It’s a good thing that I enjoy challenges, because putting in a garden in this land of clay and shale is a major one. And before I can even begin, I had to wheel five barrows of fallen leaves off into the woods where the wind wouldn’t just blow them back. And lets not forget the plethera of shapes and sizes of stones, all part of the legacy of Mother Mountain.
Wheeling leaves, throwing stones, pick-axing clay and shale, raking rocks. Such was my day today in the early spring sunswept plot.
Now I have to figure out what the hell will grow here. There is a natural ground cover that I keep digging up from the edges of the property and transplanting closer to the house to cover up bare spots. I’m looking for stuff that grows naturally around here — the kinds of flowering vegetation for which clay are shale are not a challenge at all. Seems like a good place to start.