Assault on the Yard - Day One

One would think with a landscape designer for a husband and a gardener for a wife that our yard would look fabulous. It's more of a case of the "cobbler's children don't have shoes" than the cover of Garden Design here on the mountain. Of course, nature gives us such a display that it's easy to forget about the flower beds and foundation plantings. And in our defense, Big Daddy is much busier than he ever was in Kansas City and we don't have access to loads of free plants (the one thing I absolutely, truly miss...), or work crews to help me with maintaining the yard. Oh and did I mention that our old, often photographed and published yard was the size of a postage stamp. The new yard is a pasture.

Yesterday was yard beautification day. I've been so busy with the vegetable garden and Big Daddy has been traveling so much that the yard and beds around the house have gotten away from us. The weeds were winning. So I pulled on my work gloves and grabbed pruners and the weed eater. Big Daddy armed himself with rake and hoe. We attacked with a vengence. The fire ring was cleaned out. The bed in front of the house was defrocked of weeds and given a nice little trim. Roses were pruned. Tired zinnias were removed. Crab grass was slaughtered. I then mowed the lawn into a state of perfection. Someday I will write an essay on why I love to mow, but not now. You'll have to wait.

Last night after Monkey went to bed, exhausted from her day of watching our labors, B.D. and I decided to use the newly cleaned fire ring (which, we've only used once since building!). We built a fire, drank a few beers, kicked back and enjoyed the full moon. It was one of those moments that crystalized why we moved here. We could hear a screech owl on the edge of the forest. The only other sound was the occasional car down on the road or a barking dog across the valley. Monkey was sleeping peacefully and safely in the house. The dogs were playing in the yard behind us. The chickens were sleeping in the hen house. Stars were shining and we were at peace for a while.

Later today we will tackle the blueberry patch and the edge of the woods. I plan on removing the overly-invasive and alien japanese spirea that has popped up around the yard. There is a maple leaf viburnum planted by the former owner that need to be moved to a more appropriate location. And if I'm up to it, I have over 100 daffodil bulbs that my mother gave me to plant. A gardener's work is never done.