Who Knows What Manner of Leaves Lie in the Heart of the Raised Beds?

To see a nice slide show of the photos, click on the first one (after you've read the post, of course!) ;-)

Or in any other sites around the yard, such as next to the house south of the front deck...

And the front of the south side of the front deck...

Or, looking north a bit further, you can see the rest of this front bed that has been unraked, contrasting with the parts that were raked (today!).

It's Spring!  It's Spring!  That Heady time of year, when tons of wicked little leaves (and rakes) suddenly "appear!" 

These  leaves await my rake.  They are along the southeast side of the house...

 


This side of the driveway looks really great!!  Raked the lawn and beds Friday!

So far, I've only raked one tarp-load of leaves today... a few minutes ago, dark clouds and thunder rolled in.  It rained hard (!) for a minute or two...

But now it's stopped, and I'm ready to head back outdoors to rake another load!  The worst thing about raking wet leaves is the fact that, piled on a tarp, the load is much heavier than dry leaves... and harder to pull any distance at all...

Not complaining, much.  It looks so NICE and CLEAN and I am so happy when I get an area raked!

Sunny Corner bed, raked yesterday

Now, with regard to Camelot:  I haven't seen the movie in many, many years.  But we haven't yet reached the month of May, and I have a LOT of raking to do before I can attempt any other thing!  (Except to enjoy the Spring blossoms that appear at this time of year!)

 Hellebore (Royal Heritage)

Siberian Squill

Can you spot a few of the daffodils I planted a couple of years ago... in the "way back?"  (I hope to plant a lot more this coming Fall!!!)

Getting ready for  Virginia Bluebells!

Happy Spring!  Happy Spring Gardening to you, my blogging friends!!
Shady Gardener... though, until the leaves appear on our deciduous Oak trees, I'm really feeling Sunny!  :-)

Making Up For Lost Time? Or Not??

Oh dear! I'd forgotten what I was wearing this early evening when I'd asked my neighbor to take a photo! ha!! Oh well, I'm celebrating because I achieved a goal today of raking, shredding and hauling to the ravine in the "way back," the rest of the leaves I'd wanted to finish today.

So far, the front yard is finished (except for an out-of-the-way pile I can get later), the south side of the house is nearly finished, the Woodland Walk is finished, the backyard beds and the yard in-between is finished, and now the bed next to my neighbor's shed is finished!! Hurrah!

Oh yes, there's still quite a bit more to do... but it will wait until next week when we return from visiting our daughter, terrific son-in-law, and our two wonderful grandchildren! ;-)

If I didn't have this shredder, I couldn't live here.

ta-dah!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Happy Easter, Friends and Family!

These are better photos of 'Raspberry Splash' pulmonaria,

shown on Monday's post.

Have a wonderful weekend.

(Oh, Happy Spring....!)

A Couple of Great Green Leaves!

I visited Gail at Clay and Limestone today. She's posted about her favorite greens. Frances at Faire Garden has also posted a "Green Post." This is in response to an event begun for this day, June 30, by Emma at A Nice Green Leaf. Emma's site is a new one for me, but I decided to join in and create this post! :-)

Taken May 21 at my niece's home.
This is one bleeding heart I don't own....
but that could change! ;-)

The variety of leaves (greenery) in a garden are often just as wonderful as the flowers!

The photo below was taken May 29 of an unnamed astilbe, unfurling its leaves.
Can anyone help me ID this plant?
I'm swept away by the red edges on the leaves.

These next three photos were taken June 8.
This first one is of part of my sunnyish front yard corner bed.
We can contrast the leaves of the iris and daylily plants to those of the sedum and the catmint. You might also notice the fallen leaves of a daffodil in the top left corner. ;-)

This is a close-up of my Blueberry Muffin Viburnum.
I planted it last Spring in the backyard, and this year it's blooming!
(The birds join me in anticipating the berries.)
:-)

Here we have a "Sugar and Cream" hosta, a sedum, daylilies,
asiatic and oriental lilies, a columbine (way back there),and a fewtulip leaves. :-)

Photos of these hostas were taken June 16.
At the top left you can see "August Moon" hosta and "Iron Butterfly" tiarella on the right.
There's a corner of "Golden Tiara" hosta on the right and in front...
gorgeous hosta "sieboldiana Elegans."
(I found it on the original planting map!)

Do you know who this is? A beautiful
hosta that was already here when I arrived. :-)

Isn't there always more?
But, I've been hauling dirt today.
I'm enjoying the rest!
:-)

The shade was buggy today! IVG left me a nice suggestion as to a mosquito/gnat eliminating spray in my earlier post. Check it out! I know I'm going to!

Just a Little More Fall Raking

Using My Favorite "Machinery!"

When I got up this morning, I found a nice-sized pile of leaves next to the driveway. So, I laid out a tarp, carried my shredder from the garage and proceeded to work them over! They were wet, so I adjusted the shredder to "coarse, wet leaves." Coarsely ground leaves is what you get. The pile on the right is the aftermath.To give you an idea of what the pile of leaves may have looked like prior the its shredding, I filled my green leaf-holder and made another pile of shredded leaves (below, on the left).
It may be hard to see, but the second pile is much smaller than the first... perhaps 1/3 the size.

It was inevitable (actually, it was my intent) that I de-leaf the front yard. It didn't take long.
I hoisted my leaf-gatherer, for lack of a better name, from the hooks on the garage wall and proceeded to harvest leaves. As each load was brought to the tarp, I turned on the shredder, picked up some leaves and dumped them in.

Here's the finished yard and its shredded leaves on the right!

Wet leaves are heavier, of course, than leaves "fresh off the tree," but shredding means about 3 to 4 fewer trips to the ravine. I'm waiting until this afternoon before I drag the tarp through the backyard. I want to allow opportunity for the leaves to dry a bit, perhaps lightening the load!

There's very little, if any, breeze this morning... in this shady, but getting sunnier, yard. By the time I return around 2:00 p.m., from a trip downtown, you can envision this nice tarpload of shredded leaves beginning to compost!

Just a Little Peek at Fall Front-Yard Maintenance

This is a fun tool!

When I just feel like walking around,
I push this little brush roller,
the leaves fly into the "hopper,"
and I dump them onto the tarp.
I do actually enjoy raking, though.

(This tarp is probably a good 20 feet long.)
I'll measure tomorrow.

Can you tell where I've picked up leaves?

(The tree in the photo above is a shagbark hickory.)
Doesn't the yard look nice in the photo below?
(It will last about one or two days! ha.)

These are photos of my other favorite fun "tool."It works with two folded plastic trimmer "strings."
(Earplugs are a necessity!)

Our yard doesn't have enough grass to mow to warrant one of those fancy riding mowers with the bags on the back... like most of my neighbors have. But, that's okay. I can still shred my leaves! I get to determine the size of the shredded material, and the bulk is greatly reduced... to that of about 1/4 - 1/3 of the original.

You can set the shredder on a tarp, or attach a leaf bag to the bottom.

If I haul leaves to the ravine, I can get Many more on the tarp if they're shredded. Our trees are primarily Oak, so if I want to use leaves as mulch, I shred them so they'll degrade much faster.

And, some of them go into my good old compost pile! :-) Nothing "shady" about that!