Where is the RAIN?

Spring brought too much rain and following a very mild winter, we had a lot of weeds flourishing in the yard.  With so much rain, cleaning up the garden and flower bed areas  was a challenge.  We managed to win the war over the weeds but we found ourselves about a month behind schedule.  The vegetable garden is even behind schedule this year although by the end of July it will have caught up.

We had the first load of mulch dumped on our driveway a week ago and we have been working almost every day. Some areas need only refreshed while others haven't had mulch in a few years.  Hopefully this year we can finish all of our yard plans and then each year every area just needs refreshed. The largest flower bed in front of the house is finished except for laying the stepping stones from the bench to the sidewalk.  Those are being used to hold down the tarp covering the mulch pile. We are very pleased with the bench that Terry made and the day lilies that surround it.  Some of our ideas do work!

Yesterday we finished mulching the area at the East side of the back yard where we have the two apple trees.  We inserted landscape edging between the grass and the mulched area to help prevent grass from growing into the mulched area. We are now working on the area behind the storage shed.  We are making progress!  Each year I start Marigolds from seed for the round flower bed in the back yard.  Terry loves the smell of Marigolds. The tall Marigolds in the center of the bed are only about eighteen inches high now but will mature at more than three feet. Each Autumn I save seeds for the next year's flowers. The short Marigolds around the outer edge of the bed will only grow to be about a foot tall.