My vegetable garden morphed into roses rather quickly. I was late for some food plants, wary of tearing into underground stuff with my neighbor's soil osterizer.
Late was good for bargain bare-root roses. The original eight began four more, when the altar guild figured the new ones were a good deal.
Gardening is great fun because we only do 1% of the work - if that. Every day there are new signs of progress.
The original bare root roses are leafing out, which got me to trim our unkempt maple in the front yard. A plain yard does not need more sun, but roses do. My helper trimmed while I snagged limbs with my rake. The front yard already looks better.
The four new ones are red shrubs. They flower profusely though not in the long, graceful stems of the hybrid tea rose. They are already full of buds while the bare-root roses are beginning to leaf out.
The birds love the thick mulch and newspaper layer around the roses. I can see where one shredding the newspaper to get at insects and worms underneath. I also see craters in the mulch where one has pecked to get at something.
Water promotes decomposition, and decomposition favors soil creatures of all kinds. The ocean of life in the soil keeps it light, manured, aerated, and productive. Every creature feeds and becomes food.
The moles invited themselves over from the backyard, where they plowed one third of that area. For some reason they decided to cut through on the side, toss up that soil, and move to the front. Experts tell me there is no solution: moles are good for the soil.
