My spouse was extremely unhappy about the leaf compost in the driveway, even though there’s ample space for 4 cards in the driveway, so this morning I awoke at the crack of dawn and finished moving the compost. There was only about a cubic yard remaining, so it wasn’t too time-consuming. The sun came out so I had a good sweat. Also, lots of bugs kept flying in to my ear shouting their life stories. Why do they think I want to hear them so urgently? Is it because of their short lifespans?

I also took the new electric mower out for a spin. It mowed like a dream and I got tons of fresh grass clippings for the backyard. Ran out of battery eventually, so after a second charge, I’ll be able to finish the rest of the yard in no time, including the side strip next to the driveway that I haven’t touched not even once since we moved in.

I used boxes from moving to protect the shed and fence from excessive leaf compost rot, and put several loads of compost here, plus chopped leaves from some broad flowering plants. I’ll make this the dump site for non-seed vegetation and green compost.

I did the same on the other side of the shed. I raked rocks out from the ground, where the previous homeowner had laid them down, to create a decorative barrier, and to make it easier for worms to access the yummy compost.

I also sprinkled grass clippings on the bare soil here so it would not dry out. The grass is quite patchy here under the tree canopies.

I placed grass clippings over the soaked cardboard to create a soft layer so that I can walk over the cardboard and not rip through it. Also an extra layer will preserve moisture and eventually break down into soil next year. I mulched around the sides of the bed with grass clippings to block light and make a nice decorative ring.

Water was pooling just under the doors to the shed. I laid a few layers of cardboard over the hard, worn soil to soften it, and then sprinkled grass clippings over the cardboard so at least I would stop packing the dirt even more every time I walk over it. Hoping the grass clippings will create a nice soft layer and will help water drain into the ground.

Only a little bit of cardboard peeking out as evidence that any bad soil existed here. 🙂

The area near the fence here is hard, light-colored soil, with patches of grass here and there. I threw down some leaf clippings the other week, and today threw down more grass clippings. Hoping to soften up the hard layers of soil by trapping moisture, which I hope will encourage earthworms to come and aerate the soil, and create some layers of micro-life.

I am not sure what exactly is going to happen here, but my instincts tell me to keep making the soil back here appealing to insects, etc. At least it looks much nicer with grass clippings mulched all over.

I dropped fresh grass clippings over more hard, bare earth. The soil quality is pretty bad, especially near the former play area. I’ll be doing what I can to improve and aerate the soil naturally. There will be small pieces of shredded rubber here and there – it was impossible to get them all (well not impossible but extremely time-inefficient).

Live grass was starting to pop up along the perimiters of the first garden beds, which I admit I didn’t really plan and just threw together in a haphazard way.

The first “bed” in the middle of the photo was leftover soil I found in a planter, plus some compost I sprinkled on top, then sealed with a layer of mulch. But I didn’t put any perimiter of cardboard to block grass, so today I sliced up the box from my new mower and laid the strips over decayed cardboard, plus mulched the corners to block grass and create a nice effect.