Hmm, cocoa isn't a very May-y, spring-like thing to photograph, is it? Oops. But, see, I spent four hours in the garden yesterday, and two more today. I'm not talking about leisurely hours pottering around -- I've been tearing up sod, which is pretty back-breaking work. So I've needed some extra fuel to keep me going, hence the cocoa (and the Reeses eggs, in such a clashing shade of green).
I don't particularly like ripping up sod, but my garden ideas get more elaborate each year, so it's always the first (and biggest) step in getting things going in the spring. If I try really hard, I can imagine a year in the future when I won't have to tear up big patches of lawn first thing -- it'll be the year right after the one when I finally rid my yard of grass altogether!
I do like the manual labour aspect of it, though, once I get going. There's no looking at clocks to know when it's time to stop; there are only the tasks at hand and the point at which my body starts complaining. Both yesterday and today, that was in the form of a sore wrist. The bending and heaving and twisting don't seem to have hand any effect (although it's often the second day that's the worst, so we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow!) -- but the gripping and pulling have taken their toll on the tendons in my arms.
Never mind. I only have one skinny strip of grass to pull up tomorrow and then I'll be done... with half the yard. I'll have to tweak the PDF I made last year to reflect the changes, so you'll be able to see what I've been up to. Basically, the entire perimeter of my back yard will be garden. Three good reasons for this:
1) More garden! How could that be bad?
2) I can never make my weed whacker/strimmer work, so it's always been impossible to keep the grass by the fences looking nice.
3) There are patches of lawn that are always dry and deadish, so I've incorporated them into my garden design. Last year, I turned the entire strip of land on the side of my house into garden, and it went from a dry wasteland to the best spot in my entire yard for growing veggies!
Happy May Day, everybody! Hope yours has had at least a little sunshine and green.
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