Yard Work

Eric and I are on vacation this week, and we're lucking out with some pretty amazing weather.  Yesterday, we took a break from eating bonbons and lounging by our nonexistent pool to get some yard work done.

We've got plans to add some bushes, remove some bushes, and plant some flowers in the future, but yesterday was spent mainly tidying things up a bit.

This area of the yard didn't need much work, so we started with that.  I pulled out some half-dead shrubby things, weeded, and laid down mulch.  Fresh mulch freshens everything up!  

I'd like to add either a small tree or another large bush to fill in the gaps where the shrubby things used to be.  Two of the bushes we have planted there now will be huge someday, so even though it currently looks a bit sparse, I need to be patient.

We're also installing a raised-bed vegetable garden on that section of dead lawn in the near future.  Mmmm, I can taste the fresh tomatoes already!

Around the back of our porch, we have a small flight of stairs that leads down to a lower patio.  Our house doesn't have a back yard.  The patio is pretty much it.  Therefore, I'd really like to clean up that area of the yard so that we can sit on the patio without getting the heeby jeebies.

There were so many leaves and overgrown bushes, not to mention some bizarre-o stick tree/weed, that I was a little afraid to rake this area up lest I find some creature lurking in the depths.

Our creature came in the form of a stone gargoyle planter and a lot of wasps.  (We also found a very old baby shoe in the eaves of the garage, but we left it there.  I don't want another box situation on our hands...)

After removing the leaves, the area looks neater, but far from finished.  There's some sort of ground cover with black leaves sprawling across the area.  The bizarre-o tree/weed was cut back to a single stick, and will be going the way of the dodo soon.  Other than our two shaggy bushes, Sid and Nancy, the area is basically just a big patch of dirt.   We've been finding that we have to wipe down the porch furniture on a daily basis because of how much dirt blows through the windows.  Hopefully some landscaping (and probably some rain) will help with that?

I pruned the bejesus out of the bushes in our front yard, and we found a lot of hidden flower beds around the fence.  I didn't take any pictures of those projects because one, I forgot, and two, this really isn't that interesting anyway.

And of course, Maddie Bear was an excellent helper...

She was rewarded with a cherry Popsicle for her time and effort.