The Home Outside

Oi. The yard.

Where do I start? I've done a lot to it in the last year. The first thing I did last April was prune and clear all the overgrowth in the back yard. That was a full day's worth of work and my first time at doing it. My hands were so sore the next day.

I planted a couple of lantanas back there too in August I think.


Shortly after that we moved in and the dogs moved in mid way through September. The lantanas didn't last through the end of the year. That's when I realized all my gardening would have to take place in the front yard. However, I noticed a couple of days ago, one of the lantanas is coming back. I'm going to dig it up and move it before the dogs destroy it again.

Last fall I bought a ton of plants and put new beds in around the red oaks out front.

Before


After

I plopped in a few other plants in blank holes and pruned the crap out of all the small boxwoods, one of the hollies and the two nandina clusters. A few weeks later I took out one entire boxwood and pruned the other holly next to it.

This spring I've hacked (severely pruned) the 3 remaining boxwoods off the front porch. They were massive. Now they aren't and they have pretty beds around them with flowers and plants for company.

Before


Hard to see After

I also pruned the pomegranate tree but it needs much more.

When I put in the beds around the boxwoods I also planted 3 vegetable sprouts. I have a zucchini, cucumber and watermelon plant. Last weekend I moved them to the ground and have been babying sitting them since. They need a lot more water than I expected.

Zucchini


Cucumber


Watermelon

Also a couple of weeks ago I added a new bed around the block light post and planted irises. They're looking hot and tired. I hope they make it.

I've got a ton of bulbs around the southeast side of the house. Amaryllis, iris and jonquils. They will all need to be thinned and separated this fall for next year's bloom. They were all there when we moved in and haven't been thinned in years.


We have plans to extend the beds around the entire front of the house as well as adding in a raised bed right in front. I hope to have that project done before the year is out. It'll take time though but that's okay, we aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

In the back, instead of planting, we're adding on to the porch. We'll be extending the existing 8x8 porch out another 12 feet to make it 8x20. It will enclose the two crepe myrtles that are there.


I also added a small brick pad just inside the gate so we'd have somewhere to step instead of the dirt or mud.

Before


After

One day soon I hope to get a sandbox out back for the dogs to dig in so I can reclaim my backyard and grow the grass back in where it's been destroyed. Leveling out the holes and hills that have been created will be what I'm most looking forward to. Mowing back there is hazardous to twisting ankle health!

It's all a never ending, yard changing saga. I love every second of it.

Fleas, Ticks, Tapeworms! OH MY!

'Tis the season. Since our winters normally aren't cold enough to wipe out the critters, flea season starts early and can get bad quickly. Fortunately none of our pets have ticks.

Honey took the cats³ to the vet yesterday for a general check up and any shots they may have needed. Miss Stormy had a tapeworm. We knew this going in, or at least that was my assumption and with the fleas so bad right now I figured that is exactly what it was. He said the trip was smooth and none of them have ear mites.


Thunder weighs just over 13 lbs.


Lightning weighs just less than 13 lbs


and Storm weighs just over 11 lbs.
They gave Storm a shot for the tape worm and then they sent Honey home with pills similar to the ones the dogs² get once a month. They also gave us super duty flea drops to put on their backs. We had tried 4 different types of treatments before this with none working. The vet said this season is especially bad (don't they say that every year?) and that the crap you buy at the store never works when it gets like this.


Mina


Milo
I hope what we have now works because those poor pups (in particularly) have been itching and scratching for weeks! I'm super glad we have pills to give the cats once a month now too. I had no idea they made those. I always thought they only had the ones for dogs to prevent heart worms.

Hooray for healthy beasties!

Long Time no Blog

I have been cuh-RAZY busy. A lot has happened in the last year. I'll try to be brief.

Mostly the news is about a house. Our house. Yes, we finally got a house. My grandmother decided it was too much for her so she moved into a home last spring (2007) and is selling us her house.


All of last spring and summer was spent helping her work through her things. We donated a ton, gave just as much away and then helped her move what she wanted to keep. After that we started painting. Our lease was going to be up in September so we wanted to get the house the way we wanted it before the move.

We painted 3 rooms and a hallway and pulled up carpet in 2 rooms and the hallway. We still aren't finished with the painting but that's okay. We'll be there a while.

Anyway, so we moved in last September and since then we've been adjusting to the differences in living in a house instead of an apartment. There are a lot more things that need taken care of as I'm sure many of you know. I love it though. I've planted, pruned, dug up, transplanted and landscaped so much in the last 9 months.

We still haven't perfected keeping a larger space clean though. That's an on going process at this point.

Well I'll wrap this up for now. Many more posts will follow with more details about the house, yard, life and everything in between.