Debtfreeme pointed out on my last post that I don't pay rent...I've been in the house for almost 2 years now and still refer to my mortgage payment as rent...oops!
To honor my stillborn son's original due date, my boss gave me a butterfly bush. She knows we have a ton of yard, and landscaping isn't our thing. She came over to help us plant it, and we ended up spending hours out there starting to clean things up. Apparently, we have boxwoods and azalea bushes in the front. (I'm terrible with plant identification.) We used the new hedge trimmer to clean them up and shape them nicely. We dug out a bunch of weeds and small trees that were popping up. The butterfly bush looked beautiful for a few days, but then the rain stopped and it shriveled up. My boss was shocked because she said they're really hardy. I'm really hoping it perks back up because my whole concern with planting something was that I wouldn't be able to deal if that died too...
This past weekend, DH cut the grass since there was a break in the rain. I decided to use the hedge trimmer (I'm obsessed with that thing) to clean up the shrubs and bushes in the backyard. 4 hours later, we'd actually moved on to start clearing out the line of overgrowth that had provided privacy between us and our neighbors. We'd torn down their 4 ft fence and replaced it with a 6 ft privacy fence, so the overgrowth wasn't needed anymore. Unfortunately, most of it is on our property. The longterm plan is to turn that side into a small vegetable garden (lettuce, zucchini, peppers).
Everything looks so much nicer. Next year, I'm looking forward to hopefully putting some perennials in a few areas that we've cleared.
Fixing up the yard
July 31st, 2018 at 12:00 pm
July 31st, 2018 at 02:54 pm 1533048873
It pays to have soil plugs analyzed from various yard quadrants to know what with benefit soil and what will not thrive. We can get these done at modest cost from provincial/state agriculture outlets and our AG university. Once you know resultant facts you can easily make lists of what will grow given your time, money and knowledge. For example, there are lots of people controlling growth, subdividing plants in fall and spring and offering the cuttings free. Watch ads in local FB and CraigsList. Does your community have a plant exchange? Note the date because you will need to prepare the ground in advance.
The seed companies put out gorgeous catalogues in early February. Seeds are inexpensive, started in late February, fiddly and time consuming at the start but easy peasy after 4 leaves stage. Estate sales are terrific prices to negotiate pice for garden equipment and tools. Used if often better made than Third world stuff.
July 31st, 2018 at 05:06 pm 1533056784
August 1st, 2018 at 12:17 pm 1533125843
StressLess, thank you. It was definitely an extremely difficult thing to go through. I am grateful for what it's taught me and how it's brought DH and I closer together, so I try to focus on the positives rather than the overwhelming sadness of losing a child.