Working,and working, and working on the Yard

We have several goals for our yard this year.  The area behind the house has probably never been weed free, according to my friend who has lived here for 45 years.  Mike ran the roto-tiller across most of it and I have dug, raked, dug, raked and prepared the whole area for planting.  We're going to put ground cover across the whole 110' x 30' area.  On the north I'm planting vinca major (periwinkle that is taller), on the south I'm planting vinca minor (the short periwinkle) and I'm using three with colored flowers in between.  Some of them will be started with seed so we will have to wait until fall and see if there is any water then.  Otherwise, we will plant those parts next spring.

Last year Art helped Mike to put up a 12' x 10' awning over the 4 kitchen windows and a few weeks ago
Mike poured a patio under them.  His project today was to put big rocks against the edges where we piled sand to level underneath so that it wouldn't come pouring out when we took the boards away.  We'll plant something to grown in the spaces and hold the dirt there. Art arranged a rock garden with our rock pile last year and I've been planting for two years. We'll have a large lilac bush behind the stove/fountain which will flow down in across from the patio. It will probably be about three years before it all has grown to be what we are hoping it will be. 

The string going across the first picture is where the fence will be.  We will have ground cover on the south side and we'll extend the grass that is below the patio over to the new fence to the west and to where the first shed is that you see.  The weeds in that area have been the hardest of all to dig and clean out and I can't even plant the grass until fall because of the heat and water shortage.  Even clean dirt looks lots better than dry grasses and weeds (and junk piled by the sheds).

Notice the big piece of equipment in the distance.  He is spreading sand for a driveway from the street to the front of the sheds.  It will really help to get rid of another ugly weed area.   He lives about 2 blocks away and worked for about an hour today and charged $20. 

The fence will be a 5' wood fence all around the garden from the patio on the west over behind the sheds and out to the street as far as the city will allow (45 feet from the center of the road), all across the north of the driveway and fruit trees, back south to the lawn to where the patio starts and over to the patio again across the lawn.  Mike has has to cut up three huge trees and burn stumps and haul logs to clean the area.  It will be a mammoth project with about 4,000 of pounds of cement, something like 45 posts and three gates.  We wanted to use 6 foot boards because the deer don't jump them but the city won't allow that.  We get the posts on Monday and will get the boards hopefully the next week.  Anyone looking for hard work?

Another thing we have been wanting to do for a long time is level the area east of the shop near the street.  There was a ditch there and lots of big rocks and it was impossible to mow or weed eat.  We got Marvin to level that whole area today.  We'll work on it when we can but even if it just grew weeds they could be mowed now (after the rocks are removed). 

While we've been doing this we have planted all of the garden except the second planting of corn.  We have 52 tomato plants in and LOTS of other stuff.  Mike has the whole thing watered with a PVC irrigation system.  We had to move two of our 9 fruit trees to put the fence in and we'll also have to move some raspberries but our goal is to have grapes, blueberries, raspberries, fruit trees and a huge fresh garden of food that we'd love to share with our kids. 

I have to truthfully say that I didn't dream that at 70 years old I'd be getting up at 5:30 or 6:00 AM so that I could get out and dig out weeds and garden before it got too hot.  It is good physical exercise, it's rewarding to see it change and it is great to have fruit and veggies to can and eat.

I've had two different old-timers tell me in that last few days that it is amazing what a change there has been in this place.  We just hope that it keeps getting better.