Now THAT'S A Shack

I told Todd that this is what I'd like the "shack" to look like:

(My apologies because I don't know and can't credit the source of this photo..but if it's yours, I really love it, tin roof and all!!!!)

Sparse doesn't begin to describe it....

The rest of the yard slowly comes along...Todd made bluestone paths (the main one going to the potential shack to be built in the back), and a brick border to the side bed. It's hard to imagine that those tiny tufts of green will one day be giant bushes, but right now I'm just going on faith. The rest was just seeded with every type of flower and vine that I've ever seen and loved. I was so daunted that I drew it out in excruciating detail on graph paper first, but after the first few minutes the plans were totally out the window. Have you seen how SMALL some of those seeds are?? How am I supposed to do anything planned with those? Really...I have no idea what to expect at this point.
I'm going for a wildly overgrown country style garden....I'll let you know when I get there.

The Dirt

If you were ever considering gardening with an insane person and were possibly wondering: what might it look like if that person hauled 145 bags of soil across their house to fill a raised bed..Well, here is your answer:

I know you might be so distracted by the glorious soil to have not noticed the plants, but you're looking at 7 types of tomatoes, 4 peppers, 3 eggplant, and a bunch of herbs, while along the fence are 3 cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, 2 melons, 2 butternut...and soon to be entirely bordered by nasturtiums. This was taken a few days ago and the tomato plants have already almost doubled in size and have had to be staked.

Something's happy...

The climbing rose bush out front is studded with an almost alarming amount of buds ready to bloom

I just hope this is a good sign of how things will grow in the backyard!

Done!

Three days of digging, and somehow I can still move. 

No small miracle if you ask me...and I'm in prime shape to move the new soil in.

Pictures of my pop-eye arms to come...

Digging with a purpose

In case anyone's wondering how I spend all of my free time these days...I'm digging out the "edibles' bed...which happens to be 20.5' x 4'. 

I'm about 2/3rds done.

I have to go 2' deep, redistribute the soil in a borrowed wheelbarrow to the rest of the yard...and on Thursday, 100 bags of organic soil are being delivered.  I wish that was an exaggeration since the delivery is only curbside--and guess who has to bring them through the house....

At least this is a one-time thing...and then the planting can begin.
Right?

Ok, Ok, just a little more digging

Sunday I found another blob top bottle which reads: D. L. Ormsby and Son 423 W 16th St.
He was a beer brewer in business at that location from 1860 to 1874...and closed up shop in 1876.

Part of a bottle reading Wm F Kidder  New York. He sold Digestylin, a remedy for indigestion and dyspepsia in the 1800's.

Two shards from a Hostetter's Stomach Bitters bottle....

 Hostetter's "Celebrated" Bitters was a nostrum developed by Dr. Jacob Hostetter of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His son, David Hostetter, put the formula into large scale production in 1853 and it soon became a national best-seller. During the Civil War, Dr. J. Hostetter's Stomach Bitters was sold to soldiers as "a positive protective against the fatal maladies of the Southern swamps, and the poisonous tendency of the impure rivers and bayous." The original formula was about 47% alcohol -- 94 Proof! The amount of alcohol was so high that it was served in Alaskan saloons by the glass. Hostetter sweetened the alcohol with sugar to which he added a few aromatic oils (anise, coriander, etc.) and vegetable bitters (cinchona, gentian, etc.) to give it a medicinal flavor. From 1954 to 1958, when it was no longer marketed, the product was known as Hostetter Tonic.

(From www.nps.gov/mwac/bottle_glass/hostetter.html)

And the usual pottery bits:

Metals

It's amazing how much metals corrode under the soil. Some of these things look more like they were recovered from the Titanic than dug up in my yard.

These were old Ice Skate Blades, believe it or not

And the end of a hose