Landscaping Schtuff

One of our late summer projects (we have quite a few going on) is our landscaping. We have so many plans, and yet so little time to accomplish it, it seems.  For starters, we had several large shrubs/bushes in front of the house that we wanted to get rid of. They were kind of overgrown, and several our house inspector told us were planted too close to the house foundation.

Then you had this random straggly looking thing with some equally random chives.

So, Josh started cutting them all down, and is now slowly removing as much of the roots as possible as our plan is to plant some less invasive things like lavender and bulbs.  The other issue is all of those rocks.  We want to replace those with mulch to surround our new prettier plants (once those get planted).  We plan on getting rid of the weeds growing up all around the back door and laying the rocks from the front along the edging.  Josh already removed some equally huge shrubs that were the home to hundreds of spiders and that regularly threatened to overgrow the door.

Those super attractive ill-fitting curtains have also since been replaced.  😉

It’s a slow process, especially since we’ve had to spend some time cleaning out the garage and rearranging the downstairs. With cooler weather approaching, the plan is to spend more time outside getting that done so that way it’s ready for bulb planting. Thankfully we have a gift card from Home Depot from when we bought all of the inside paint, so we’re going to buy a weed whacker and should probably get a wheelbarrow as well unless we can find someone to borrow one from.  Rocks are heavy.

We may keep the chives there… I haven’t quite decided yet what to do in this area.  At least I’ve got time to decide. Our poor neighbors will just have to bear with us while we slowly get it all done.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

With the weather so nice, we started officially gardening a couple of weeks ago and doing general outside tidying up.  We have a lot to do still, but at the very least, our deck has some color, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll have some yummy veggies this summer as well.  Time will tell. 😉

Thankfully I had an excellent helper when it was time to run to Home Depot for some supplies. Enzo couldn’t be happier to run around and jump in puddles and chase birds while I grabbed some flowers and such.

Since I knew Enzo would be helping me, I opted for a potting soil that was chemical and poo-free because I knew at some point something would end up in his mouth (like his shovel, and it did).

At one point, Phoebe also joined us and relaxed in her bouncy chair while we surrounded her with flowers to look at.

The raised beds in the yard were quite a mess and took several hours to rip up the weeds and who knows what else that had taken up residence, and add some better soil to the mix. The picture above was during the beginning of Spring, when we probably should have ripped everything up.

I’ve gotten so used to minimal gardening in pots that I’m not sure everything will take, but we’ll see. It also didn’t help that we had a massive storm the day after I planted and my pumpkin and rhubarb are still rather sad… also they are both firsts for me.

The strawberries seem to be doing well, though, and our lettuce is coming in as well as onions, so I’ve been pointing these out to Enzo whenever we go outside.

There is nothing better than watching things grow, though, and I wish I had more of a green thumb, and more time to really get into gardening.  Perhaps when the kids are just a bit older it will be easier.

Also, when we move to a place with fewer bugs.  They were swarming around little Phoebe and got into her little tent, and we’re having issues with wasps as well.  I did find a pet/child friendly bug spray that I sprayed around the foundation of the house that does seem to have cut down on the spiders, but that won’t help with wasps/mosquitos/gnats.

We (Josh really) ripped up two huge shrubs that were a breeding ground for spiders, so that also helped. I replaced one with lavender, and we plan on tearing up more shrubs to replace with more lavender and lemon grass and things that should hopefully deter bugs.  I did plant some bee balm and butterfly flowers, though, in the hopes that those will make themselves at home.

Summertime!

While admittedly it doesn’t seem like I have as much time as I used to, I did finally manage to get our garden started, and get some flowers planted so our deck doesn’t look as bare anymore.

We got lettuce growing…

Some spinach…

Tomatoes… well, what will soon be tomatoes.

Carrots…

Jalapenos…

And a few other items and flowers not pictured. Uzi is, of course, thrilled that the weather is nice enough now to sit on the deck, and both of the cats have been on their best behavior while outside – probably because they know our patience is thin when it comes to any insubordination lately.

As for Enzo – he’s been thoroughly enjoying daycare, and I’m just glad to get him in the evenings and on weekends. I’m happy that he likes being around the other babies so much, and my heart aches with gladness whenever he greets me with those big smiles of his.

I do believe the cats are getting used to him. 😉 My sweet, sweet boy.

Long Weekend

Well, every weekend has been a long weekend for me lately, but this weekend even Josh got an extra day, which was very nice. On Saturday we had a few friends and family over and had some barbecue and got to show off Mr. Enzo some more.

We were also able to do some lounging, which we all enjoyed and needed as Enzo has been going through a fussy phase.

We also celebrated Josh’s birthday this weekend, and Enzo was kind enough to doze off long enough for us to eat cake and for his papa to open up a present or two.

I decided to get Josh the Annihilator… not only a useful tool in case we have a lot of work to do on our next house, but it’s also a badass way to kill zombies should we run into any.

I was also able to start some gardening, which I’ve been waiting for, but alas – once again I didn’t buy enough potting soil, so I’ll have to get more this week so I can finish things up.

And now time to cut this short as Enzo is a bit fussy and because really… not much is new.  Thanks to my in-laws offering to babysit this week, we will be going to see ‘The Avengers’ finally on Thursday and are looking forward to it. It’ll be our first time away from baby together, and I guess I should get used to that as he unfortunately will be starting daycare on the 7th.  I’m not going to think about that just yet, though.

And then it was Monday…

I forgot how often my weekends were filled with schoolwork last semester. :p Granted, I’m trying to get a little bit ahead, so I spent extra time this last weekend doing lots of reading and note taking and essay writing. We did, however, leave time for a Twins game Friday night since I hadn’t been to the new stadium yet. It’s pretty nice… not that I’ve had much experience with baseball fields. 😉

On Saturday after lots of schoolwork and our bi-monthly shopping, we decided to grill, and thankfully Josh didn’t heat it up before checking under the cover because this little guy would have been toast.

Tree frogs are definitely one of my favorite things about living where we do.

On Sunday morning I pulled out a recipe for Apple Butter Pancakes, which I haven’t made in years. It’s a recipe from the Lightner Creek Inn that I grabbed when I worked there years and years ago.

Josh played games while I worked on schoolwork, I made lasagna, we watched X-Files, and before we knew it, the weekend was pretty much over.

I promise next weekend will be more exciting!

I’m a little nervous thinking about how hot this guy is going to be… I’ve never let a jalapeno get red before.