Dirt

I finally finished my spring landscaping project, using a shovel, a bucket, and an old plastic toboggan to distribute 30 cubic yards of topsoil to low spots in my front yard. Yes, a wheelbarrow would have made sense but the wheel on mine is busted. I'm tanned from working outside, and my limbs are covered with insect bites and a few patches of poison ivy rash, but I am happy to report that my knee gave me no trouble at all. It feels good to be able to use my legs again with no restrictions.

I dug up some of the flowers, separating them into bunches and planting them in places where they can spread into big clumps. In my front yard, I prefer flowers that grow like crazy and bloom in untidy bursts of colour: daylilies, peonies, coneflowers, and yellow loosestrife. I planted a river birch out near the road, in a place where it has all kinds of room to spread its branches.

Of course, this project has made it hard to mow the lawn. I have to weave around my new flower gardens and maneuver over the newly seeded patches of topsoil. We are having a very dry spring here, which means the topsoil is mostly dust. When Boy in Black came out to help me mow, he tackled the rough spots at high speed, leaving a cloud of dirt swirling about as he moved.



If you look carefully to the left behind Boy in Black, you can see the new river birch and one of the new day lily gardens.