What a bizarre day. First it snowed, then it hailed, and then the sun shone. I planned on putting together my garden but was put off by the weather. Fortunately, by the time I got home the snow/hail stopped and the sun came out for a bit. I decided to go ahead with the garden work. Unfortunately, I realized that there is somewhat limited sun on part of the terrace/patio because of a high hedge and shrubs nearby so I had to figure out a way around it. After much debate and negotiation with Mom (not to mention brief discussions of how the sun works, aerodynamics, and nuclear physics), she finally let me sacrifice a teeny part of her landscape (a little shrub bed beside the terrace) that I am converting to a bed for my veggie garden. Unfortunately, there was a HUGE flowering shrub there that had to go. It was pretty quick work to chop down the branches with a hand saw but the roots are going to be a PITA to get rid of. I spent several hours with a spade and a pickaxe and managed to do some damage to it but the stump is still there And now my back is killing me but it will be worth it. I’ll be able to convert most of the terrace and the whole shrub garden into a raised veggie patch. I also added some posts to hang my topsy turvy strawberry planters off the deck and I nailed together my two 4 foot square veggie gardens using 1 x 6 wood (4 ft long, obviously). I have the landscape cloth to put under it so there won’t be any weeds growing up or nasty stuff leaching through from underneath. I’m going to use the rubbermaid bins for stuff that requires roots and more depth, like the garlic, onions, and potatoes I’ve already planted and the tomatoes, carrots, etc. that I plan on planting.

Oh, I also grabbed a bunch of worms from the garden (whilst singing “I touched a worm and I liked it”) and added them to the compost bin. We’ll see if they earn their keep in there, but they should be happy–it’s like an all-you-can-eat schmorgasbord in there. Fortunately, it smells pretty darn good too because of a bit of lemon and lime peels in there. Very citrusy. I added more Rot-it and turned it all before adding the worms so hopefully that will help it break down faster.

All right, that’s all for now. Zoë needs some quality snuggle time before dinner