So more stuff to say and plans made...

Ok, finally decided what to do about a couple of things in the yard whilst I was taking a couple barrows of burning scraps down to the firepit today....
I think I'm going to continue to encourage the ivy starts I put in under the cedars last year to help fill in the underbrush where I just whacked out a bunch of weedy tree things and some dead cedar branches. Already moved one of the bird feeders to a branch on that side. And har har, I will for sure have to drop in a couple steps for me to get down that particular hill slant. That spot where the ivys are growing in the solarium just need one more goodly watering and then it's time to dig them up and plop them under the pines. Apparently the hummingbirds like to nest in the cedars, so I think my eventual feeder movements will include a nectar feeder in that area. Kind of a full plush undergrowth of ivy with the hummingbirds and other flighty feeders rest areas. And a few chicken hang out spots too.

Got the driveway outside the office cleared of debris. A couple barrows to the firepit, and raked up all the dead leaves drift to their appropriate spots. One side went to under the feeder tree area, and the other went to the tip of the FOH garden. Want to mulch in those spots anyway, and didn't feel like picking out all the little twigs to toss it all into the compost. Sooner or later we will have some sort of mulching device, lol. A lot of nasty viney bits need to be removed along with the weedy tree bits- I think I might just drag them to the other side of the cedars for easier removal.
The top of the wee folk hill has suddenly become a bigger priority for this year. Need to put in steps and rails at the top and do some basic landscaping in for people to pass through easier. Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather next year- I want to set up most of the food and beverage service in this area, lol.

Got some of the most preliminary straightening up done down by the raspberry bed. Mostly just marked off the basic inner corner for where the garden rows will start. Took a snips and trimmed up all the little shoots of the weedy trees I cut down last year. Still have a lot of cutting down of what's left. I'm hoping now that if I keep whacking at it right, I may end up making some kind of interesting topiary action with the fool things that are along the fence. Thinking maybe they might end up as nasturtium poles for longer varieties if this years experiment goes well.

So, this years experiment with those. I'm going to totally clean up the arch drive, and I've made some plans for what I want to do with it. It may end up being the hop pergola home. We figured doing it down to the sanctuary would just be too view blocking. So this year along with the squash rows on either side of the drive, I will be adding in a bunch of mammoth sunflowers go mimic "poles" of a future pergola line. Silly things grow 7-12 feet tall so that should cover pretty much any ceiling height. I think I may plant in a further line of the sunflowers from the arch drive down to the road. That way I can mark off our approximate new easement line so I have a good idea of where to start planting lilacs next year. And what all fill can go in on the easement side too. Still planning on relocating a bunch of the ditch lillies. Figure it would be a good fill marker for along at least the part of the roadside that leads up to our mailbox.
So, what to do with the newly cleared arch? Block it again of course, haha. I'm going to mark off the easement end, strategically pile up a few of those weird and kind of too heavy branches to block off the far end mostly. I will leave a space a bit bigger than my wheelbarrow across the middle of it as a "gate". I have two varieties of nasturtiums that I'm going to do in container pots and line the arch side of the wooden "wall" with. And we have a log that I can pull across the opening for when the drive isn't in use.

I still need to give some attention and consideration to more of the side and back yard areas. Thankfully most of them are more about some easy care and cleanup more than anything else. I will need to do a big push of relocating a bunch of the lilly of the valley around the base of the chinese chestnut. Hehe, I'm going to do a rake in of the sharp hulls as the fence line for the lillies.  I also need to take a bunch of bamboo stakes and twine really soon and mark off the border around the outside of the solarium. So much of it is spring blooming, so I lose track of what's there really fast.

Which reminds me, lol. I need more twine and bamboo stakes.

And I'm going to be using up a whole bunch of recycled soup cans again once the weather starts holding a bit more steady again and I have room for more starts- or I get off my bum and drag out a couple more coolers to serve as countertops. I'm going to plant up a whole bunch of lettuce starts in them an use them for markers this year. If I can do enough, I plan on marking in the polebarn side of the roadside for next years parking. If I do it right, I should end up with a lawn tractor pass or two on the roadside, a swath of lettuce, and then start mowing again on the inside of the border. A sort of quick and easy way to mark off the area. I plan on sinking in the cans partway, and filling in the rest as I can as heavily as I can of other sweet greens seed. Between bolting and just heavy non grass plant action I can draw up a sort of line there. Perhaps I will do up some ornamental kale as a center marker line to that.
And I now have a plan for all of the cement molding scribbings- I'm going to save them up in a bucket and use them down by our mailboxes to our drive. I want to make that a goodly opening of no vegetation that it's also feasible that I will dump that there. Gravel and stones that I find in the yard I still need to set up buckets for so I can dump them leading down to the eventual pier.

So, in some future plans... I need to make up a bunch of cement castings. Important molds to fill?
Large octagonal- however many I can make, about a dozen in glow pieces
Deep step red mold- however many I can make
Knot border piece- need at least a dozen, about six in glow for corners
Shallow red mold- need at least a dozen
Knot border rounds- about eight to ten, half glow pieces. 

Glow in the dark... I have a goodly handful of glow backed star shaped glass and there is reflective paint available.. Think I will use a combo of the two to kick off the glowing stones. As I find super cheap clear glass tile and glow paint, I will start making my own.

I'm going to do my first tarp recycling for the cement barrow. Figure it would be easier just to butcher up an already icky tarp into the right sizes pieces and make patches over the bad spots. That way I can mix up a batch of cement, let the remains dry then lift out the liner and shake it out into a bucket for the mailbox area and reuse it as much as possible.


Anywho, a ton of borders are being introduced in this season. Already got most of my plant action going on for the living hedge and veggie rows for this year. And I can tuck some other border annuals for this year too along special lines.

Special lines. I've decided were I want the first clothesline in the backyard to be. And a second line too. Tucking into the trio of oaks we are saying our vows under tied up to the solarium roof line. Those will be the edge markers for our garbage bags and tarps concept. As it expands, it will crawl from there to my office corner and over the walkway in front of the house to a canopy up to the first garage stall. Perhaps in future years these markings will lead to permanent porch action.