Gardening rocks!

Late winter.  Too early to really plant or transplant.  Good time for some pruning, as long as it's not spring blooming.  So what in the world do you do?

Well last fall I cleaned out a bed beside my pond.  I transplanted everything and so it was just barren dirt with a steep slope.  Today I went to the big rock pile, courtesy of a local farmer, and hauled boulders and hernia rocks over to the flower bed to terrace the slope.  The ground was relatively easy to work other than a little crust on the top.  It is now ready for spring planting.  I'm envisioning a small evergreen in one area, but I want it to stay small.  It can have some height, but I don't want it much more than 3-4 feet tall and 18-24 wide.  Probably a dwarf Chamaecyparis will work the best, but I'll have to see what I can scare up next spring.

The squirrels and birds came to the feeders today, but there was definitely a decrease in the activity.  It's amazing what a little warm weather (40+ degrees today) does to the feeding activity.

I'll be watching my seeds too.  Planted some paw-paws (Asimina triloba) that we collected last fall and kept in moist peat in a ziploc in the fridge.  We'll see if we get some germination.

Stone Cairn

NEW PROJECT IDEA:  I just did a Google search for rock pile.  Found several photos of "rock piles".  Not exactly what I was thinking about.  However, some great ideas to add to a small area of the garden that I'm wanting to turn into a Japanese style area.  Now....  How do they do that?  Some masonry glue?  Epoxy?  If I just stack, I can guarantee my two kids or the surrounding neighbor kids will feel the necessity to unstack!