Wow. I don't know what happened there, but I have obviously been out of touch.
Part of my excuse is that I went just a little bit whacky in cleaning for Pesach this year. Though it was intense, I don't regret it now. The state of my house is not distracting me from the real job that is looming.
The garden.
Last year my garden struggled mightily. Oh, there were flowers growing. But not one of them was thriving. By the end of the season, I was very discouraged and demoralized by the entire thing. I thought long and deeply about perhaps putting the whole thing in a cover crop this year and taking a break from gardening altogether.
But at some point... probably while perusing a seed catalog... I realized my choice was more like, 'Go big or go home'.
I decided to go big.
(Why am I not surprised? Can you do me a favor though? Do NOT whine about your choice. I don't want to hear about sweat and sore muscles and being overwhelmed with work. How about your motto being something like this: 'Go big and shut up about it'... there's a good girl.)
I'll take that under advisement. Anyway, here's a before picture with me up on a ladder:
Virtually everything about this version of the garden is going to change, with the exception of the raised beds. The carpet is coming up. Though I appreciated the weed control last year, I think I will replace it with grass hay that Mr. P says I can have from some leftover bales in the barn.
I'm ordering a dumpster for a month to put the carpet into, along with anything else I feel like throwing away. I'm practically giddy with the prospect of having a dumpster. Also, I will have a dump truck load of soil delivered in a few weeks. I think it's one reason that the raised beds aren't doing too well. There's not enough actual dirt and too much organic matter to hold water properly. I intend to rototill the whole garden and remove the cut off posts that have been there a long time. I will move my sprinklers too. I don't think they were watering the space properly. I may even add one more in the center. I'll see about that. I'm thinking about putting on a different roof for the garden shelter/sitting area too. I'm going to have to hire someone to come help with moving the dirt into the garden once the dump truck comes. I'm going to do a half circle fence by the little pond to hopefully keep the dang deer from tromping through the plants and breaking the ones that they don't demolish outright by chewing on them every single day.
Speaking of the dang deer, Mr. P counted them the other day. We have 42 deer in this herd. Who knows how many there will be once the fawns are born this year... oy... I can't even think about it.
Anyhoo, that's the grand plan. We'll see if I can pull it off.
(With no whining.)
I'll do my best.
