Raising a bumper crop of oak seedlings this year. Just spent 2 hours grubbing them out of the little bit of garden beds I have, and the yard is full of them. That is one thing to consider with using shredded leaves for mulch - the thousands of acorns.

Gardening under trees is presenting some challenges that I simply had not considered. (The pecan sprouts where I used to live were real bears to dig out - much harder than the oaks - but exponentially fewer of them sprouted, as they required burying by the squirrels to germinate. I did not know how easily acorns germinate, and that they do so simply lying on top of the ground. Thinking more and more in terms of large swathes of natural areas around the perimeters of the front yard that I cover in mulch, add a few plantings to, and then let nature sow what it will.

stumbled across a baby snake - I think an Eastern Garter Snake, while mowing the other evening. With all the birdseed that gets scattered, I'm glad to have a snake or two to control rodents, even if they also get a few nestling birds. Had several black rat snakes at the other place, at least one of whom wintered in the crawl space. They followed the voles in that nearly wiped out a number of plants and bulbs before the snakes got them under control.

Not planting any ornamentals in pots, and not expecting to plant much in the ground this year (again), since I know I'll be out of town a lot on weekends to help with Dad - but am slowly pulling a design together and starting to take small steps in preparing beds for the future. Thinking very hard about time management, and struggling to consider that when I think about garden design and what to plant. It is hard to be practical:>)