The outside

When Ed was alive, he claimed the outside of the house for himself. Oh, I could get a small amount of space for a flower garden, but the rest was all for him. Well, now it is all mine.

Last year, while actively grieving, I put plants in the ground for vegetable garden, but I did not know the first thing about gardening. In that same time, I cleaned up the backyard of extra buckets, plastic plant containers and other such detritus that had accummulated. I threw away the tons of seeds he had collected and anything that I did not recognize.

This year, I have specifically chosen my vegetables and am thrilled to see them growing. I will have tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, radishes and red potatoes…and artichokes, if they ever produce. (Ed planted the artichokes 3 years ago!)

I have netted my garden, watered it, sprayed with Neem, and checked it daily. I also have blueberries and strawberries growing. Because the strawberry bed was half abandoned (through dying plants and escaping plants), I added more soil and planted new strawberry plants.

I fired the lawncare company and have applied the fertilizer products myself. I got the irrigation system checks and fixed. I am now comfortable with my lawnmower and its operation. Although there are some bare patches (small) and some dead grass and yellow grass patches, overall, I am proud of my lawn. There are few weeds.

The yellow grass areas haven’t worsened in several weeks, and I am thinking it was caused by using the drop spreader which put too much fertilizer down in those areas. Since the grass has not died, I am hoping with watering and mowing, that it will get better. I have raked the brown spots to get some of the thatch up and again am hoping for improvement. However, if not better in another couple of weeks, I will spread some seed.

The front yard has a few bare spots. I am considering putting sod in those spots, but, since they are small, it hardly seems like a good plan. So I will wait.

My neighbor gave me some firewood. He piled it up outside my backyard fence. So…I finally moved that pile as well as the firewood outside my back door to the woodpile. That was to discourage the roaches which live in the woodpile from coming too close to my home.

While I was at it, I straightened up the lean-to. I emptied the wagon and put the fire starter wood on the woodpile also and covered it all with a tarp. I got rid of the drop spreader and hung up the broadcast spreader. I also organized everything on the shelves under the shed overhang. I do have some chemicals stored there. I have not yet made up my mind whether I am keeping them or not. For now, I have organized them.

I also moved all the sprinkler/water sprayers to the table next to the garden hose. I doubt that I will use them much with the current irrigation system corrected and fixed. However, they are all in one place, and I can make that decision later.

I got rid of the oil that Ed had stored on that table at the recycle center (as well as the drop spreader and rusty ash can). I go there once a week to turn in the plastic/metal/cardboard and whatever else I have accumulated that they take. As a result of recycling, I usually only have 1 bag to put out for garbage each week.

I am proud of all these efforts. I am learning to be a good steward of the land around me. There is much more to learn, but, at least, I have made a good beginning.