10 March 2000

Spring is spoinging all over my yard! Last weekend, we planted a tree, and all week I've been telling Matt, "The buds on it are getting bigger!" He's been humoring me, but I could tell he thinks it's in my imagination. This morning as we left the house, I pointed to it: "Those are almost leaves!" He was forced to agree with me - off quite a few of the limbs of our tree are small, red leaves. Hurrah! We didn't kill the tree!

This morning, I have two fully-bloomed daffodils and at least a dozen thriving grape hyacinths! I was so excited (after being certain a few weeks ago that improper planting had killed both) that I took pictures this morning. The little herb starter-kit that I bought and set up on my kitchen window has shoots in all six pots this morning! (That's two pots each of lemon basil, catnip, and spearmint. I'd have bought the kit just for the spearmint.)

About the only thing that isn't sprouting at the moment is the grass seed I put down early this week. We've been watering every day, but it doesn't look like anything's happening in the grass department. I'm not sure if we need to give it longer, or if the seed we had was too old (left over from last September), but we'll probably give it another week before deciding what to do about it.

Assuming I don't have to work late tonight, my chore for this evening is going to be starting to dig up the bed where we're going to plant some decorative grasses and flowering plants in a mulch bed around the tree. Our yard is 99.9% packed clay, so before any real plants go into it, it needs to be turned over, broken up, and mixed generously with peat.

Depending on how that goes, I may also start breaking some ground on the side of the house for a small garden bed. One of the things I've always said I'd do when I got a house is plant tomatoes - I really miss fresh tomatoes in the summer. And the south side of our house gets plenty of sun. It would just be a narrow bed, but depending on how much effort I'm willing to put into it, there's plenty of room for a couple of tomato plants and maybe a vine of squash. (Hmm. We may need more peat.)

Tomorrow, assuming clement weather, my dad is going to come up with a truckload of mulch and help us put down our mulch beds. The bushes up close to the house could really use a heavier layer (though we'll have to be careful not to smother the flowers) and then we'll put down the bed around the tree. I plan to be up and in the yard working fairly early, because I'd like to get all this finished by early afternoon so I have a little time to plan for my game, which will be tomorrow night.

It promises to be a busy weekend. See you on the other side!