This is the absolute best time of the year to do major work in the garden; summertime gets too hot (multiple days reaching 100f, high humidity) and cold weather pisses me off, but march-april-may just works. We do have high temps in the high 80s(f) but usually a cool breeze is consistant, and the sun doesn't beat down as hard as it does in the summer.
I've already done a bit, moved my peach, fig, and mulberry trees to more optimal spots in the yard, planted some Blazing Star (Liatris Spicata) corms, started some common milkweed from seed, got a Fuyu persimmon, got an elderberry bush, and another fig.
My main goals for the upcoming months:
- Level the yard a bit. The center of the yard is lower than the two sides (its bowl-shaped) and it dips down really far in the back. I want to bring up the back and the area around my house. (that's a whole other story)
- build a retaining wall. This is in tandem with goal one, by leveling the left side of the yard and taking out some dirt and replacing a small hillside with a retaining wall, i can use the dirt elsewhere to level other parts of the yard. (I'm making this sound more confusing than it is) We had an old dead tree fall, i'm going to chop that up for the wall. its short, maybe a two and a half feet so im not too concerned for any structural integrity issues. should the day come that i need to replace the wood i'll do it then.
- Increase biodiversity. First thing i did last year when we moved in was throw down some wildflower seeds and fruit trees, this year since i have a better understanding of the microclimates of the yard i can do more, more confidently. I really want to get some more butterfly host plants; I have the local native plant sale already marked on my calender, and I asked on of the workers of a local nursery when they get their milkweed (may)