5 posts tagged “garden”

The long-awaited rock patio under the cherry tree is under construction, and in fact should be completed in the next few days. This should make outdoor meals more pleasant.

Early stages

To prepare the site, Mike dug out the rough oval, deep enough to allow for several inches of hard-packed gravel and then sand. Gravel and sand were delivered and spread, then he began to lay out the rock. Natural rock is of course not particularly regular in shape, so putting it all together was something like building a jigsaw puzzle... only harder.

Moving right along

At this point, the work on the east end of the patio (see the photo below)is basically complete. On the other end, most of the rock has been laid in place temporarily; Mike has to finish scooping out the sand and laying each piece down permanently, on the level. When all is complete, we will sweep more sand over it to fill in the cracks and crevices.

Almost completed

We'll start some little creeping ground-cover plants to grow in the sand, and this fall when the weather is cooler and wetter, we'll plant some shrubs and perennials around the border. But the cook-outs can start anytime!

Rosebud....

Can Total Rose Explosion be far behind? There may have to be a rose-viewing party in a few weeks...

Everyone has their own interests. When the weather gets nice, my husband spends more time out on his recumbent trike. Me, I spend more time in the garden, trying to get things shipshape before the grass pollen hits and I am trapped inside.

Today was the first large organized group cycling event of the season, the Monster Cookie Metric Century. So Michael, Katr, and a couple other friends went out and rode their tails off. I got up to fix them all breakfast: slow-cooked oat porridge with all the trimmings, bacon, toasted English muffins, and such. It's always a good day when I get to cook for my friends and/or family.

After they rode off (and Michael will have pics and footage up eventually on his various sites), I took pics of the cats out on the porch in the spring sunlight.

The Welcome Wagon

Lucy, and her tongue

After a brief nap (I'd gotten up at 5:00 am) and a few boring domestic tasks, I went over to Fara's house to check on her kitties while she's on vacation. Maddy greeted me at the door with a reproachful look:

It's about time!

Later I took more pics of our cats, frolicking outside, and weeded and puttered in the garden. There's not much new to see yet, not until the roses begin to bloom, but the buds are forming and the flowers are not far off.

Tiny rosebuds

All in all, a satisfying day. Friends, food, cats, garden, sunshine... who could ask for more?

Cherry trees (including ours) bursting into bloom. Violets peeking from the crevices along the walkway. And over at the university, fraternity boys on their homemade Slip -n- Slide.

No picture of the last, alas (although I stood and watched for a while, grinning) but here's a few pics from the garden.

Sun through cherry blossoms

Garden path

I love my little gravel garden path.... sadly, Lucy also loves it; she thinks it makes a dandy summer litterbox. So there's a few dried cat turds here and there.

Violets in partial shade

The best thing about the violets is the fact that they all are descended from three little clumps that I dug up out of my mother's yard, years ago. Now they have naturalized throughout the entire yard and bloom most charmingly every spring as an unkillable ground cover amongst the roses and perennials.