Looking Ahead Week: Clean-up

Now that we've taken a look at March weather in Freeville, Looking Ahead Week moves on with the first tasks of spring.  Since I'll have to wait until April at the earliest (probably more like May) to begin planting new things, the first task of the spring will be yard clean-up.  And yes, there's plenty to clean up.  I don't know where the clean-up will start, but this post starts with the various piles of fallen branches around the yard.  They'll have to be chopped up and taken to the recycling center, which accepts branches up to 4" in diameter.  I'll also have to collect the fallen branches from around the yard and add them to the pile.

There's also plenty of dead wood hanging out around the yard, waiting to be cleaned up. 
For example, there are dead branches and vines still leaning up against this maple tree.

And in the photo below are actually two plants: a live maple tree and what looks to be a dead vine of some kind.  All of that dead wood should be cleared away.

The back end of the yard is congested with thorny plants...both black raspberries and the other thorny plant with small red berries that I haven't identified yet.  I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with this area of the yard, but I'm thinking of turning it into a raspberry patch.  Either way, I'm pretty sure that I'll be clearing out the other thorny plants to make way for something else that might attract more birds and wildlife to the yard.

I'm also not sure what I'll do with the wildflower patch at the back of the yard - my vision is for it to eventually be teeming with wildflowers throughout the whole warm season - but I do know that I want to clear the raspberry plants (and other thorny plants) out of here.  It's possible that I'll transplant them to my new raspberry patch in the back corner of the yard.

Not sure if I'll be able to pry this branch down, but it would certainly make the tree look nicer!

And then there's the thorny plant patch at the side of the yard.  I don't plan to tackle this area until next year, but I would like to clear out the pieces of wood and other junk that's stuck in there before the plants expand with the warmer temperatures and increased sunlight.

So that's a quick look at my clean-up projects, which should take up most of March and might even bring me into April.  I haven't mentioned anything about the pieces of human eyesore - bricks, cinder blocks, chains, trash, and other junk that is scattered across the yard - but I hope to begin cleaning that up, too, before the vegetation gets thicker.  That's where tomorrow's piece of Looking Ahead Week will pick up.