The snow is basically gone from the yard proper. About half of the back lawn (over the septic field) is still covered with snow, but that’s all in shade, so it makes sense. It’s amazing how quickly it went, once it started to melt.
It looks like there is significant damage from improper drainage, especially over the new lawn areas. As you can see from the pictures of what is supposed to be lawn, not much of the seed put out last fall actually did much germinating at all. I can still see see laying on the ground here, but does seed die? Or might this still sprout? I really haven’t a clue. This is our first lawn, ever. I’ve always sworn off it, but let the landscaper convince me to try some small areas.
We saw the first of the bulbs peeking out today. They weren’t here yesterday, and today they are blooming. There are two kinds of crocuses in bloom, and allium in the containers around the front porch. What’s strange is that the allium tag says it’s not supposed to bloom until June. I guess we’ll see!
We have to decide what we’re going to do with the yard that’s currently nothing but the old slash pile from when we cut timber 12 years ago. The loggers piled up all this crap right next to the house, and over the years, it’s certainly degraded some, but it’s basically a big mess. There was another one right in front of the house, but after the fire we had, the old house was piled up on the of that slash pile, and the whole mess went away. We keep burning brush on this old slash pile, but we’ve never got the old big logs to really catch. Valerie wants a place to put her trampoline and would also really like a skateboard ramp, and really, the only logical place to put both would be right there. And now that the driveway is a circle, you drive right past it, and it looks horrible. We’ve got to do something to it this year, I think.
We’ve noticed a sort of mold around the base of a lot of the new plants out in the garden. I’m not sure what it is, or if it’s something I should be concerned about, but thought I’d try to take a picture of it and note it at least. Remember to ask Skip about it.
The big event tonight was getting the pond up and running. Frank got the pump installed, and the ice has finally all melted. We definitely need to buy one of those nets on a long pole to clean leaves out of the pond. But the water looked really clear, really, and I took pictures of the first water coming over the edge of the waterfall, into the pond. I love to be outside and hear it. Growing up in the desert, the sound or running water is just amazing.
We had the pond dug with the center part deeper than 4 feet, specifically so we could put fish in the pond that would be able to winter over. Supposedly, they will hibernate down below the freeze line, which is around 4 feet in our neck of the woods, and can make it through the winter. It’ll be interesting to see if that will actually work, but I feel guilty about experimenting with live fish. That water in the pond today was really really cold! I’ve bought all sorts of books on ponds and fish — I guess it’s time to dig them out and see what I want to try, not to mention plants for the pond. I’ve been waiting and waiting to do this, can’t believe I can actually start thinking of what I really want here.