I haven't even started. It's been too cold and rainy. The ground is so wet, you sink in any where you walk, not just in the beds. The moles have decided I really wasn't meant to have a lawn, apparently. I'm considering planting yet another shade tree and turning everything into ephemerals and ferns. That way I could let the moles do their thing and not worry about the lawn. I have about 20 old oaks that drop limbs and twigs of varying sizes all winter long, so those need to be picked up. The acorns are a constant challenge. The previous owners had some landscaping done to make the place look good, and now those shrubs have out grown their spots. They have nothing to contribute to wildlife, so I'll probably dig them out. I've also got large beds of Lily of the Valley, English ivy, Lamium, and vinca minor that I need to keep digging at. Last spring and fall I made some headway in one of the large beds, and I hope to continue to work at that. I would use chemicals, but there are quite a few Solomon's Seal scattered through the bed that I want to preserve. I already rescued a bunch of Trillium, assuming they survived the transplant. But, I can't do any thing until the rain and snow stop. I have the second week of May for vacation, and my plan is to spend every minute in the yard. I hope the weather cooperates by then. Good luck to all. Martha

Cindy, I really feel for all of you in the northern states who have the long cold dreary season to endure...but then I see the lupines and the other cool weather plants I can't grow, and see the other side of the coin as it were. The warm weather is going to do its usual freeze and kill of tender vegetation that is in too much of a hurry...the tulip tree is all covered with tight purple buds that will freeze before they open. Blueberries are forming, and the bridal wreath spirea is trying to get in too much of a hurry too. The daffs and the earliest tulips are brightening the place, but the daylily foliage has been bitten with more than one freeze. No Round up in the flower beds, Jean. It would be too likely to kill something I very much wanted to live instead of the weeds. I am trying to pull the little ones as they re-sprout. It keeps me out of trouble. At least I have only half of the winding bed in back to finish weeding, and it did get weeded in the fall, so that helps a bit. I have pulled out at least three hundred little oak saplings. the longest ones had roots over 18 inches long. Without all of this rain, I could never have pulled them out of the dirt. We are flirting with a record for rain in February, after years of drought. I am happy for every drop of rain that falls. kay

Well, not as many pics as I thought but it shows the chair's construction well. The first pic is taken after I removed the glued on piping. You can see that they used upholstery tacks to hold the fabric onto the frame. Pulling the fabric away from the tacks you see the layer of cotton felt batting and the foam cushion. I couldn't find the cotton felt locally. The foam was dried and crumbling...what a mess! I had wanted to use the foam for a template but it was in pieces and powdered. Take the chair apart outside or in a space that you don't mind getting dirty. Here are the springs under the foam. A real upholsterer would also remove these and the webbing underneath, redo the webbing, sew the springs into the webbing, tie the springs together and tack onto the chair frame. Next time I'll do it the right way. The bulk of my time was spent removing the old tacks alternating between tack lifter and screwdriver. I traced out the shape of the frame onto the foam (2 in high density) and cut it to fit with an electric knife. This also took some time. It's the shape of the end product so you want to get this right. I lay dacron over the foam to soften the edges. Through error I found that you don't want it to fall below the area you are tacking into. Cutting a notch in the front and back of the fabric and centered on the design, you lay the fabric on top and hammer a tack halfway in on each of the four sides. While tacking you pull the fabric taut making sure the weave is straight. When I had it the way I wanted, I tacked starting in front moving from the center. Then went to the back, removed the temporary tack and pulled taut again. Starting in center and moving outward, tacking the fabric. Same with the sides. I cut notches in the fabric where it had to fit around the arms of the chair. This is just folded and tucked into the area and tacked into the frame on either side of where the arms meets the seat frame. This area is tacked last. Check to make sure tacks are all hammered in. Cut excess fabric off close to the tacks and then glue on your trim to hide tacks. I had books to reference, which was VERY helpful.

I have to laugh (again!) at all the books and so on about permaculture, I flicked through one the other day cause I didn't know what "permaculture" meant - only to find out here I am doing just that. I can't afford chemical sprays and fertilisers so collect bucket fulls of sheep poo from my inlaws (much to their disgust; they're not gardeners), and horse and cow poo from the farm that SIL rents on, while picking off any diseased leaves and hosing insects off or squashing them. I've long since run out of space in the designated vege area 'cause I keep popping cuttings, seeds and seedlings in there and vice versa for the flower gardens! I could write my own book on my antics. Remember my earlier postings on a yellow-themed garden? Thats loooooooong since fallen apart! I now have tiny chilean guava shrubs, towering Cape Gooseberries, yellow alpine strawberries and pink-flowered strawberries growing in amoungst all the "themed" flowers now. I meant to have the scarlet runners for dinner last night, but as I said in my first post, I ate them. Many things don't actually make it inside the house! Oh yes, I've got new spuds on the Christmas menu, along with the mint sauce. With any luck I might actually stop snacking on the fruit and veges and bring it indoors to actually put together in a meal! I love passionfruit flowers! So exotic looking and fantastic flavoured fruit. I've used up pretty much all of our walls with my attemps at espaliering fruit trees so not sure where I could grow one...maybe up the clothes line! I'm going to have to look up Dierama, can't say I've ever heard of it. I bet, once I see a photo of one I'll know what you're talking about! Happy rain to you.....make it rain here for me!