Yard Work

We spent the afternoon working in the yard today. Pulling up all the vines that are choking off the azaleas and camellias and miscellaneous other plants could well take weeks. Luckily, among the things left by the old owner were an electric lawn mower, which I used for the first time today, and a really good set of gardening shears that are sharp enough to cut through 1" thick branches on the crepe myrtles like butter.

We've got two hummingbird feeders up, and both are regularly visited. There seems to be one bird that's staking a claim though. He often perches nearby and chases off any other hummingbirds that swoop in for chow.

The herb garden has expanded to now include silver thyme, garlic, and tricolored sage. We also had some cuttings from the African Blue basil that sprouted roots and will make nice trans-plants to the beds in the front yard. Aimee got a banana tree, which we haven't put in the ground yet, as we're still figuring on the best place to put it. The jalapenos are coming along very well (two obvious peppers and about 14 more budding, it's amazing how fast they grow). No tomatoes yet, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that we didn't plant too late and that they're getting enough sun. We'll see. We started clearing the area that will become the vegetable garden today. It's going to take some work, but we'll get there. In addition to the hummingbirds we have woodpeckers (red bellied and pileated), and lots of frogs and lizards, and cardinals, and wrens, and crazy looking caterpillars with thorns. It's an interesting yard. Cheers. Photos of plants to come as soon as I can get some decent shots.