Grade Work

Today was glorious, after a rather cloudy and threatening start.  Clear skies, bright sun, 70 degrees, with a pleasant breeze.  Perfect fall weather!  The next three days are supposed to be rainy, so I devoted my labors on this day to the grade behind the house.  This section, which runs from the bedroom to the kitchen, will eventually become part of a perennial border, but not until 2013.  Next year I'll plant the section of the border closer to the porch, where I've been digging the past few days.

A five-foot-wide section of the proposed perennial border
took shape this afternoon.

Wood ships provide a walkway along the back of the house.

Today's work involved turning over the soil, weeding, getting rid of surface rocks, and smoothing the slope toward the lake.  Before planting I'll have to do a deeper dig, which means dealing with all the large rocks which surely are lurking there to tax my sense of humor and back.  But a more superficial treatment is enough for now.  I also put down wood chips for a pathway along the back of the house.  It will curve around to the porch steps, and then continue around the north side of the house to the garage.

As I worked today, I formulated a plan for the area toward the lake, which is out of sight in the photos above.  This will probably become home to 2-4 raised garden beds for veggies, herbs, etc.  I'd love to have vine ripened tomatoes in the summer.  Those hard, tasteless red things sold in the store are hardly worth the money.  But the growing season this far north is quite short. •••