Taking Off

I took yesterday off to play in the dirt a little. It was a clear, bright day here and I really enjoyed working in the back yard and spending the day with my doggies. (It's also nice to now have outdoor speakers so I can listen to music as I work.)

My target was the bed that flanks our brick patio and faces East. It gets just a few hours of morning sun and will make a spectacular shade plant area, I think. I yanked the landscape cloth out with relative ease, but the wild strawberries growing there were another matter. Those pesky things are nearly impossible to clear. (And so much for the effectiveness of the cloth, eh?)

Once done, I dumped some composted bark chips onto the soil and worked it in with a pitchfork, leaving deep aerating holes as I went. The soil is pretty dark clay here too. *sigh*

I couldn't resist doing a little planting in the bed - I put in a variegated Japanese Maple called 'Searles' and a Hosta 'Red October' (both from Wayside) just for kicks.

I also potted up all seven of my tomatoes into gallon pots. Now begins the daily ritual of putting them in the sunny driveway every morning and bringing them in at night until they're ready to go in the ground, probably in a couple of weeks or so.

Reading Tom Spencer's Daily Muse has inspired me to pursue Passiflora aka Passion Flower vines, too. I ordered a plant-and-seed combo off of eBay last night for a mere $7.99.