I took the plunge and purchased a new camera yesterday (Canon PowerShot SX20IS) and managed to take a few quick photos before heading to work this morning. After seeing these photos displayed on the site, I am happy and haven’t yet had a chance to really play with the settings. The yard, on the other hand, still leaves a lot to be desired.

Anyway, I’ve got a lot of thoughts floating around in this tiny brain of mine today, yet none are substantial enough on their own to carry a single blog entry. Alas poor reader, you will have to sit through them all; although I will keep them all brief enough to hopefully not lose you too quickly.

What should I plant underneath and around the trees in my backyard?
I have four substantially sized trees (3 River Birch and 1 Red Maple) all planted solo, so they are sort of “floating” in the backyard. Ideally, I’d like to create beds around all of these trees and from a design perspective, tie them more naturally into the landscape. Any suggestions as to what to plant under River Birch and Red Maples trees? Oh yeah, they also have to be deer resistant and able to survive wet feet from time to time.

What is the best method for creating a new garden bed in the lawn?
Here’s my method – dig out the grass and plant. This would seem like a somewhat easy task, but when you have that son of a &*^&* clay, it requires you to dig deep to get all the grass roots out. The manual labor required is a task of gargantuan proportions that takes weeks to eventually finish. And then, so much soil is removed in the process that I need to add a ton of new soil just to keep the soil level even with the surrounding area. I learned this lesson the hard way when I created a bed around my driveway and didn’t change the soil level; it gets bog-like with heavy rains so plant choices there are more difficult.
I think I am now leaning towards smothering the areas with a tarp so I can kill the grass first and avoid the unnecessary digging. This will require more patience (sort of lacking in that arena) but I believe it will pay off in the long run. Which leads to my next question/thought

To till or not to till?
I’ve read up a lot on this subject and I believe I can be added to “Team No-tilling”. I understand what it does to soil composition when tilling an entire new bed and how it exposes more weed seeds to the elements in the process. I’ll simply add some compost around the planting hole and mulch. Done and done.

Isn’t it about time there was a prime-time TV show built around gardening?
You laugh, but maybe there is a story line we are all missing here. Here‘s a few titles I think would work:

Me and Yew (quirky love story)
The Garden (simple yet feels ominous)
Dancing amongst the Poppies (love story that includes past and present storytelling device)
Dig, Plant, Grow (Male version of Eat, Pray, Love)
I Hate Your Yucca (Squabbling family a la Roseanne)

Feel free to add your own titles here and maybe we get the green light on one of these.

Enjoy your weekend.