Improved terraces for the blueberries

Ok, so I know it's been quite a while since I wrote the post about the torrential rain. But shortly after the rainstorm just about washed away the blueberry bushes, I improved the terracing.

I've added rock to the original terrace and built a
second terrace above the plants to stop water washing onto the plants.

The new terrace is finished with mulch and gravel.

The second terrace is intended to allow water to seep, rather than flow. The line of gravel that you see in the lower photo will help the water flow across the upper terrace. That should help distribute the water more evenly to all six plants.

Yesterday, which is several weeks after those photos were taken, I decided to create a gravel lined drain. I noticed that dirt was still washing onto the mulch surrounding the two plants closest to the house. So I've dug a "ditch" to extend the gravel in front of those two plants. Then the ditch switches back to travel up the hill ending just below the lip of the rain garden.

We'll need to check things out tomorrow morning to see how well that new feature held up to the 2.5" of rain we got today. Of course, it's not very pretty since it's just dirt and gravel. But, if that held, we will know we've solved the issue. I'll make sure to take a picture :-)

Taxes, blueberries and apiary prep

Last week we picked up our blueberry bushes and got an area ready for the bees that will come this week.

The blueberry hedge (in the making)

My picture of the blueberry bushes is a little underwhelming. It was a lot of work! Since blueberries don't grow very well here in Kansas, there were some pretty particular instructions for planting - and all of it was hard. Each of the 6 plants required a hole 20" around by 15" deep. That didn't sound like much until I tried digging one and realized I had to do 5 more :-P

Each of those holes needed to be filled with 1.8 cu. ft. of Canadian peat moss. I purchased 3.8 cu. ft. bales which were a little too heavy for me. But I moved them anyway. The peat moss had to be mixed with water until it was the consistency of mud. That was fun, but time-consuming. And, finally, after 2 days' work, the blueberries were in the ground.

It's hard to see in the photo, but they are planted at the top of a retaining wall on the west side of the house. This will allow me to water them easily as it is close to the spigot and the gray water outlet. The placement will also provide good drainage.

Apiary for our new bees.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day clearing an area for our beehives. Our bees will leave their birthplace in North Carolina on Wednesday. We should be ready when they arrive at the post office later this week.

Meanwhile, Brent was fixing a very important fixture that had started leaking - the kitchen faucet. Amazingly, we have already had some equipment failures in our new home. We are chalking it up to the hardness of the water here. The faucet malfunction was a major disruption, but he got it fixed and we have running water in the kitchen again :-)

Saturday, we met with our tax guy Tom. I'm not sure why taxes are so stressful, but they are. Brent and I spent all day on Saturday collecting the papers in preparation for the meeting. Glad to have that in the works. We were a little late getting that process started.

Kick spindle full of fun.

After all that paper organizing, Brent and I each found our own ways to relax. I decided to spend some time spinning yarn in our quiet house. Brent spent some time at the local bar and grill watching the basketball tournament. That was the perfect way to decompress.

Overall, a good and productive week. The upcoming week looks to be an exciting one, too. I will embark on a new hobby - beekeeping!