C'est Fini

 The piles of mulch and compost are gone. The tarps are folded and put away in the garage, and the remaining soil is tucked away in the yard, in containers and in piles. We, meaning me, decided that we needed one more trough to hold the majority of the remaining compost. I returned, with my sister, to the farm supply store and got this narrow trough which fits perfectly under our dining room windows, at the back door, on the patio. This is my new herb garden, which I will fill with basil, parsley, cilantro, chives, fennel, mints, thyme, oregano, and whatever else looks good. This trough was way cheaper than the others, like $100 less. How could I not get it? Plus these nice people are delivering our water garden (koi pond) tub on Tuesday!!! It is slightly smaller than the one we previously saw

at Tractor Supply, and will be just right for our remaining space. Our plan is to get the water in, buy water plants and get them going and THEN get the fish. I just hope we have a level spot to place it. And then the garden will truly be finished.

Dave and I got the last of the eleven trees planted along the west side of the house, and most are looking good, all but one. O well. The leftover compost is piled in the back corner on the east side and tarped, and we will eventually spread it along the fence for planting something.

Our tubs are filling up with flowers and veggies, and the green beans look like they like the sun.Dave used the last of the mulch to fill in the low spot, and so far it looks like this will work. Our little tree is raised up enough not to drown when the neighbors sprinkler floods our yard. 

We plan to completely rid our yard of grass, and mulch it. We found a nearby spot with piles of wood chips just waiting to be tapped, and long time readers will understand how happy that makes Dave. Once again, it's a good thing we have a fence, since we are big time backyard nonconformists. Our thinking is that we will have a parterre garden like this one, eventually:

OK. Not with the gravel, but wood chips, and not on the ground but in the troughs. Just like this, only different. Sigh. Use your imagination.

In the meantime, the beets have sprouted and I have a few tiny Juliet tomatoes forming a tantalizing bunch.

We keep saying, "This is our last garden" and so the work we have rushed to do is because we are taking advantage of our remaining youthful strength and endurance. We squeezed every bit of it out on this arrangement and now we can relax and enjoy watching it grow. I can't wait til after Mother's Day when my desired plants go on sale!