Let the Gardening Begin!

I had my helpers with me this morning. 

About that compost heap... the green you see on it is grass I had just hoed out of the perennial bed. Abby was chasing them for me.  

That heap is cleanings from the big henhouse.  About six years ago, I made a big heap of cleanings from the henhouse over in another area of the yard.  A year later, Keith took the most beautiful black loam from that area to put in our garden beds.  I'm trying to replicate it here, and not touch this pile for another year.  

I checked it the other day, and it is cooking nicely inside. 

We were being watched.  Tomorrow morning, the shadecloth goes back up over the henyard.  I was going to try to do it myself yesterday, but there is NO WAY.  Keith will delay going in an hour and help me in the morning, and we'll get it tied down, as we hope the snow is finished for the year, at least heavy snow. 

I have it pulled over to the side you see, so that the birds have quite a bit of yard to ramble in, as well as under the henhouse. 

Here is what I was attacking.. the grass you see in the bed.  I also pruned all the dead growth out, and now have a long line of stuff to rake up this afternoon.  

Looking behind me.  We are going to go pick up a load of dirt, manure, and peat moss this weekend and bring it back and drop it so I can start filling in the beds.  The weeds were NOT that hard to hoe up because we lasagned this beds last year. 

That's one of the buddleias I trimmed down.  Boy, I hope I haven't killed it. 

We stopped to make a little side trip down to the pasture. 

Where this guy was sitting amongst the buds and singing to us. 

I was overjoyed to see this... because I thought I had killed this peony last year. 

Yee ha! 

I love peonies. 

This bed that I cleaned this morning suffered huge losses amongst it's perennials, and I think that this year, I am going to start lots of annual seeds and we'll plant them in the bed instead.  I do want to order some irises, though, and maybe some daylillies.  (here we go again). 

Abby helped by carrying some wood out of the bed to chew on. 

Around our fence line there were birdhouses placed before we came here ... in fact, I think they were put up many years ago, and most have fallen now.  I hope to replace them all... but, as Keith says... this is on the C List.  I can always dream, and I'm going to start accumulating some this year.  

That's it early today from Calamity Acres! 

Hmmmm... I loaded this as an afterthought, never thinking it would really LOAD.  Why does it come out with green on it?  It doesn't in the original????