While indoor house projects have stalled, the outside to-do list is growing and demanding attention. I really enjoy working in the yard, and it is always a welcome change after a winter spent indoors. I don't know yet if we are going to tackle any of our BIG project plans this summer (rebuilding the deck, making a patio and pergola, landscaping the side/back yards, building grow boxes, etc.), but at least for now I can chip away at the things I can manage alone. I've been trying to document a few of the things I've worked on with my phone camera.
For starters, I am doing a lot more planting. My aunt Joann has a beuatiful rock garden and gererously offered to give me some starts.
Then, when I was walking up on the hill behind our house and enjoying the spectacular views I noticed some little bitty ground cover flowers between the tracks in the road.
I figured if they could survive in the wild they stood a good chance of surviving in my yard, so I dug up a few to transplant (the little white blossoms in the left photo—not the yellow.)
All the above along with a few store-bought varieties have been planted now along our rock staircase. It will take several years for it all to fill in, of course. Gardening is definitely an exercise in patience. (Abby is doing a cartwheel onto the top slab, in case you are wondering.
To the left of the staircase, the neighboring planters received a layer of mulch. The tulips I planted are doing nicely, but a couple of perinnials didn't make it through the winter and need to be replaced. And I ended up buying WAY to much mulch, so now I am adding some new projects to my list to use it all up.
Still on my to-do list:
Mowing (A lot of our yard projects are geared towards making the mowing job easier. We have a large riding mower, and I'm trying to eliminate any tight spaces.)
Watering (We had an irrigation system in Utah, so this routine is taking some adjustment!)
Dig several new beds, edge, lay weed fabric, and mulch. I have a few places that are growing more weeds than grass, and a few others that the mower can't reach.
Dig out the grass around the bush and tree in the back yard and mulch them so I can mow around them more easily.
Plant more plants in the planters—probably some annuals.
Fill pots with annuals and tomatoes (yum!) I've purchased a few that I'm still having to bring inside at night.
Dig up some wild yucca plants to transplant throughout our gravel areas.
Weeding and more weeding!
From there, we'll see. Summers are busy around here!