The Yard.....

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Horrific is all I can say. ugh

I didn't get to it last summer due to easy child's accident and caring for her. husband continued to ignore it and let it grow wild. I didn't get to it once easy child recovered because husband passed away and my life sort of went to hades for a while. :sigh: (I'd started on it in the previous fall and spring but trust me you'd never know I touched it)

One, I'd like to know how on earth so much trash finds it's way into a back yard that is privacy fenced in and is NOT used?? It amazes me, I swear. I did get the majority of that picked up but there is more to get in places I haven't been able to get to yet due to weeds or whatever.

Nichole came down yesterday because it was a really nice day, warm, and we need to get the yard ready for a garden. For at least 3 yrs it's been a jungle......not counting the trash that appears out of nowhere. husband ignored the back yard as much as humanly possible. And man can you tell it. Makes me sick.

I was raised by a man who took pride in his yard and loved to grow things. I spent my entire childhood helping him. It kills me to see my yard in the condition it's in. Not to mention all the hard work I put into it now gone due to me being in school.

When we bought the house the back yard was a mess. At one time an owner had a business repairing cars out of his garage.......and the yard was used as a sort of parking lot. I'll find huge slabs of concrete in the oddest places. I tried to get husband to let me have fill dirt delivered and sod it........areas had little dirt, and where there was dirt it was basically sterile, nothing was growing. It would have been simple, although sodding isn't cheap. So I did it the hard way. Every winter Rowdy gets several bales of straw in his kennel. Every spring that straw was layered over the yard, with grass seed, and more bales of straw we bought to add to it. I've gained a good foot or two of dirt near the house (good thing it was a frigging gully there) and several inches throughout the rest of the yard. At one time I had a nice green lawn growing except by the shed where there is gravel. (guessing that used to be the drive as removing the gravel is impossible, it's too embedded into the soil too deep). That is why I chose that spot for the shed. Then school got to the point where it was too much to keep up with the yard or oversee husband while he cared for it. Huge mistake. It didn't take long for him to neglect it to the point where it became a jungle of weeds. And I do mean jungle.

Last fall we decided it was so bad that it would be simpler to let it wait until spring and deal with the dead plants.

That alone is bad enough. Then there is the trash which just totally ticks me off as there is no reason for it. Yesterday I found most of the garden tools strewn about the yard. From the condition they're in, they've been there a while. Many will have to be replaced. I hope I can pick them up at yard sales. My garden tool holder was in pieces all over the yard. Lovely. My rubbermaid garden box in the same condition, both need to be tossed now. There are several toddler toys that will have to be tossed. I didn't even know many of them were out there. I had about 4 inches of dirt on the patio. (when it rains it comes down out of the yard and covers the patio), but I shoveled 90 percent of it up yesterday back into the yard. I'm going to make a retaining barrier out of rail road ties so I won't have to keep doing that. I tried to get husband to do that for YEARS......but he's was the king of procrastinators and it never got done. So every spring I'm shoveling dirt off the patio and back into the yard. ugh No more.

I've also got downed tree branches everywhere from various storms. And the tree sister in law chopped down that was growing into the fence of Rowdy's kennel. There are millions of sticks. omg Once I get all that together sister in law will have to load them into his truck and haul them out to the park where they grind them up for mulch.

A largish portion of the yard will be taken up by the raised garden bed. But in the rest of it, I have to start all over on trying to get grass to grow again. There is no way I can afford to just sod it and be done with it. Makes me want to rip out my hair, I swear.

I did however, find out that our nearby gravel pit will deliver a load of gravel for 50 bucks.........so I'll be having them bring a load to fill the driveway out front. If I'd know it was that cheap I'd have done it several years back. ugh.

Oh, I have at least 3 weed eaters, 3 lawn mowers (not counting the old fashion non gas powered one). sister in law is sure they all work. In the shed........were 4 gallons of paint from 10 yrs ago, some from 15 yrs ago, cans all rusted.......odds and end tools, mostly junk.

My trash man is not going to like me very much over the course of the next several weeks while I tackle the yard and the family room now that it's getting warm enough to do so. :sigh:

Only plus I found to this.........

That shoveling dirt off the patio used to kill me to do, and it took me forever because I'd have to stop and take breaks, and the next day I couldn't move. (the patio is rather huge) I did it in less than a half hour yesterday, no break, and I'm not sore. Nichole had to keep sitting down or move onto something less strenuous. lol Yay me. :)
 

cubsgirl

Well-Known Member
Yay you for doing all that work and not being sore. I'm exhausted just reading about all you need to do in the yard - but I bet it will be wonderful when done (and you can grow your own veggies in your garden).

Good for you!! :)
 

addie

New Member
In my case, NOT to mention the layers of doggie-dodo as the layers of snow have melted, not that we had much this year. It has to be sort of off-limits until I can poop and scoop, or scatter it with the lawn mower.
YES re rubbish, stuff dropped months ago by dogs and kids.
YES re the branches! I have never seen so many come down. I think some nice damp day we might do a bonfire, for 'cooking' of course, or maybe making maple syrup (never again, having had 20 years of kids). Nice to have an excuse in case anyone calls it in, though I doubt they will. But husband is such a law abider!!!!!
YES re the weed eaters! Has anyonel got one that works consistently, or that works, period? The best I have had is the one on an electric cord. There is only the thread to worry about, so I am spared wrestling with an engine. I think husband has several in the shed, none working.
i buy good,tools and HATE it when i find one rusted out, but that is MY fault as no way would anyone else here be doing gardening or heard clean up.
and where did all those dead leaves come from? The kids did an excellent paid job of bagging and dumping on the flower beds for mulch.

I totally love to garden but have blue clay, swamp, sand, rock, and muck. Where there is topsoil I have planted, and I was overjoyed to see the first,green of the year, before even the bulbs ...oriental poppies.

I would be happy to answer any gardening questions that are not professional, more "gardening for dummies" which is what I am, so I have learned a few things the hard way. I do friends' gardens for free, for fun, IF they have good soil and good growing conditions.

Good news for you re the stiffness, lack of! Why is that, do you think? For me it used to be agony but first yoga, now fitness classes, has helped a LOT. But I am lucky, never had anything wrong, just years of laziness.

Oh well, on with the job. Don't birds make such a mess? Poop on the deck and seed husks everywhere, mountains of them. Not to mention the bits that fell off th Christmas tree when we took it out.

Must remember ... Put out lint from the dryer for,birds to peck at for their nests.
 
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