Gardening Again! Sighs of joy...

Adding coffee grounds and lots of crushed eggshells after a soil sample told me that our soil is too alkaline (and the eggshells will hopefully combat the end blossom rot my tomatoes experienced last year). Things are looking small but they always are after planting. After this photo I had to replace two plants that bit the dust, but now it's looking like this:

My darling husband built me a raised bed for the two pots of raspberries pictured above, so that's next on the list of "here's hoping." The strawberries grew to gargantuan proportions this spring, and we are already seeing red berries out there:

Thanks to a plant sale fundraiser held at our preschool, I have many, many marigolds. They are in planters on the front porch, in pots along the back patio, in smaller pots on each of our outdoor tables, and planted underneath all of our trees. I am loving the sunny orangy yellow that greets me all over the yard.

Our yard is another story. The backyard is especially pathetic:

Most of the yard is bare, yellowish, barely surviving grass. The green you see in this photo is all clover. I actually love the clover and wouldn't be opposed to having an entire yard of it. It's cool to the bottoms of the feet all summer long, it produces lovely smelling flowers that support the bee and butterfly populations, and it doesn't get so long that it needs to be mowed very often. Not to mention that the rabbits eat the clover instead of the garden! But I have a feeling our neighbors may feel otherwise :(

Thanks to all I learned in my Master Conservationist class, we are trying to consider options that keep with our philosophy of not using chemicals on the lawn but which will still allow us to have a lawn that's in fairly nice condition. We are awaiting quotes from several contractors to see how much it'll cost us to be put down native turf grasses. Word on the street is that we may be able to get some funding from the county to help pay the bill, since native grasses are a way of improving storm water management for the city/county. The 6 feet long roots hold water in the lawn rather than running it off like most lawns do. And it doesn't grow fast or too tall, so most native turf lawnowners only mow a few times every year. Win, win, WIN. Guess we'll see what the pricetag is and go from there!