hooray for black plastic

Georg and I did some good yardwork today. First we put down the rest of the black plastic in front of the house. The sheets I had put down a week ago stayed in place really well, even though it was windy last Thursday. Which gives me hope that it will stay there until the beginning of May. When all the weeds will be dead, and we will take it up and plant dwarf sunflowers along the front of the fence. I got the seeds in bulk from Johnnyseeds.com, enough to cover that whole bank for $7.65. That's a good deal, if I can get them to grow! I have no idea what we'll plant on the slope. Maybe a vine since it's too steep for most regular plants. Flowers would be nice, but they'll have to be in the yellow/orange/red scheme to go with the sunflowers.

After the black plastic we went back to work on stump digging. And I am pleased to say we dug out the last stump from that bed along the driveway. Whew! It was the biggest one, though luckily we didn't know that until we got it out. We thought it was sparse and shrubby and spread out. Actually it had a big woody stump in the middle, which the landscapers had cut down so low that when it rained, the stump got covered with mud and we didn't even know it was there. It is huge. I haven't thrown it in the yard waste bin yet; maybe we'll get a photo tomorrow.

Now that all the stumps are out, I don't know what to do with myself! Well that's not exactly true. There are tons of things to do; I just don't know where to start next. I guess I should start breaking up the clay and turning under the straw in that same bed. Once that's done we'll have to truck in good soil. That's where the sweet peas are going to go and the bed needs to be ready for them soon. Also I need to pull up the vines growing along the ground just behind the bed. Those vines will spread right back over the bed if I let them. Maybe I should do that first.

While I was working on the the stumps, Lina used to sit right by me, just inside the fence, and chew on those vines. They were pernicious but she could pretty well clear a small area, pulling them up and chewing on them. It drove me crazy when she chewed on something I had planted, but when she pulled up the vines it was great. Normally I wouldn't want her so near while I was using heavy tools, but since there was a fence between us it seemed safe. I used to call her my gardening helper. Sorry, I'm making myself feel sappy again.