A Marathon Yard Day

10/24/2018 – As we had a light all-day drizzly rain yesterday–that should have made the dry soil workable–and tomorrow is 100% chance of rain we decided we had to get the last of the yard work done, including mulching and spreading the wildflower seeds, before the rain tomorrow.

1. Widened bed between the walkway to the front door and the house.
   1. Looked for a cleanout by removing sod with the shovel and digging into the stiff soil below. Did not find it despite poking the probe all around and using the spade to break up the stiff soil where the sod had been sliced off. Filled the wheelbarrow with sod that was not needed to resod the septic tank place.
   2. Dug the usual trench along the edge to hold mulch.
   3. Used the JD Tiller to till the new dirt about 6″ deep.
   4. Leveled and shaped the bed.
   5. Dug out the daylilies and pulled the clumps apart to make about 3x the number of plants. Spaced them out and replanted leaving room for the coming hydrangea.
   6. In the afternoon, planted a 2nd LimeLight Hydrangea we bought at the fruit stand when we went to get the 1/2 CY of crushed pine bark mulch.
   7. Filled the trench with the mulch and spread over the bed.
2. During the work on the bed, we dug out some of the topsoil I had hauled into “hole” where the septic tank had been pumped out. Used the soil to partially fill the adjacent low places. Laid the sod taken from the bed into the “hole” almost making it disappear.

Built a new bed between two pecan trees in the backyard. This bed will likely be known as the “Between bed” as that is what Mary called it all day. Cut the sod with the edger then tilled it well without saving the sod. Removed a small original hydrangea from the new herb bed at the side patio and planted it between the pecans. Planted the Indigo we brought from Houston that was still in a tray, and more taken from the herb bed, on either side of the hydrangea. Sprinkled wildflower seed among the Indigo and around the trees.

As we would need the wheelbarrow for the mulch, and it was full of sod, we:

• dug out the topsoil and the red clay on the east end of the electrical trench; placed the sod into the slot left when the topsoil and clay was removed;
• Used the topsoil to fill low places and around the sod near the patio. The red-clay-dominate soil filled the wagon and I pulled it to the barn to fill a low place, fill where the electrical cables came up, and fill around two of the poles where it looks like water is infiltrating it.

Went to the vegetable stand on 3-Notch and bought another LimeLight Hydrangea and then to Woerners and got 2 scopes of crushed pine bark mulch.

Spread the mulch in the beds built today, the new bed along the azaleas, and the expanded the Bay Leaf Tree bed.

Mary lightly raked the tilled dirt below the Crepes along the road and I sprinkled Fall Maximum Mix wildflower seed from American Meadows. Time is about 4 PM.

10/26/2018 – Two days after planting the wildflower seeds they were coming up. Also in the Crepe bed identical sprouts were coming up in places we had not seeded this time. They must be last year’s seed crop.