Looks like I won’t have to worry about planting any fruit trees for awhile. The blackberries are very tasty (but only when fully ripen) and grow wildly just about anywhere in Bellevue. The kids love picking them, and sometimes eating them, too.

   After spending a few hours yesterday pruning (the many overgrown trees in our backyard) and weeding, I found myself pruning (the many dead blooms on our rose bushes) and weeding some more today. Fortunately, Joseph was very interested in helping just like he had been the day before. Perhaps it's the act of cutting something -- sort of like destroying something -- that he really likes as most boys do. Whatever the reason, at least he wasn't watching TV or playing the Xbox.

   Unlike with pruning trees, I usually find myself not being aggresive enough with pruning roses. I cut way too close to the dead blooms when I should be doing it closer to the main branches. I end up pruning the same branches but farther down on the stem. Oh well, at least the flowers are beautiful enough to make even the extra effort feel worthwhile.

   In my continuing struggle to turn the heavy, unworkable (especially when wet) clay dirt around my house into rich, loamy garden soil, I’ve been composting anything that I can get my hands on that’s organic except for large weeds. Everything from our daily leftover portions of uneatened fruits, vegetables, and bread to shredded newspaper and napkins goes into the mini “to be composted” container in our kitchen. It’s astonishing just how quickly it fills up! I have to empty it every 2-3 days, and I already have 4 separate compost bins going outside! And this was during the winter months when I didn’t have any grass clippings or plant litter. Now that my lawn is starting to grow again, I may need to buy (or build) 1-2 more compost bins.

   So, composting can take quite a bit of work (and time). Perhaps that’s why I’ve become almost addicted recently to eating David’s Sunflower Seeds (see picture below). You see, I have this special talent of putting a handful of unopened sunflower seeds in my mouth, park all of it inside my left cheek, use my tongue and teeth to move, open, and eat one seed at a time, and park the shells inside my right cheek. It’s like eating gum, but it’s so much more fun. Once I have all the shells in my right cheek, it’s time to spit them out, and what better place to do it than my garden! The shells act as a very small amount of amendment to the soil, but with the heavy clay content of my soil, anything helps.