The Yard Update for July

We've been slowly upgrading the gardens and yard since the last post.  Most of my seedlings did very well although none of the cucumbers or melons survived.  Either I put them out too early and they got a chill or I didn't feed them enough.  The tomatoes and peppers started very slowly and I decided to feed them aggressively.  This made a huge difference.  I think the problem was we used very cheap soil bought on sale and it was low on nutrients.

I built a seat around our birch and have been using it for the potted plants.  A very lovely improvement although it's not being used as a seat right now.  I'm working on some plant stands in the garage based on redesigned antiques and using scrap wood.  When those are done I'll update with pictures.

We've got mix and match pots :)  Garage sales and leftovers from buying plants on sale will have to do for now.  It takes time but we have that.

The garden under the lodgepole pine is doing wonderful.  A few cubic meters of compost spread throughout seems to be giving a huge boost to growth.  We've got some weed problems since the compost is full of seeds but that's coming along.  The lilies are amazing and the hostas just love the location.  Choosing mostly native plants that love the shade works well.  The green garden bag is front is an odd one.  A neighbour gave me some seeds for what he called "mexican radish" which he warned me spread like weeds.  Supposedly they make big read spicy pods.  So far I have no idea what that plant could be.  My google-fu was inadequate to figure them out.

My wife found a wonderful use for some old drinking horns we had hanging around.  They've been in cupboards for years.

And the last work in progress is the dry rock retaining wall.  The local gravel pit let us pick over the leftover scrap pile for free.  It's a heavy load for the old truck but some really neat stuff: petrified wood, dozens of big pink and white quartz, and something with some shells.  I'm no geologist but I'm going to get a guide book on local minerals.   Now I really want to know what those are.