(Michael and Ivy relaxing on the deck during lunch this weekend.)

This weekend was a busy one. The weather was beautiful, really really beautiful. No housework was done but that was the intention because it was all about the yard. Last week our landlord put in a fence, which we are truly thankful for. Now we can actually get stuff done without chasing down Damian ever 30 seconds.

Saturday we hit the Home Depot and Northwest Seed & Pet for gardening supplies. Lumber, PVC, and nylon trellis for the raised beds, a new pot for our Yule tree, as well as some organic fertilizer, and pea and bean inoculant. After which Michael (and Damian!) disassemble my old raised beds and salvaged some of the parts (brackets and screws.) I mostly took pictures and chatted with the neighbor. Hey, if I hadn’t spoken with the neighbor, I would not have learned he had a tiller and he would not have offered to till where our new raised beds were going!

On Sunday we were up nice and early and out in the yard. We raked and weeded, our neighbor came over and tilled, I baked 4 dozen gingersnaps (a dozen of which went to the neighbor.) Damian played in the freshly turned dirt, filling his wagon with weeds, sticks and grass (no complaints there.) Though I often hear that yearly tilling is damaging, I don’t think doing it once to deepen the soil under the beds is a bad idea (it also made getting all the weeds out all kinds of easy…) We are going to sow new grass around the beds.

I also took some time to ponder a side project. Michael snapped this photo of me while I was brainstorming. I want to turn these two dead stumps into a bench. I want to stain and finish that 2×10 I’m holding for the seat and fill the area behind it with flowers. I am thinking maybe a tepee of morning glories and moonflowers. Maybe some zinnias too? I want to more of less obscure the chain link. Any suggestions? I also need a nice garden quotation. I want to wood burn it on the bench. Open to suggestions on that front too!

Aside from the bench brainstorm, we built a trellis for last Autumn’s raised bed as well as most of a new raised bed before day’s end. We have yet to install the pvc bases in it for the hoops and it’s trellis, as well as Damian’s 4×4 bed. Still, I am supremely happy with what we accomplished. With the completion of this first trellis, I will be able to plant snap peas this week!

I could spend every weekend this way. Well almost, I have one small tweak. A barbecue would have been perfect yesterday, but we were out of burgers… Oh well, there is always next weekend!