Between Worlds II

I'm over 1/4th done with my time in work limbo and thought it would be a good time to check on and tweak the self-imposed "Honey-do" list from last time. Two days ago was more of an "action day" with plenty of time spent in the yard. Yesterday was more of an "out and about" day with a couple of appointments and a "farewell" happy hour to cap off the evening. 

I think the biggest thing so far was getting my garden areas tilled and planted. First was my little flower display at the end of the driveway. Here I put the geraniums from my son's football fundraiser as well as a couple perennials. This year I added some lily to the middle and hope it comes out well and not too crowded.

The next was the vegetable space up closer to the house. I planted a mix of seeds, home starts and store bought starts this year. It's definitely not much to look at yet, so I overlaid the planting map; partially for my own reference.

I'd like to get more onions and such involved, but I'm also hesitant to add another box just yet. Perhaps planting along the inner edges of the boxes? I like putting radish most of the time as it's a quick path to an easy early season win while I wait for the rest of the flora to catch up.

The third section I worked on was a bit of a continual trouble spot I've been trying to develop over the last couple seasons. There is a weird retaining structure off the front of my house that protrudes beyond the house to the side. A few years back I tore out all the overgrown shrubs and set a paver patio. This area is adjacent to that, having a past-its-prime bottle brush plant. Last summer I set a small paved area with left over block and put in some shrubs to hedge. There was still an unutilized area. I decided to put in a couple lilacs after bordering the small paved area with some treated lumber.

This area is right under my bedroom window, so there's hope I'll catch some of the lilac fragrance during the bloom. I also planted some extra lily I had, just for kicks. Perhaps this will evolve into a small pollinator garden?

My fourth garden area (not shown) is in my back yard. Frankly, my back yard is awful for growing most stuff (creeping charlie and ground lily aside). It's very shady and has some good slope. My approach here was to save me and my mower from having to cut grass on the slopes. I'm also trying to create some barriers to limit the creeping charlie expansion. I'm slowly working to replant the slopes with a mix of hostas and other shade-friendly plants. I'm also trying out some natural border technique using the abundance of oversized branches that fall in my back yard (I have some big trees). I have about a dozen hosta plants in the ground now along with some fern and jacobs ladder plants. This is very much a work in progress, but I think it will look good once it's done.

My last garden spot is my little strawberry patch. I still need to get a fence up around it as the rabbits are starting to hover in wait. Other than that, the patch pretty much grows itself aside from some weeding :)

Digressing to my list, I think it's time to turn the focus to some of the trim work for my basement. I have a stain picked out and will start getting some color on the new oak. The good weather will allow this to be done in the garage and hopefully won't take too long. I'll likely also start installing the longer lengths once dry. This may run in parallel with some garage cleaning. I also think I'm going to prioritize a "big fat nap" this afternoon :)