Bulbs all planted

Eight more bags of leaves have been filled for a total of 21. And there are still more, at least another 5 can be filled. I think we have all the leaves on the street, no one else seems to have any. But then we have all the trees, so I guess that is fair.

Yesterday Isaac and Sarah helped me to plant the 30 daffodil bulbs I bought from Isaac's school fundraiser. We got into a nice rhythm, with me digging the hole, Sarah dropping in the bulb pointy end up and Isaac filling the hole with some nice topsoil. These are planted right near the entrance to the front yard, so they will be the first flowers to be seen come spring.

In front of this Virginia creeper, I planted 20 more woodland hyacinth bulbs. I couldn't think of any other place to put them. I don't like to have those early flowers coming up in beds where there are other perennials, because once they have flowered, you have to leave the foliage on them until it dies back. And sometimes it can look unsightly.  That is why I planted all the daffodils in the lawn, so that the leaves can be left for a month before being mowed and then the bulbs will store up what they need to come back the following year.

And now I have resorted to being the lazy gardener. I decided to "sheet mulch" a strip along the ramp beside the Virginia creeper. I lay down two paper leaf bags, then covered them with bagged topsoil to the depth of about 2". Then soaked the whole area with the hose. This is supposed to result in the paper decomposing and the grass and weeds underneath being suppressed. Which means that this should be a plant-able bed next spring. I figure there is nothing to lose trying this and, if it works, that will be just super. I want a bed of super-tunias bubblegum pink in here. If it doesn't work, then I can simply dig the bed manually next spring.

A shot of the front yard with 4 leaf bags ready to be picked up. Plenty more leaves have fallen since yesterday as this area was clear when we finished raking yesterday afternoon. I just have to remind myself that all those fallen leaves make good soil in the days to come.

Now I have no more excuses. It is time to paint the basement walls.