Green Thumb

Our big project for this spring and summer is trying to make our yard look somewhat appealing. We have a very limited budget so we can't get it exactly the way we would like it to be, but there are plenty of things to do that cost no money to keep us very busy.

The home owner before us did not take care of anything and so we have a yard full of overgrown weeds and bushes to deal with. We decided the best way to go about cleaning up the yard is to just start on one side and slowly work our way around the house. We only get to spend a couple hours out in the yard every other week before our yard debris recycle bin is full and we have to wait another 2 weeks before doing anymore work.

So far we are seeing great improvements with our weed pulling and all of the neighbors have even come over and commented about how nice the house is looking!

We started on the side yard. The gravel in the dog run and front was filled with berry bushes. Peter armed himself with a lot of crossbow and that did the trick!

Much better!!!

Our front flower bed was full of weeds. Peter spend a lot of time digging up thick patches of weeds.

When we first bought the house the whole driveway was lined with "spider catchers" as I call them. Immediately after moving in I made Peter pull them out but we kept the one's in by the front door. I was not a fan of them and so we finally pulled them out!

Bye bye bushes! I listed them on craigslist and within an hour someone came and took them for their yard and made me very happy!!!

I weeded the driveway flower bed. One of the bigger problems with pulling out all the bushes is that it makes our line of grass uneven but we are planning on redoing the yard next summer so there is no need to fret about that this year. (You may be able to see Juno's head sticking out the front door window to say hi!)

When we moved out of the condo I wanted to make sure that I got to keep my Disneyland 50th Anniversary Rose Bush. We brought it with us from the old house and it has just been hanging out in a bucket waiting for me to find the perfect place in our yard for it. Unfortunately I was really slow about finding the right place and so the rose has not done anything this year. My mom assures me that it will come alive now though. My mom also started a Fire and Ice Rose for me a few years ago and so we went and dug it up. I need two more rose bushes but I just found out today that my mom started a rose from my grandma's funeral for me so I will save a spot for that one! I love rose bushes!!! (Again, Juno's head is sticking out the window)

The yard is still definitely a work in progress but we have gotten so much accomplished already and it is fun to see our hard work paying off! We want to "weed" thru the rest of the yard this summer and then in September we want to replace the fence and then we will call it a year! Hopefully next year we will be able to afford to put in a sprinkler system and level and redo the lawn! Fun times :)