Spring Survey 2010, Part Two

The first thing I notice when walking toward the hill is the sandbox. I have a head start on getting it ready with toys, for evidently I didn't take them into the garage last fall to be stored there over winter. I need to add a couple of new items, I think. The old ones are getting quite faded.

After years of a failed raspberry patch, where each springtime revealed nothing but 4" tall chewed raspberry canes, we finally got a chicken wire fence around the raspberries. After all, we have an abundance of bunnies, and there's only so much Bridger can do. It took some convincing to get Kevin to agree to the fencing. He couldn't see that it made economic sense to spend all that money on wire for 'a few dollars' worth of raspberries.' I'm not going to say 'I told you so,' but he's the one who pointed out the price of raspberries in the grocery store yesterday - $10.50 per pound. I think he might be convinced that the eleven gallons of raspberries we harvested from the patch last year were worth the chicken wire, though I'm not going to risk asking him.

This is not the beautiful garden that we saw last July and August. This is the ugly spring garden. It won't be much longer before we can pull up all that carpet, till the garden, place the plants and seeds in the soil, mulch, and then when the grass starts growing, cover the 'aisles' with carpet. Old carpet works great for keeping weeds out from between the rows, and is great on the knees when weeding around plants. It also dried out quickly after a rain, which prevented a mold problem for quite a while.

This photo of the little backyard pool was taken early in the morning, so it looks like there may be a film of ice on top. Shortly after Mother's Day, the nursery where I purchase water hyacinths (40 miles away!) will get in their shipment from the South, where water hyacinths are considered a noxious weed.

Shortly before then, I will drain all the murky water from the pond, remove all the stinky, decayed leaves, (truly, it's just like working in a sewer!) rescue the surviving snails who are a very important part of this little ecosystem, scrub the rubber pond liner, fill it with fresh water, and start up the recirculating pump. I love the sound of water falling over the rocks in the little stream we built.

Water hyacinths and snails ensure a clean pond all summer long, without having to resort to chemicals of any kind. The pond also makes a great water bowl for the dogs! :-) I can't wait until it looks like this again!

It's always much more fun to get the pond ready than it is to wash the windows on the house, but it would be nice to be able to see through the glass. I suppose I should put that on my list of spring projects as well.

Another all-too-frequent springtime project is bathing Misty after she's applied her favorite perfume. Now that the snow is gone, Misty wanders about, finding the most putrid, disgusting animal feces and carcasses and works at applying them with great care to her neck and belly. Isn't it lovely!

Do you have a list of springtime projects?