#1

Lest you think all is hunky-dory in our yard, I have some massive gardening problems to deal with still.

#1 When the pool got put in about 8 years ago, this was all overgrown shrubs and weeds. We put the filter and heater at the edge of the grass. Now that the yard is fenced and this is a garden, I have this ugliness to contend with. We’re thinking we will build the garden out a bit and put a shrub in front of this. I don’t know what else to do to hide it. You can see it from the deck. Ugh.

#2

#2 Another problem related to the pool. This area was shrub and weed and now that it is cleared out,  I have nothing there. You can’t see this from the deck or the house, but it’s a big open area I would like to do something with. I can’t plant a tree because the leaves will fall into the pool. Maybe a shrub? I just don’t know. It needs something though. I only see this area when I sit on the wooden swing in the

#3

backyard. It’s not high priority by any means, but it just needs something.

#3 is an entire side of the backyard. This was filled with horrible old shrubs and weeds that came out when the fence was put in. We’ve just been mowing it, so it looks like grass but is actually just short weeds. It’s bumpy and has stumps in the ground. There are little spindly trees over there. We would eventually like to plant some shrubs to create some more privacy here, so it isn’t open to the neighbors’ yard.  It’s a big job though, and one we are not ready to tackle yet.

#4 is the biggest, ugliest mess of all. When we bought our house, our yard ended where the fence is now. Several years ago, our neighbors sold their home. Their lot was L shaped, with the short end of the L going behind our property. We were able to buy this piece of their property from them, so that our yard would continue straight back, essentially doubling the size of our backyard. There is a “paper street” next to their house, so technically the new owners could have partitioned the lot and built a house back there. We didn’t want that and were lucky enough to have neighbors who took the extra steps to partition it and sell us the piece behind us, so now we and the new neighbors have identical shaped rectangular lots, side by side. We’re thrilled to own it, but it is just wilderness. We have a path mowed that goes back there and my son likes to go back there and shoot BBs. We dump big branches and grass clippings and dog poop way back there. Someday, I would love to get this part of the yard under control. But it would be a huge, expensive effort and it’s not something we can do any time soon. So, for now this will stay as a mini-forest.

So, as you can see, even with all the work and progress (see previous posts this week showing our successes), there is still much to be done!

#4