the simple life

Every day--every minute, it seems--that we've had off both before and after the Paris trip has been dedicated to working in the yard and garden. We've finally gotten the raised vegetable beds built and planted, and Brandon's been busy rearranging flower beds and planting azaleas, gardenias, and other shrubs. We planted Indian Hawthornes in the front bed, to replace the transplanted ones that didn't quite make it. We put in a couple of tea olives by the back porch...they're actually next to our side fence, but will (eventually) give us some privacy from our neighbor's deck, which looks directly down into our yard.

In the garden, we've got tomatoes (Rutgers, Better Boy, Roma, and Grape) as well as red and green bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, hot peppers, lettuce, radishes, carrots, red onions, garlic, cantaloupe, zucchini, and yellow crookneck squash! Some of the seeds have started to come up already, and we've only lost a couple of the plants...everything else seems to be hanging in there. We made an herb garden by the garage by digging out an acuba shrub that was looking kind of sad and lining the bed with brick edging. We've planted several types of thyme, oregano, basil, lavender, and parsley, as well as cilantro, sage, and savory.

We finally put together the trellis we bought last year and gave it to the wisteria. We considered trying to remove the wisteria, but the trunk is huge and the roots run all over the yard on that side. It seems to be a sentient being and a force to be reckoned with--within hours of installing the trellis (sort of a gateway style--that goes to a concrete block wall behind it!), the wisteria had already started reaching toward it. I hesitate to stand too long near it for fear it will install itself on me if I'm not paying attention. It's only been a week and already it has aggressively wrapped itself around and around the trellis slats. Last year we let it grow as a big bushy shrub and then cut it back to the ground (again...it had been cut down the year before by the previous owner). It seems much happier as a climber and hopefully we'll get blooms on it next year or soon after.

Brandon spent some time clearing behind the garage where there's about a three foot space between the building and the side fence. It's shady, so not much will grow back there, and for now we've just gone with mulching it, but might plant ferns or hostas there one day when we run out of other projects and can't figure out what to spend our money on (i.e., never?).

Backyard finds while digging and clearing include: random pieces of pipe, a plastic toy gun, a rusty pair of scissors, and an old rake.

On the to-do list? We still have to clear out the limbs from when we cleared the area behind the back fence. And lots of mulching, it seems we require and endless supply. We still need to dig out the pitcher's mound (former pond area in the middle of the yard, where the PO threw a bunch of building scrap instead of hauling it away) and replace the grass, and hope, one day, to actually get started on digging out and putting in pavers (of an as yet undetermined type) for a patio near the house in the back yard. Brandon's still working on reseeding the grass, as well, since we have little actual grass in the backyard and lots of bare spots all over.

Forgot to bring the camera today, so photos will be coming soon. In the meantime, I'll try to get some photos from Paris posted, including the potager garden of Louis XIV.

the gardens

Before and after:
















Well, okay, so it's really more like "the flower bed," but whatever. Here are some photos of the front and sides of the house. Brandon has been home for the last few weeks and has gotten a lot accomplished. He and his mom cleaned out the garage (remember, the one that apparently supplied rats to all the neighborhood cats at one time?) and it took two days just to clean it. They ripped out all the paneling inside and stripped it down to the studs and exterior siding, took out some of the shelving, moved one of the cabinets, and cut a window between the two interior rooms to let some light and air through. They also pressure washed it and then Brandon took another day to put everything back inside all neat and organized. Yay! Of course, I don't have any photos of that yet, but I'll try to remember to take some this weekend (and of the organized basement, too).


Patrice and Brandon also cut down some young pecan trees that were growing in a bad spot--right next to the house where the electrical wiring comes in. This photo was from our inspection before we bought the house, but the trees they cut down are the ones right under the back of the arrow, on the corner of the house.

I've been busy planting and mulching in the front yard and done some planting in the side by the driveway, as well. I hauled all the huge pine bark mulch out of the front flower beds, including lots of wood, shingles, and nails (messy contractors!) with our shiny new wheelbarrow and filled the beds back in with cypress mulch. On our first trip to Home Depot for this project we bought four bags of mulch. Then later we bought four more, I think. And then yesterday, I bought four more. We'll get the hang of this eventually, I guess ;)