February 26, 2017 – Reclaiming the back property line

          Today’s work outside was predicated by obtaining some leaf mold.  Leaf mold is what is left of leaves that have been raked and tossed in a pile to rot down.  I do my best to segregate my leaves from other items.  I put the clean garden debris in the main compost pile with the kitchen peelings, the maidenhair cuttings in one pile, the weeds in their own compost bin and the leaves I toss under a maple tree east of the potting shelf at the back of the large shed. 

          I needed leaf mold for the Anemones I am planting and I had to go out and pull back the newest leaves to get down to the old leaves.  With my gloved hands I scooped up crumbly leaf mold and I filled my large green trug half full, then I moved over to the oldest compost pile that I had removed the wire bin sides from a few weeks ago and cleared off the rubble.  I scooped several handfuls into the trug as well.

As it was 60 degrees in the shade, I carted the large trug out into the sunshine where it was warmer along with my small sieve to processed it. 

          After many years of wearing out gardening gloves in one day, I have found Nitrile Touch garden gloves made with a Nitrile coating which have a breathable Nylon liner and are also machine washable.  My favorite gardening place here in Forest City, Horn’s Home and Garden always keeps them in stock.  [Santa Claus bought me two pair.]  If you are looking for a wonderful garden glove – a real work horse that you can wear for hours at a time – check them out – they are fabulous.  They machine wash up just like new – as long as you don’t put them in the dryer.  Lay them to dry.

With my trusty gloves on, I rubbed handfuls of leaf mold and compost through the metal mesh of my garden sieve and tossed the rubble to the side.  Eventually I ended up with some lovely humus that was soft and flaky and I filled 3 of the 4 planters I intend on planting with Anemones.  I will have to do some more tomorrow to finish the project.

But, having an issue with Kudzu vines trying to wrap about my ankles tripping me up on the way out of the compost bin area made me realize the back property line was in hideous shape and couldn’t be ignored any longer.

It is time to reclaim the back property line from the Kudzu and the brush that magically appears along with all the downed limbs that seem to shake loose in the winter months.  Every 3 or 4 years I have to beat the jungle back and reclaim my land.

It is 313 feet long, per the survey which I have lovingly taped to the back of a bedroom door to remind me that I am a “land baroness” as my husband calls me.   About 7 years ago I had the rusty old barbed wire fencing that ran the length of the back line removed after I tore a triangular piece of flesh out of my right forearm which cost me plenty at the hospital for sticthes. [Can you believe that having a handy man come and remove the entire fence and put in square posts every 20 feet or so to mark the line was cheaper than the emergency room bill?]

Today I started the attack near the current compost bin and the old compost bin.  My goal was to make a swath from the lawn to the back property line about 25 feet wide by 15 feet deep by cutting the brush and removing the kudzu vines and raking the debris to the back of the line.  As I did so, I tossed the large limbs out onto the lawn to be hauled away.  I chose this area first because several years ago I emptied a compost bin near the ancient dogwood tree and planted bleeding hearts and day lilies in the half-day sun.  Those bleeding hearts will be coming up soon and I don’t want to miss out on them.

Of course I couldn’t be seen from the house and the worried husband felt I was outside too long. [It is never too long for me when I am working contentedly in the garden.]  When I get tired or thirsty or hungry I come in.  I wasn’t any of those.  But, it was nice that he checked on me that I hadn’t gotten snake bit or something.

I also had a “Monet” chair close by if I got tired.  [I once owned a book about Claude Monet’s gardens at Giverny that mentioned when Claude got older he would garden a while and sit a while and at one point ended up sitting more than he was gardening.]  I am following Monet’s habit.                                                             

Up until that point I hadn’t taken advantage of the “Monet” chair and I finally did sit down to assess how much I had accomplished.  It felt good and I wasn’t tired. Yes, only another 5 feet and I was at my 25 foot wide swath goal.   I accomplished the 5 feet and then put up my tools and bounded into the house for a very late lunch with a mental plan of attack for tomorrow’s agenda to continue to recover my back property line by going east to encompass the largest of the tulip trees and half way to the next maple tree. 

It was a good gardening, I hope the weather holds.