Why My Hands Hurt

I should have taken a before shot. This view is from about the middle of our backyard, showcasing the hard work we have done recently in pruning, clearing out weeds, checking all the drip lines and mulching the beds. It will be a rough summer for the garden if we don't get any rain this winter, so we are trying to get things in order now. It's slow going--lots of sourgrass to pull, old leaves to rake up, and some decisions to be made about replacing a few plants.

You might be able to distinguish five fruit trees running in a line: two heirloom apples on the right (small trees--barely visible just behind that yellow flag), then a Bartlett pear in the center of the frame, a wizened old Gravenstein to its left, and a large persimmon in the corner.

The closest raised bed holds bok choy, spinach and lettuce (under the baskets); the middle one has just been clear of brassicas that were host to an unbearable number of aphids, and the third bed is our annual crop of garlic.

I have been intending to paint something colorful on that white rectangle that makes up one wall of the compost bin against the back fence, but you can see how far that's come. I am hoping that the trees leaf out enough to hide that area in a few months.

I love the way the yard looks and smells right now, tiny beginnings of new leaves, fresh dirt, yummy mulch. There was a gentle drizzle last night which got everyone's hopes up--enough moisture to make our work look good, but not, as they say, a drop in the bucket.