Improving

Improving

street_view(1)Remember how we killed our front lawn last summer? Well, we certainly didn’t forget. And Google certainly won’t let us forget either. They really should give you warning before they send out those Google cars that take pictures for street view . . . but I digress. After harnessing the power of the sun to kill everything in the front yard we rented a rototiller. It did it’s best to take Noel for a ride and at the end of our two hours the front yard was a sea of dirt clumps with withered grass remains poking out everywhere. It looked terrible. Later, we talked to Noel’s uncle who used to design gardens in Arizona and he recommended that we just rent a sod cutter next time since it would be quicker and give us a fresher start. Why we didn’t think to call him earlier, I’m not sure, but since we don’t have a time machine we just had to keep moving forward.

Token Plants We picked up a few token plants in the fall hoping it would look like we were trying, but mostly the yard looked sparse and sad. I also planted close to 200 tulip bulbs and crossed my fingers that good things would come in the spring. The beginning of winter was really dry and we were praying for snow not just for the moisture, but so our yard wouldn’t look so hideous.

Dirty BabeAbundant snow this spring made it difficult to do much, but anytime the yard was uncovered I was out pulling weeds and turning under soil in preparation for the Garden in-a-Boxes we had ordered. Last weekend, the plants were finally ready for pick-up.

3-IMG_1026We spent several hours planting the fifty plants and were encouraged when several neighbors stopped to chat about how great our yard is looking. Our major work day coincided with one of our elderly neighbors driving his car onto another neighbor’s lawn in an inebriated state, so I think we have officially lost our title as the embarrassment of the neighborhood.

2-IMG_1040It’s nice to see progress on this project, but we still have a way to go. We’re on a waiting list for Buffalo Grass to plant concurrent with the tulips, are planning on building two big planter boxes, would like to buy some sort of a tree, have plans to plant some wildflowers on the side of the house, and are debating what type of path system we would like in the yard, but in the meantime at least the neighbors are talking to us again.

Tulips

3 thoughts on “Improving

  1. It looks great! That garden in a box is a great idea! I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the summer.

  2. If this big bean stalk starts growing, don’t climb it. If you do climb it leave a sign that there are no Englishmen down here. Lots of luck with the green thumb.

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