Couple of things. I am going to move my raised beds up to in front of the house. Where they are now I just can't keep a good enough eye on them. Plus, they get to be the center piece of the walkway/herb bed that is in the planning stages. It will eventually wrap from the front porch to the back one. The herbs will be planted in the puzzle area of the walkway and the rest of it will be mulched or planted with a cover plant (I'm thinking mustard) to smother the weeds and keep the pathways clear.
Strawberries are in the ground, and most (OK half) of the baby plants are hanging on. Gotta mulch that bed soon and get straw to cover the plants really well. Those are the best strawberries I have ever had, I'd like to keep those plants around. Next Spring when the bulbs start coming up I will be adding new flowers to that bed to help make it into a butterfly/hummingbird attracting bed. I like color in my yard, what can I say? Plus, free workers. They come and help my producing plants, well, produce.
Going along with the garden, I finally found crates for the milk crate compost bin. Walmart has them for pretty cheap. Apparently you can't get them from the stores or dairies anymore and soon won't be able to get them at all as dairies are moving towards stack-able milk containers. So, when I have a little time this winter, I'll throw that together with cotton sheets for the sides and garden fencing for the bottom, held on with hot glue. Now to actually use the damn thing. And find something for the top and bottom.
There will be a new flower bed going in on the other side of the front porch of the walkway. It's going to have a curved design. It is going to be a more whimsical design, with potted pots in the bed itself surrounded by flowers with the tree stump in the middle. If I can find a sunflower that will grow back each year, I want those in the back, if not, I will raise the soil level up a bit more than the front so everyone can be seen. My favorite part of this is my recycled metal watering can. I plan on using it as a planter with some droopy flowers trailing down to create a "watering" effect, which I hope will set the tone for the whole bed. Bulbs from the original bed are going to be put in here along with a ton of other flowers I have picked up this year, from wildflowers to perennials.
The other bed at the foot of the retaining wall is going to be bulbs and the other flowers. What I would like to do with it is add some solar lighting around the top of the retaining wall. Once the flowers and mulch are in this bed, I won't be messing with it too much.
Now the backyard. We are finally making strides to reclaiming our back yard from the jungle that was there when we bought the house. There is still so much to clean up debris wise, along with killing the rest of the poison ivy and getting rid of tree parts that are too big to haul off. Since the City of Knoxville has a permanent burn ban I'm going to have to chop all the big wood into little bitty bits. Since I *can* have a small ceremonial fire, I'll do a passing right for all the trees and use the ash for garden beds. Eventually we'll get that whole area seeded with grass and some areas set up for hanging out, ect. I also want a circle back there, and I think I know where it's going to go.
I hope to get some of this done before winter, some of it actually done in winter, like the wood chipping. For now, I need to survive this last semester and find a job. Wish me luck!
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