When we bought our house last year there was an old picnic table in the back yard that we had planned on scraping and repainting. We started the scraping job and bought the primer and paint. But the more we worked on it, the more overwhelming the task seemed to be. So finally we threw it the towel and decided to just give the thing away to someone with more energy and patience that we had. Can you blame us?
It didn't take us long to find a home for it. Better them than me!
Instead of working on that old bench we've focused on the front yard. We've gone from digging rocks and roots to a finished flowerbed with three rose bushes, several cone flowers, an ornamental grass and a big pot for some bright colored annuals yet to be planted. My hard working hubby did a terrific job of completely reworking our irrigation system to go from the old lawn springlers to a drip system that will target each plant with just the right amount of H20 to keep them thriving in our hot summer sun.
We went from a hole in the ground to a working fountain. No small task, that one. Had to bring electricity out to the site, haul lots of rocks, and dig a deep enough hole to submerge the recirculating pump. Then came moving the actual fountain piece we bought at the Boise garden show. Holy cow the thing weighs over 300 pounds! (It just LOOKS like a big tall rock - it's actually formed concrete.) Thank goodness for kind neighbors with strong backs!
Probably the biggest job was removing half our lawn and getting the raised beds created and filled.
Next we will be putting in the brick edging to match what we did around the corner flowerbed going all the way around the area where the raised beds are. Then we will lay down landscape fabric and stone. We thought about putting bark there, but since we get a fair amount of falling leaves in the fall we want something we can use our leaf blower on to clean it up. We've looked at a few different kinds - sort of leaning toward gold cinder. If I had lots of money I'd go for the new rubber mulch just because it would be cozy for bare feet, but then again that would get us back to the same problem with leaf clean up so I guess rock will have to do.
It has been a lot of work. My sweet husband has been amazing with the amount of progress that he has been able to get done each day. We had one lady who lives up the street be so impressed she wants to put the same raised beds in her yard. So we worked out a barter deal - Larry will do the miter cuts on her pieces of wood with his fancy saw in exchange for tomato plants and herbs she has growing in her plant shed. What a deal!
When we first started tearing out our lawn and the neighbors heard that we were planning to have our garden in the front yard I think they were all worried that it was going to be a horrible eyesore. But now that we've gotten these stages done lots of folks walking by or riding their bikes have commented on how nice it looks.
A few have teased us that they are looking forward to helping themselves to our tomatoes. At least I HOPE they are teasing! We are not tempting fate by growing watermelons. Those would just invite trouble.
Larry and I got into a great conversation this evening about the comparative ethics of watermelon stealing. It was one of those hilarious you-had-to-be-there sort of conversations not soon forgotten.
We're tired. We'll be glad when it is all done. But it is a good kind of tired that comes with taking on a big project and seeing it through.
1 comment:
Everything is looking fabulous.
Love the fountain.
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