Last Week: April 11 - 17, 2021

Last week, spring was in full flower here in Kentucky with my favorite flowering tree combo of Redbuds and Dogwoods showing their colors. I was able to make it to the Red River Gorge during a relatively quiet weekday and was overwhelmed by the beauty. Wildflowers and trees just showing off and me and mine loving it. I especially appreciate the Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel forest which isn’t in bloom just yet. That’ll be another kind of show.

Gertie Listening to the Flowers

Back home it’s a busy time. I planted a bit of sod where we, and especially the dogs, hang out the most (Pancho here in this case). I was growing tired of the wood-chipped look. Sod may be a recipe for frustration (dog’s don’t care) but it’s nice to look at right now. Especially with the spring rains we’ve had, I haven’t had to water as much as I would otherwise. I haven’t laid sod since I was a kid and it’s pretty satisfying to unroll a living carpet of green. I’ve seeded plenty of grass in the past, or at least tried to through the years, mostly to just see it die or get overcome by weeds. Sod tends to keep the weeds at bay at least in the first year. We’ll see what happens. Now the urine is becoming a major issue.

American culture has really taken this evergreen, input-intensive, mono-culture, look to heart though. I’ve been moving in the opposite direction because I hate mowing and I don’t like monoculture and the chemical industries that champion and support the constant upkeep of the grass aesthetic - not to mention the amount of water that goes towards the effort. I haven’t had to mow in years, preferring to plant gardens of vegetables and perennials and rocks even with all the trials and tribulations they bring (well the rocks are easy enough). I figure I’ll be watering a lot more this summer to keep the grass alive and well and then it may still be overcome by abuse.

Often, one project leads to another so while I was prepping the yard for sod I dug a trench and began running some 1/2” PVC from the driveway spigot to the garden. Previously, our 100’ hose had to run through both the yard and the garden to water the chickens. Our puppy, Gertie, dealt handily with that hose, chewing and playing with it without my knowing.  So I’m hoping that this new spigot setup will help avoid both another ruined hose and me having to drag it all the way to the chicken waterer again. Plus, it’s right by the garden and the grass, so handy for watering. I’ll disconnect it in the winter.

Hopefully the rain barrel I installed this week will also help. I finally installed a spare piece of gutter on the pullet-coop-shed and have it draining right into a barrel I had sitting around unused. So far I’ve managed to water all my flocks free for a week! I’ve got more unused rain barrels (noticing a trend here?) and hope to get a couple more installed throughout the summer.

Then there are the rocks. To lay the sod I had to pull up a rock path. Then lay it again after the sod and new water line were in place. I may place some gravel in between the rocks but not sure.

I like working with rocks so I used up the rest of a rock pile I gathered last summer to finish a path to the garden I’ve been dreaming of. We are blessed with an abundance of limestone in KY and it’s fairly easy and cheaply gotten with some searching.

You can see the older part in the foreground with old gravel and bits of nature taking up the cracks. The new part has some grass in the cracks, tough little tufts that I rescued from where I laid the sod. I’m liking the grassy crack look better than the crap crack.

That led to even another project of building a keyhole garden in an ugly spot on the way to the compost bins. Our hen coop follows the path back and to the right. And, in this pic, a covered wood storage shed that I call a “rick” is straight back. I had some redwood 4x4 left over from an old swing set that had been in the yard and used for various gardening beds so I cut it up and made a border both vertically and horizontally. I’m happy with it and will be even happier with some plant matter growing in it. 

Anyway, all the improvements I envisioned over winter can now be brought to life with nicer weather and a bit of time. I’m preparing for growing season in earnest.

Coaxing life from seeds and soil has become a passion that I plan to continue while I am able. I’m happy to expound upon any of these projects if you’re interested, just let me know.

My plans for the coming week involve chicks, violets, bee-eating birds, raised garden beds and corporate buyouts of “green biz”, poop (I hope), and some general tidying up, as well as my longer term plans for a new shop building that I’ll begin sharing.

See you next week! 

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