Gardening

I thought I'd fall right back into my old blogging habit. But I was wrong. I found myself getting caught up in everyone else's blogs this week. Paying no attention to my own.

I guess I was in more if a listening mood. Rather than a talking mood. Please note: this is a rare moment so I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted! I've never been the type to be short of things to say :o). But I'm back now and on to the latest project. Unfortunately, it's not a fun one...

I'm going to force myself to work on my yard this week. That needs to be my project--it's looking pretty rough at the moment. I have a large oak tree in the front yard and there's an area below it which used to be landscaped. As time went by and the owner got older, the yard fell by the wayside. What's left is some edging grass in a half circle around the tree. And lots of weeds. I mean, LOTS. Several weeks ago, I purchased many many bags of mulch. I decided that I'd mulch out the inside of that half circle for a couple of reasons: (1) to make the grass edge look like it's supposed to be there (2) because it will help with the weed growth and (3) it will keep the termites away (I bought cypress mulch which is great for this area).

Needless to say, I have piled up the bags of mulch in the front yard and let them sit there for weeks now. With all the rain, the weeds have gotten a bit out of control and it's just time to get things straight. I did some research and found that I don't have to use a plastic tarp under the mulch as had originally been suggested to me. In fact, you can use biodegradable products (newspapers, old paper bags, other recyclable paper products) to help block the weeds and underlay the mulch. This way, the weeds die for lack of light and nutrients and you still have the option to plant later. There's a great book about a process called 'lasagna gardening' by Patricia Lanza--'lasagna gardening' techniques include layering leaves, manure, cardboard/paper products, etc to produce a weed free garden. What a concept!

At the moment, I just want it to look nice. With winter coming, I don't plan on planting until next year. And with the way I've put off the maintenance already, I think I just need to finish step one of the project before I make any further plans! I suppose this will need to be my accountability--I've got to get it done this week! Any thoughts/suggestions? I'd love to know what others do with their landscaping or if you have some tricks up your sleeves.