Plans start to come together

I'm one of those people who is good at dreaming up ideas, not so good at actually implementing them. So when any of my crazy plans actually start to come together, I get very excited.

Something I have wanted for a while are arches over the gates. Fancy ones are very expensive (and then the welds break). I finally caught onto what other gardeners know to use: cattle panels. They are 16' x 50" and flexible and strong. My daughter transported them from Tractor Supply to my house. Today I wrestled them into position, sort of. I *think* I want to cut them in half lengthwise. Maybe.

Another idea involves defining paths through the larger beds in the backyard. There is a prototype of one between the rain garden and the chokeberry shrubs. Yesterday my daughter and I cleared some of the yard waste from the back of the yard and took it to the biosolids site. Today I took some mulch and defined where I think the path could be in the that bed.

Around the oak tree...

...through the shrubs...

...pass the arborvitae.

Looking back

This summer was the summer of TOO - working in the yard was difficult because it was TOO cool in the spring, TOO hot in the summer, TOO dry, TOO wet, TOO sunny, TOO humid, TOO, TOO, TOO. Occasionally we'd have a perfect day for yardening, but then I frequently had something else I needed to do. I'm relatively satisfied with how I kept up, though there is always more to do.

I sent my lawncare company a note, asking if they use insecticide in their treatment. They didn't answer. Is that a yes? I may try another service next year.