now that it's winter that gives me the chance to plan the transformation of my
backyard from a dirtpit into an actual garden. when we moved here, the backyard
was a swampy mess that sloped dangerously. that was fixed last year--when the
guys were looking to dump dirt from the american tobacco project (in durham)
they were invited to dump it in my backyard for free. (otherwise they would
have had to pay to dump it somewhere.) we smoothed out the dirt with a backhoe.
there's no way i could have afforded to buy that much dirt! mind you, the dirt
is low quality, but that's OK. at least my backyard is level now.

we're REAL low on funds so we'll have to be clever. i plan to develop the yard
in stages--an area for birds/butterflies, a tropical area, a small grassy area,
a small ground-level deck, a series of raised beds for fruits/vegetables, and a
pond.

anybody else out there with ambitious plans for their yards? maybe we can share
ideas.

pat