Gardens

Yesterday we started raking the lawns around the parsonage, working first on the front, which looks amazing, and while we worked we, or at least I, thought about the improvements we'd like to do to the outside 'landscaping' (put in quotations there for very good reasons).  I would like to dig up the rocks and moss in the little north-facing nook and put in some ferns and maybe lily-of-the-valley, if it will grow there, and then I would like to clean out all the rubble from under the front porch, a holdover from some previous resident, and I would like a new garbage box that the raccoons can't get into.  I know, I have big and glorious plans.  I even thought about re-seeding the lawn, which would be a Project, but probably also something the older children could help with and maybe even more likely than my sudden acquisition of a power saw and the ability to turn wood into a garbage box.

Today I'm going to start raking the side, and thinking about what I'd like to do there.  I have a friend with teenage sons (imagine the luxury, for a moment, of teenage sons) who are sweet and pleasant to be around and also very smart with hand tools and one of them built me two raised beds for my vegetable gardens last year, and is building me a third this year, and also a raised bed with stone around the side of the house, which I will fill with flowers.  What sorts of flowers remains to be seen; I think I will buy a whole bunch of wildflower type seeds and scatter them to their respective destinies and then try and keep the cats away.