Lots of stuff today.
The bad: even though the county offers a really good price on gravel for residents, I found out they will only deliver by the truckload, or about 10 tons. I probably don't even need a ton for the pond, but was willing to take up to 5 for some other projects and to have a pile for the future but nope. Gotta figure out something else. I have a couple possible options.
The good: Hopped in the neighbors ol' diesel today and we got another load of large rocks. Should have enough now. He also showed me the local sand hill where people back up and help themselves so I'll be filling some 5 gal pails on my way back from the nearby fishing hole.
Noticed a sign for another greenhouse out in the boonies and my neighbor said it was decent so after we offloaded the rocks I drove out for a look. Had a good chat with the owner and came home with another Borealis Haskap for a good price. (I still want a Tundra but haven't found one yet). Probably grab a dogwood next time and I also told her I'd bring some cannabis seeds.
Got home and planted the new haskap, and the raspberry and one of the arborvitae from yesterday. I also got a bunch of under-liner into the hole before a thunderstorm showed up, so I weighed everything down before it let loose.
I think I need about 3 more arborvitae, one or two more haskap, and maybe another saskatoon or dogwood and that will be it for the larger plants. I'll be doing some more seeding( grass and wildflowers) this year but then I'll likely sit back and see what happens before adding groundcover, flowers, etc. I want to see what local stuff shows up first.
With the pond, once it's full and been circulating for a few days I plan to dump in a few buckets of water from a local stream to kickstart the aquatic life. Then I'll see about adding plants, either local or purchased.