Spring Yard Work

WARNING! my garden/yard work blogs will probably be boring to most, but i want to keep them so when my kids are older they can look back at our experience while hopefully working in their own yards/gardens! Ahhh! i love spring, however, all the yard work that goes into it.....well i don't mind alot of it while the weather is cool. but it can be expensive and seem to take forever to get all the things done you want to. however for the first time, we have made a list, and prioritized it. for instance, the garage can wait no longer.....as you can see it is in DESPERATE need of new paint....

and the trellises around the pool may come all the way down to be used in the garden and then plant bushes around the bottom, however that decision has not been official yet, due to....the money portion to buy the bushes. however i am happy to say that stupid fence thing around the burner barrel is gone as of today. we will till all that area up (where every year it turns to weeds!) and plant weed and seed grass seed there, and just let it be grass for a few years. however the old clothes line pole, is taking alot of work to remove, seems they dug to china, then poured cement then put the pole in. it is gonna take more time and effort to get that baby out of there!

Frankie and Chris have been working on cutting down the branches in some of the trees to open up more areas that the sun can reach on the ground. i missed getting the shot of frankie in the tree on the ladder and sawing away, but he did and i let him....that's a hard one, i just knew he was gonna fall or cut a finger off! but i am happy to say he did neither and he did a very good job! here he is opening up so the sun can reach the grapes we planted next to the arbor last year. the front ones really took off cuz they were able to get alot of sun, but the ones behind were blocked alot from the tree's branches.

however there was some new growth on all the grape plants, no mater how small!

there also is the work of the garden this year.....last year we left grass in between the rows, something i had read in a book. i really don't care for that book any more, because it caused me tons more work keeping the grass from growing around all the plants! this year, we tilled it all up and expanded. therefor, not knowing how many rows i could fit in and how many plants in the rows, gracie and i measured it all out (where the sticks are) and then we also made a path down the middle (that's what grace is doing) that we will cover with straw and planks to walk on later. we already got the peas in last week, so i still need to plant a few other cold hardy plants then we wait until may, where all the plants i have started in doors will get transplanted and the rest direct sowed.

we wer very pleased with how the cherry tree we planted two years ago shot STRAIGHT up this spring! we thought it was a goner when one of the dogs dug it up that first year! the dog is gone but the tree is luckily still here! lol

the peach tree we planted just last year, got blooms on it this spring, we were extremly suprised to see that, chris said we'll probably get tiny peaches that are all pits but it's still exciting! we still have a LONG way to go in this wonderful yard of ours, but i am glad to have my large (to me) yard to do soooo many things, and plant so many things that we can rely on to feed ourselves instead of settling for high priced, low quality produce that seems to be the norm here lately. it's gonna take us awhile to get everything, but one day, i will garden like it was second nature, can food in my sleep and kill chickens with my eyes closed (but i have to wait until next year for that experience!)