Spring Is Just Arriving

At 7,800 feet above sea level Spring comes a little later - and that's a good thing because I have my work cut out for me. I arrived on the Mountain late night April 12, spent a few days unpacking, and this morning I had to head out to see how the Mountain Garden Project faired over the winter. The first thing that stuck me were all the deer tracks on the paths. It looks to me like the deer kept to the paths as they walked through. Below is a picture of a small area, but these tracks were totally up and down all the paths.

Also up and down the paths are a lot of plants - mostly Mullein. It looks like I didn't get them out as well as I thought I did.

And this is my first Spring Flower! Actually, I LOVE Dandelions.

This was the BEST find. That's little green plants coming up in Wild Flower Garden #1. If you'd like to see the work that was put into this area click here. Even if it's all weeds, I'm happy because something is actually growing.

PROGRESS with My Families Help

My Son was one of the biggest helpers I could have ever had. He's a hard working, good looking man and he moved more wheelbarrow loads of rocks than I could have done in a year. Thanks to his hard work two paths really took shape.

This is the path that goes around the workshop foundation.
It is now all marked ready for sand.


This is the path to Bonsai Oak Overlook.

My Granddaughter was in charge of sand sifting
and wheelbarrow riding (both very important jobs).

See the nasty mess on the right? Those barrels were for a water
storage system (that never exactly happened). One of my
Brothers helped me clean the area up. AND, below the mess
is REALLY good dirt! I think this will be an herb area.

My other Brother helped me get a perfect circle of rock around
Bonsai Oak Overlook. Notice how the rock slowly increases
in size? This is to account for the grade of the land.

My Mother bought a bag of wildflower seed - specifically for
this altitude and this climate. Those seeds were planted on
Oct. 20, 2010

Many hands make - lighter - work. I am deeply thankful for the help.

Bump In The Road

Happily moving along with path building I came to spot that gave me fits!

See that rock in the upper center of the picture - inside the path boundaries? I couldn't leave it as it was sticking up too high, sand would not cover it well and surely someone would twist an ankle when stepping on it. Logically my first thought was to just remove it - so I started digging. That little rock is connected to a HUGE rock that rests just under the path and beyond. Possibly that little rock is connected to the whole darn mountain! Needless to say, I couldn't dig it up.

Next option - Go Over It!

It may not look like a lot here - but that's 2 full wheelbarrow loads of clay (I had to do it in 4 as clay is really heavy stuff).

This would be covered with sand after my Son and Granddaughter arrived (in a few days). For now the Mountain Garden Project has to take a back seat to cleaning the house.

The Wheelbarrow Must Get Through

Have you ever tried to push a loaded wheelbarrow over rocks? Trust me - it isn't easy!

Therefore the first thing that HAD to be done was to build paths.

I love winding paths and they make going up and down a grade in the land easier too. I love keeping what the land has given to me. This is the area I first envisioned a path (see the second post). I cleared as much loose rock as I could and the whitish color is sand I'm laying it in to further even out the path. I figure sand will fill in all the little spaces between the rocks. There is a little space between groups of Scruff Oak here and I decided to allow the path to go between. Scruff Oak only grows to around 12 - 20 feet high at this altitude. When these Scruff Oak grow up they will give nice shade for the path and create a little arch. They grow slow so I might not see it - but at least my children and grandchildren can enjoy it.

A better view of the path area.

As I said, some things need to stay where they are. This rock is
about 2 feet wide and almost as tall as my knees.
It's staying where it is!

And after A LOT of work the path TO the garden is done. As
you can see, the wheelbarrow travels nicely on the new path.