At the same time that I am working on a new zone each week….I am working on a section of my yard every week…in 15min a day because it’s too flippin HOT to do any more (plus I seriously hate yard work, but I can talk myself into just doing 15min.)
Yes, I really am being THAT industrious. We are NOT yard people. We hate yard work, we don’t do anything until things look bad….and things look pretty bad around here so I am putting some work in to make a difference around here this summer while I actually have the time.
So the first week I was working on this flower bed in the front of our Big Room:
Yes that really is the front of our house, unfinished. Don’t ask how long that’s looked like that…it’s a sore subject. But money is the problem there, since we don’t have the experience to complete it ourselves.
ANYWAY, the flower bed…..it was much worse….I forgot to take a pic before I started…it was much more overgrown on the right and left sides, but I had already started clearing those sides when I remembered to take a pic.
This used to be a beautiful memorial garden to our stillborn son, Baelin….long story as to how it got to this state…it didn’t start out as neglect, we had to let it go at one point, but I digress… I want to make it beautiful again. First step: clear out the out of control mint and weeds.
Here’s how the week went:
And it’s cleared out!! YAY! My next plan is to put down cardboard and mulch to keep the weeds from coming back…until I’m ready to replant in the fall.
Next up, the flower bed over by the front door….
Again (DOH!) I forgot a before pic…so the part closest to me was a big patch of tall Bermuda grass initially, around the spigot, so it was a lot more work than it looks. Holy cow, this bed was a lot more work and in sun a lot more.
The next thing I need to do with this bed is to rebuild the brick wall…it used to be twice as wide and we cut it in half because it was just ridiculously big. A massive weed patch right by our front door. We poured a concrete frame to put the bricks on and never actually put the bricks back. So I am going to be researching how to lay bricks and do a little a day once I get past the rest of the weeds in the front of my house…but first….
I have all these weeds and Bermuda still to deal with…..
So I’m working my way through….15min a day, most days (sometimes things come up that make it not work out)….and I’m out there with my hula hoe in the searing heat, early in the morning (it’s triple digits out here all summer so I have to get out there before 10am if it’s going to be below 90 degrees.)
Here’s my latest accomplishments:
That fence is cleared!
This space is mostly weed-free now (that darn Bermuda is HARD to pull out!!)
Next I have to figure out what I’m going to put here, since we cannot afford to have concrete poured (which is what we’d really like.) Looking into some sort of pavers or something inexpensive and easy to do ourselves like that. Just want it to not look ugly and must keep the weeds out.
So that’s what I’ve been able to accomplish in 15min a day in the past 4 weeks….I’m pretty proud of myself!
Wonder what I can accomplish in the next few weeks. At some point I may poop out…it’s getting hotter and hotter….so I’m trying to get out there as early as I can stand (NOT a morning person), and trying to tackle the stuff that bug me the most out there first…so when I inevitably do run out of the enthusiasm for this work I can have accomplished the most important stuff and our house can look greatly improved from the front. Especially since we have a birthday party coming up in July, so we’ll have a lot of people over then.
But until I lose steam, I’m going full boar and getting as much of this done as I can! I’ve learned to ride my wild donkeys while I got them!!
