the dirt is in

Well I finished filling up the goldfish pond, including a layer of my acidic compost and a layer of coffee grounds.  Unfortunately I still have a half-pile of sh*t in the driveway.  Not sure what I'm going to do about that.

I've planted two rows of peas along the back and a row of lettuce at the front with plans to put some onions between.  I don't really care if any of that comes to fruit, it's more to settle the soil in over the winter.  And the peas are nitrogen fixers which means they take nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots; when you're done growing them you cut off the stems and leave the roots to enrich the soil.

I also wanted to share this photo because I pulled out the purple cordyline that used to be at the front of the pond.  They look good in that photo but after the heat they turned brown and ugly.  So instead I planted perennial statice (Limonium perezii).  They'll get about twice the size you see here over the next year or two, and they put out those lovely purple flowers in autumn.  I think the flat, rounded leaves (which in an adult plant are about the size of a hand with fingers open) will be a nice visual contrast to the strappy grasses around it.  And they're tough as nails, a must-have for any flowers I'm going to bother with.