It took me about an hour to finish emptying the compost pen, including a certain amount of time I had to waste grubbing out roots and rootlet masses that both the bamboo and one of the pecan trees had sent up into the middle of the compost. I spread another four barrow-loads (and I should mention these are contractor’s wheelbarrows, not the little, shallow garden kind), and just shoveled the remainder into a pile next the pen, there to sit until the oxblood lilies die back and I can mulch that bed too. (I don’t want to mulch until they do die back; they need to finish their growth cycle to store food in their bulbs against next season.)
Meantime, L got out the loppers and whacked down a bunch of bamboo from the back corner of the lot, where it was encroaching (as usual) and getting out of hand (again). Now I’ll have to spend the next couple of weeks getting it chopped into pieces small enough that the City will take it in their weekly yard-waste recycling pickup—that is, pieces shorter than thirty-six inches and that don’t sprawl and sprangle all over the country. Happy happy joy joy.
And then it’s going to be time to start raking, as the pecans are shedding leaves all over the place, the lawn (or my approximation of one) needs mowing, and pecan fall is gonna start soon, so I’ve got to keep the lawn clear; else, I won’t be able to find the pecans as they do come down.
I’m half-expecting another big pecan crop this year; the flooding rains that came in July were at about the right time to ensure the crop makes. And considering that I’ve still got more than fifty pounds of shelled nuts in my freezers, I think the 2002 crop may end up getting sold to somebody for cash. I sure don’t have room to store any more.
