We recently moved into a house whose previous owners were clearly gardeners — with a lot of time on their hands, I might add. With three young children, work and taking care of the inside of the house, I don’t have as much time as I’d like to keep up with gardening. In an effort to keep the yard more manageable, I just ripped out a very large section of garden all along our back fence and planted grass to extend the yard all the way to the fence rather than have a planted area to care for. It took me several days of pulling out all of the pesky buttercup that had claimed the area over the winter. Then I planted grass and crossed my fingers it would grow. I’ve made an effort to water it everyday and it finally looks like it’s growing in! I hated the work but love the feeling of accomplishment. That’s pretty much my standard stance on most things when it comes to gardening, however, there are some other things I love about it:
- Having a job to do gets me outside. I love the sunshine and fresh air!
- Pulling weeds often gets me out of cooking dinner. The Hubs doesn’t pull weeds at all so if I’m working on it, he’ll cook dinner.
- Likewise, I sometimes get some peace and quiet while he tends to the kids.
- I love discovering all the new plants we have as they bloom. So far we’ve had Wisteria, Lilacs, Iris in a variety of colors, Red Hot Pokers, roses, and some sort of Lilies that smell fantastic.
- We have fruit trees we can eat right off of!
- As our yard becomes more beautiful because of our work, I feel proud that we’ve taken care of it ourselves.
I’m tackling one area of the yard at a time and its actually coming along quite nicely. Mainly I’m pulling weeds and putting in new bark but I’m looking forward to getting to a point when I might do some planting of my own. There’s a vegetable garden area with a tarp over it just waiting for me plant and I’d really like to try growing some Peonies and Hydrangea! I also really like some of the decorative items for the yard — what do you think of the elephant watering can pictured above?
Got any gardening advice for me? I’d love any tips you might have!
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I am useless at gardening – I’d buy your cute watering can for my balcony. In fact, I was so glad when we moved from a house to a condo – no more chores and I only keep a few herbs on the balcony in the summer (all if which die on me before the end of the summer anyway!).
Definitely a perk for condo living! I haven’t tried herb gardening yet — I’m struggling to keep the one little potted plant alive that my son brought me for Mother’s Day. I keep it by the kitchen sink in the window so I won’t forget to water it and I still forget!
Among the many things I learned through the years – I suggest you check out
http://www.babble.com/home/25-totally-clever-gardening-tips-tricks/25-totally-clever-gardening-tips-tricks/
They reminded me of tricks my mother use to inspire us (children) to grow the gardens that we developed within Scouts and friends… They include making things easier is key: the top tips and tricks of the trade are as follows: next time you boil up spaghetti(Who doent when your Italian) let the nutrient-filled water cool down then poor over plants to help fertilize. Another trick of the trade uses plastic forks, stick them into the ground to deter cats from using it as a litter box.
Thanks for the tips!
I live in an apt. complex, so no gardening. But, I have heard if you have a deer problem to go to your local beauty salon and get all the hair clippings and put it around the perimeter of the garden. Kinda gaggy, but you did ask for tips LOL Vicki.
LOL that’s an interesting tip! I wonder if it really works. We’ve seen two deer in our yard twice but we sort of enjoy their visits, even if they do nibble our plants 🙂