OH, Boy

south side of house

planted 2 weeks ago, already dead. DANG!

Siberian Iris after a light rain

Siberian Iris buds

We are already experiencing stressed trees and lawns. It's May 17th. Just a little early, wouldn't you say? Rain goes north and south, mainly south, and bypasses the central area of Indiana. Here we go again.

In March, when it seemed like it rained every day of the week, and we had several days in the high 70's and low 80's, I had a lake in front of my garden shed and to the left of it. The builder did not grade the yards correctly, and if you get down and look at the lay of the land, there is a depression in that area. Most of it is on my neighbor's land. He basically does nothing with his yard, so evidently it doesn't bother him when we have ducks swimming in the pond that shouldn't be there.

I took this photo of the south side of my house for a reason: by the end of May, there will be dirt delivered to fill in the depression on my side of the property line. We will plant grass seed on that. Leading to the garden shed will be a stone path. The woman I hired is going to use large paving type stones and wind the path around to the front of the house and flower beds. I will then finish planting perennials up against the house, to the right of the path. I think it's going to look unique, and can hardly wait. It is also going to help save my back. Because of the continuing flooding, that entire stretch has become full of little hills and valleys, due to the grass not growing properly. It is hard to mow, and even harder to walk on. The stone path solves both problems.

Last night I planted 2 large tomato plants alongside the garden shed. It would not be wise to plant anything like that in the backyard. In one word, dogs. Dogs that dig. Dogs that chew. Dogs. Sigh. So the tomatoes will grow against the shed and do well, I'm sure. Just for the record, it took me 35 minutes to dig 2 holes. THAT is how hard the ground is already.

Have a great weekend.
Linda