Using What You've Got in the Garden

We took advantage of the nice weather and did some much needed work outdoors this weekend. One project that needed desperate attention was the ground around the currant bushes. The grass was taller than the bushes and Jim wasn't comfortable using the weed trimmer around them, its too easy to damage them. We had some landscape fabric in our garage so we set that up around the plants and figured we'd have to break down and buy woodchips, when I had an idea.

In another section of the yard we were moving some dirt that was about 75% rock. I was marveling that the house must be built on a rock quarry when I realized we could use those rocks around the bushes and solve two problems (what to put around the bushes and what to do with all the rocks) in one step. We're about 1/2 done with the project and already it looks much better.

Its not a perfect idea but I think it is the one that is best suited to our needs. I can't mulch the bushes the way I had planned to. My solution to this is to make use of worm tea which can be made by soaking worm castings in water and then using this nutrient rich water to water the bushes.