foliage plants in the image below:  You can also see A LOT of leaf litter.  Leaves.  Stems.  Some chopped up, some not-so-chopped-up.  What you don't see a lot of is bare soil - so I'll take a little (tiny) victory lap on that fact.  By the time REAL Spring comes around, I'm going to likely clean up some of this so it doesn't make a thick, impenetrable layer.   The signs of the ...

I've excavated the landing in front of the pizza oven a little bit at a time over the past week-or-so.  I've managed to remove about seven(ish) feet x eight(ish) feet in area.  I'd like to get back to (at least) 8x8.  But, I've also begun to figure out what I'm facing in terms of earth that needs to be held back.  Below, is a photo showing the rear edge of the site - showing about eleven-inches of height at seven-feet-back.  The grade isn't too steep in this spot, so if I take out another foot, I'm guessing this might raise up to one-foot-tall.    Here's the initial excavation post from last week . My plan is to get all of the earth removed so I can start to use the eight-foot timber as guide to find level.  Underneath the wall area, I'll excavate a bit to fill with gravel + paver base.   At 12" tall, I'm dealing with a timber with a 5.5" true height.  Thinking two 6x6's (11 inches) might be enough.  But, that all depends on wh...

The weather recently has been doing with late Winter/early Spring does around here:  Move all over the place.  Some 60's and some 30's.  I've been trying to fit in some early garden work during the warmer moments - from clean-up to bed extensions to...now...kicking off the pizza oven project for 2025.   I labeled this my #2 priority project earlier this month and talked about getting it 'operational' was my goal :  that means getting it water-tight and getting the hard surface right in front of the oven mud-free - and...presentable.   I am going to first address the hard surface.   This whole project - in the most ideal state - requires A LOT of things - retaining walls, paver patio, covered roof, prep surface and (likely) a bar.  But, for now, I'm looking at what I can get done NOW - this Spring.  And something that is both cost-effective and (at least somewhat) attractive.   There's a 26" drop between the grade of ...

It is about to be the second week in March.  Spring is coming.  Fast.   For me, that means I need to focus on organizing my yard and garden priorities and draft my 2025 to-do list.    Last year, I posted a short list that I called "an early look at some potential priority projects for 2024" .   That was a pretty helpful exercise - writing to understand (per Paul Graham ). A list of potential projects can be used as the foundation for that larger 2025 to-do list.   In 2024 , I categorized some of the potential projects to front vs. back vs. side yards and ended up with sixteen ideas.  Did I move on all of them?  No.  But, a bunch of them (pizza oven, hosta replacement, groundcover, front yard conifers) made the list and I was able to pull them off (mostly).   Ahead of this post, I've already posted about one of my (potential) priorities - a renovation project: That first, potential 2025 "priority" project was post...

The two Greenspire Linden Trees in our backyard that are trained into a horizontal cordon espalier are one of my garden success stories.  I planted them back in 2017 and over the years, they've filled out with (now) four distinct sets of branches in the espalier.   I showed these trees in their naked form six weeks ago (early January) in this post about the Green Velvet Boxwoods that are planted at their feet .  The four "levels" are clear, but the top has gone totally wild.   Here's a post from late December that shows the top-growth on both of the Lindens .  I've been pretty light-touch on pruning these the past few seasons; mostly shortening branches and taking off tips vs. hard-pruning limbs right off.   But, the 'wild top' of this thing is calling for a more heavy-hand with pruning.  I busted out the lopers and my hand pruners and started to go at them. Below, you can see both trees.  The tree on the left has just about one-foo...

The clean-up continues in the backyard - thanks to a little window of 50-degree temperatures this week.  First, I showed the trio of Muhly Grasses at the end of the boardwalk that I clipped and composted .  Then, yesterday I posted a photo of the screened porch border/bed where I clipped and composted four Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses .   Today, I turned my attention to the colony of Hellebores in the backyard understory garden.  A couple weeks back, I posted a photo showing the buds had emerged on these .  Below is a new before-and-after showing last season's foliage being clipped-off and removed.   Here's the before - showing the brown (and some green) foliage along with A LOT of leaf litter: And, here below, is the after.  A lot less foliage.  (I hauled the stems and foliage to the compost bin.). But, even after leaving the stems and leaves, there is still A LOT of leaf litter left behind.  Most of it chopped up into little...

Yesterday, I showed the three Muhly Grasses that I cleaned-up for Spring near the boardwalk .  Today, the photo below shows the small bed that borders the screened porch that included a number of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  This bed is also home to some Angelina Sedum that I transplanted from the other side of the patio last year.  And, like the Muhly grass clippings, I took these grasses back to the compost bin instead of using the chop-and-drop method.  As you can see in the photo above, I did leave some material behind including the grasses and a bunch of leaf litter.

Yesterday, I posted the first step in the build-out of our pizza oven patio area with the elevation change calculation that I was able to complete using a length of string and a couple of stakes.  I observed a 26" elevation difference between the grade of our 'upper' patio and the top grade of the pizza oven slab .   Back in January, I laid out what I think are the 'order of operations' of the build and included a number of 'to be solved' steps - including that above mentioned elevation change.  Here's the rest of that 'to be solved' list: 1. Figure out utilities. Primarily electric. where they go, how they get there. in 2. Figure out 'level' for the floor and base of retaining wall. That requires decision on material. 2 depths - sunken prep area. 26" delta. 3. Wall and floor details: placement, material, size, height, length, stairs, drainage and even stairs. This determines the floorplan. 4. Lay out floorplan. Size o...

Another sure sign of Spring coming soon is the emergence of the pink, conical-shaped tips of Hellebores that we have planted in a small colony in our backyard.  I posted one-year-and-one-day ago about these same tips here .  And, in the photo below, you can see that they're back - peeking out of the soil, but living nestled in all of the leaf litter from this past Fall.  I took this photo before the snow arrived this past week, so the foliage clean-up will have to wait until the snow melts away.

The (dang) rabbits are indiscriminate with their gnawing this Winter.  Beyond girdling my Belgian Fence trees , they're also eating away at the green tips of my other shrubs, including this Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea.  I planted this one in Fall of 2023 and really liked the fern-like, almost Japanese-Maple-like foliage .   Below is a picture showing the newly exposed centers of some of the branches on this shrub after they've been clipped right off by these furry pests. This shrub came back just fine last Spring and leaf'd out .  But, then something weird happened and it struggled with (I think) drought stress.  It dropped many of its leaves.  Then...in November...it set buds that STARTED TO OPEN (eek!) just as Winter was setting in .  Drought stress. Confused bud burst. Now, rabbit pressure.  This is one to watch this Spring. 

Yesterday, I published a post detailing the idea of "Legibility in the Garden" and talked how Dr. Jared Barnes introduced me to the concept via his Meristem blog.  Barnes has developed a set of elements that he feels are the core components of "Legibility" and how we as gardeners can achieve it :   1. Clean edges 2. Desire lines and paths 3. Primary and secondary axes 4. Sightlines 5. Focal points 6. Entrances 7. Seeing over plantings Edging is something that I've posted about a number of times .  And, it seems to check a few of Dr. Barnes' components:  clean lines, paths and entrances.   Edging is something that I posted about last Fall when I included some inspiration from a YouTube channel (Moxie Gardens) and talked about how he used railroad ties and other wood beams cut up into chunks to edge various parts of his garden and beds.   A couple weeks ago, Amy at Pretty Purple Door sent a newsletter that talked about creating a dog-frie...