I Must’ve Burned a Thousand Million Calories Over the Last 4 Days
Just kidding, of course… but it sorta feels like it.
Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for the last few days… I got caught up in getting a grip on our back yard. As y’all know, we recently moved to new digs in Spokane. It’s beautiful here: lush and green. The homes in our neighborhood are surrounded by a ton of natural vegetation: tall pines, grasses and wildflowers. This is awesome when it comes to taking walks… but not-so-awesome when it comes to lawn maintenance. Thanks to recent, prolonged rainy weather (which made it impossible to mow), our “lawn” morphed into a dense, tall stretch of tough, thick grasses and dandelions. And more dandelions.
Now I’m not really a devotee of pristine lawns… in fact, I think they look unnatural. Nor do I enjoy wasting the precious hours of my life on landscaping – sculpting hedges and fussing over flower beds definitely ain’t my thing. But I don’t want to be the one responsible for infesting everyone else’s lawns with dandelions, either. Despite the objections of my kids (who thought the dandelions were pretty cool), they really, really had to go.
Thus, large chunks of time (and manual labor) were devoted to executing dandelions getting the back (and front) yard under control, as well as digging out an overgrown raised bed (the future home of some tomato seedlings currently basking on the balcony).
This was NOT fun… and we’re still not 100% done, either, but at least the yards are nominally under control. So, back to regular blogging tomorrow!
May 15, 2012
Glad to see your back at it. Also a belated happy Mother’s Day.
I feel your pain on the lawn work. I’ve had to mow mine 3 times in the last 7 days. Now my wife, who loves lots of flowers, has me busy planting those. Looks nice, but what a pain in the butt.
May 15, 2012
It’s a great time of year for flowers (real flowers – not dandelions, lol). There are quite a few folks around here who have beautiful flower displays – and more power to ’em. But it’s not for me… My goal is merely “presentable.” And practical: I’m looking forward to harvesting fresh tomatoes later this summer.
There’s also a decent-sized plot in the left-hand corner of the yard that’s surrounded by a chain-link fence. Apparently it used to be a pen for dogs… but John and I have already talked about transforming it into a veggie garden. It’s too late for this year – but we’re planning to clear it out, till in some manure, mulch it and put it to bed in the Fall – so it will be gtg next spring. If I’m gonna put energy into gardening, then I want something for my efforts!
May 16, 2012
Sounds like a great idea.I’ve tried growing tomatoes and peppers on my deck, but not had a lot of luck. We have plenty of land for a garden but not any way to get it worked up.
Besides that the deer and rabbits really get into my wife’s plants and flowers now I don’t know how I’d keep them out of my vegetables!