It is -20 outside at the moment and there's a big-ass snowstorm on the way tonight.  Fervently hoping for another freakishly early spring and meanwhile consoling myself with hot tea and garden ruminations.

The deck, alas, is not happening this year, as we lack the ~$5K the materials would cost.  Sigh.  So what else am I going to do outside this year, aside from standard maintenance?

* Put some sort of stone edging between me and the next-door neighbour in the front yard.  He's been very laid-back about it, but still, it only seems fair to make the shared edge tidy.  Should probably do the same at the edge of the driveway, but that will probably necessitate trimming the asphalt a bit, which prospect is a little daunting.  Will have to ask Bob about it.

* Tweak sprinkler system.  I'm not sure that the soaker hoses in the front are adequate, and the fence-mounted setup out back could probably be lowered so as to not make things flop over.

* Install copper fountain of awesomeness.  The artist recommends eventually making its final home on the deck, where we'll be best able to hear it.  Meanwhile I think it will probably live in the little corner prepared for that purpose, although I need some sort of screening solution so as not to juxtapose it with the neighbour's recycling bins.

* Rake/sweep out the river rocks out front and then put them back again, since the swale rapidly silted in past usefulness and will probably only be more so now given fall leaf detritus.  May have to dig a steeper slope into it to keep this from happening so quickly.  Digging that close to the road is a big fat pain in the ass because it's all compacted gravel, but as a silver lining I might be able to repurpose what I scrape up as a base for the edging mentioned above.

* Look into polymeric sand for the side yard walkway, because as it stands I will be weeding it till hell freezes over

* Divide some of the more enthusiastic plants (e.g. golden oregano!)

Shopping List

* More tall bearded irises in many colours (plant sale, possibly; also maybe divisions from Mom)
* More rue (yay butterflies!)
* More oriental poppies
* Golden spikenard, because I think the bitty one from the catalogue got devoured by slugs...we'll see if it comes back
* Annuals: cleome, tall cosmos, purple verbena
* Another shrimpy evergreen or two