We moved into our place a year ago, and we're just starting to make a mark on the garden. The beds right up next to the house are going to have to remain kind of crummy this year, because we'll have construction workers tramping all over them. But we're having some fun in other parts of the yard.

We're doing some awful-neighbor management ourselves, though we're using a big fence. Not much is happening in back right now, but there are plans. We've got a highly inconvenient row of gall-infested forsythia that we'll be taking out and replacing with -- what? I'm not sure. It has the best light in the yard, so I want to put something great there. Possibly a little pear tree, maybe an arbor with table grapes or Zephirine Drouhin roses. We need something there, but that forsythia is a big pain. It arches over a path we use a lot, and it keeps smacking us in the head; every time we cut off a head-smacking cane, another one drops down to smack us.

In front, our clematis arbor is blooming like crazy, as are the Angelique tulips, the pansies, and the lilies-of-the-valley. The Pink Impressions and cute little Tarda tulips have just finished. All those tulips were wedding presents to us, and it makes me feel warm and happy to see them blooming. I'm wishing I'd planted alliums -- maybe next year.

We've just taken down a huge, sick old camellia bush in the front. It's hard to take down a large plant like that, but it was an ugly maintenance hog and would have gotten in the way of the people replacing our siding. I think I'm going to hire somebody to take the stump out; it's just too much for us. Anyway, we have a gigantic pile of branches now; I think we'll be renting a chipper. (Whee!)

Not everything is entirely hunky-dory. I didn't get the peas planted on time, and we've got a whole lot of chickweed. But in general it seems like a reasonably good year for the garden. I sure look forward, though, to the years when we get to just maintain the beautiful garden instead of being out there doing heavy labor with the shovels and saws. I keep telling myself that'll happen eventually.

When we get the vegetable garden all set up, we'll also try out our new toy, the Scarecrow. We have some problems with cats and raccoons. The Scarecrow is a motion- and heat-sensitive sprinkler that automatically squirts the offending varmints with a brief blast of water. (Muah hah hah hah... *ahem*) I hope it works.

-- Cam