grounded blueberries and other garden progress

We started today by taking a nap. I think I slept for about an hour and a half after we had lunch. I was really asleep when Aimee woke me up, it took me a good 20 minutes to get the cobwebs out, get my clothes changed and get outside. Oh and I called my mama to see if she was feeling any better; she is recovering from pneumonia (answer: yes she is).

Aimee started out the afternoon by digging up the dirt in front of the garden, in anticipation of planting flowers once she had loosened the soil. Then I came out and we got to planting the blueberries and the plants I got from HD the other day; a pumpkin, zucchini, Japanese cucumber and a banana pepper Sam got at the HD project day with the plant carrier he nailed together; I will make a separate post on my frustration on that project.

Anywho, the blueberry bushes went it really easy and we ended up using a big chunk of the dirt from the middle of the planter to mound up dirt around the bushes and bring them up to a level that should be good for when we finish the raised bed around it.

We milled around a little after that and picked up some rocks and other stuff lying around. Then Sam and I moved the cement pavers that were piled up in front of the blueberry planter out to the front by the driveway where I decided I was going to use them to extend the driveway on the west side. There were 3.2 loads in the wheelbarrow, with Sam following me and riding back in the wheelbarrow; he liked the bumps.

Aimee started clearing out the planting area beside where the deck used to be, where a bunch of volunteer pansies have started growing under where the hanging basket we had last fall was hanging. After I moved the pavers out of her way, she cleaned up the left over weeds and moved her potted plants into the vacant area in the middle. It looks very nice and you can see where Aimee was digging this morning next to the garden (that roughed up dirt above Aimee's head).

Now there isn't much left before we are forced to deal with the deck area, or start roto-tilling the grass area and getting it graded for grass this fall. Although, I have been avoiding the sprinkler trench in the backyard, since after a winter of being exposed to rain, etc, I am sure it isn't the soft excavated soil that came out of the trencher last summer. With a back that doesn't do well bent over for long times, bending over a 18-24" trench, digging "loose" dirt out of the trench, just doesn't sound like a good time to me.  I guess I need to get it done and Terry's trenching shovel back to him before the year anniversary of my borrowing it.

The other thing that needs to be cleaned up is the lumber outside the south side of the house I didn't have room for in my "lumber shelves" I built on the East side of the house to hold all the cedar lumber from the deck. A lot of that pile got used in the blueberry planter, but it got kinda rustled trying to find good boards. I may actually have some room to move it over to the lumber shelves, maybe.

Then what to do with the left over dirt still in the back yard that needs to be moved or used to be able to till the grass area fully.