Moving outside

The past week or so, we've been chipping away at finishing the rock wall. A few more stones here, a shovel of dirt there...

I got rid of the rest of the leaves and rubble yesterday, so it was finally ready for a picture just after sundown (hence the blur). We also planted honeysuckle bushes on Sunday (rather an appropriate Easter activity). You can see those in the bed. The plan is to put dahlias in front of those, then calibrochoa (aka million bells) to hang down over the wall. Sadly, everything will be annuals (the honeysuckle is deciduous, so it'll lose its leaves for the winter) but we'll have some nice summer color. Landscaping is hard work.

I also am chipping away at the leaves that are everywhere. I cleaned out and carted a few wheelbarrow loads to the back 40 yesterday. The raspberries were almost buried in leaves, and I doubt that's really all that good for their growth. I am very excited about HAVING raspberries, though. Hopefully they will be easy to get berries from. The berries are in this picture, just left of center. And yes, the backyard does still look pretty awful, but it's improving. Slowly. And we're going to mow the lawn this weekend, which I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate.