It has been a very busy weekend. I rented a mulcher/chipper and finally got rid of the pile of brush that once was our front bushes. It is amazing, a pile of brush 5 feet tall, twenty feet wide and 15 feet deep yielded about a garbage bag full of mulch. I expected I'd be mulching the entire yard and more but with this amount, it is just not worth it. The back corner of our yard is now ready for planting. 
My friend Pete came out again to help out with some of the work. Luckily he did 
come out because installing the rain barrel was not as easy as I had thought it would be. We dug out the area adjacent to our porch, installed a bed of gravel, compacted it and built up a small step for the barrel. 
We cut the screen (to prevent mosquitoes) to size, fit on the lid, and then covered it with stone. we had to cut the downspout to the right length and I even took some time to clean out the gutters. 
We completed the front by planting some switch grass that will hopefully grow up and conceal the barrel. It rained this afternoon and we are already collecting water. We spread a "butterfly and hummingbird" mix of seed and then put a layer of soil mixed with peat moss over it. I am not optimistic enough to think that we will get hummingbirds but hopefully it will look nice by the middle of the summer.
All in all, I think that the yard is vastly improved over what it looked like a couple weeks ago. Once I plant the garden and complete the compost bin, I will consider, except for maintenance, the yard "completed" for this year. 
1 comment:
My plan is to wait until every other house blogger has installed their rain barrel, posted photos and worked out any kinks in the process. Then I'll use that info. to install mine :-)
Your barrel looks very nice.
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