I started the day by spreading weed & feed fertilizer in my front yard (the only area of my property that has grass). I know I’m going to regret doing this in a couple weeks when my lawn is growing like a weed, but that feeling will hopefully be offset by the deep green grass color and the disappearance of the clump of clover that has returned again this spring.
Then began the overhaul preparations. I pumped up the tire on the wheelbarrow then pushed it into the backyard. Next up was wheeling the large green yard waste barrel to the back. Then there were the tools…steel rake, pick axe, square shovel, gloves, rolling tool storage/seat, water, camera, iPod and sweat towel.
Now it was time to start working.
I walked over to the side yard and sighed heavily. No physical labor would commence until the painstakingly tedious weeding had been done. No need to transport weeds from one area to another!
While weeding I did discover one nasty trait of mine…it seems I have the attention span of a gnat, at least when it comes to outdoor work. Why I have come to this conclusion?
Weeds became beautiful and photogenic…
…see the spines on the stem? They HURT if one doesn’t wear gloves! Fortunately I was so entranced with this weed I decided to let it live and see what happens so no pain for me. Let’s call this experiment number one.
While weeding near the front block wall I noticed that a gazania plant that had routed itself in the backyard early last fall had grown tremendously, has a couple buds AND a baby next to the right of it!
There’s nothing really amazing about this except that the parent plant rooted from plants in my front yard that are watered all the time. This guy in the backyard gets no water except what Mother Nature decides to give it. I’m leaving the parent and the baby alone in hopes that they’ve adapted to the arid conditions and they’ll survive. This is experiment number 2.
As I continued weeding I discovered that the 32 feet of ice plants gracing the garden along the top of my low block wall are ready to burst forth and create a spectacular carpet of pink!
By the time I weeded my way to the beginning of this greenery, the sun had been out long enough that some of the flowers were actually open! No where near as full as it will be in the near future, but it’s a start! BTW — a photo I took of these flowers last year is my avatar for this blog.
Now that I had reached the main part of my backyard I thought that my attention span would increase as the majority of what I had to do was now right in front of my eyes.
Alas, that wasn’t to be. Why? I spotted a bug moving around in the bark mulch and rocks that required all of my attention and patience in order to get its picture.
After getting this guy’s picture I stood up to stretch, looked over the fence and caught my breath. I walked over to the patio so I could get a better shot of the hill in bloom.
That was the pretty shot, this was the ugly shot…
Unfortunately that’s not a bug, that’s a tear in the canopy over my table & chairs that is repeated on 3 of the four sides. Right underneath each of these tears is a metal frame knob that rubs against the canopy. I’ve already repaired 4 tears near the outer edges of the canopy by using iron-on patches. I’ve now got to do the same for these 4 areas, one as a preventative measure, but this repair will be tricky since I can’t iron from the outside. My brain immediately started stewing about this dilemma.
On the way back to where I left off weeding I discovered a nasty piece of evidence laying in the bark mulch.
A bird dropped this after taking it off the back of my swing. I know this for a fact as I’ve seen birds tearing at these threads. It was now time to see what damage had been done.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I looked at the seat, or more accurately, what was left of it…
I am hoping that I can replace the swing cushions with two lounge chair cushions – one on the seat and one on the back – since they’re vinyl. That would keep the birdies at bay. The cushions tie on to lounge chairs so I’m thinking I can just as easily tie them to the swing frame – as long as the length is correct. I know that the cushions will be hot, but once I make the canopy cover for the swing they will be in shade so not quite so hot (said canopy was destroyed by wind a couple years ago and its replacement has been on my to-do list ever since, the Sunbrella fabric already purchased and waiting).
After this last discovery I did finish up the weeding. Total time? +/- 3 hours. Time for a lunch…er…breakfast break (since I’d forgotten to eat before heading outdoors).
Once the break was over I set about doing the serious work, but that only lasted a couple hours. I wasn’t physically tired, or mentally for that matter. Nope, I was heat tired! The sun was blazing, the temps were in the mid-80′s and the humidity level was in the teens. For the first time doing serious yard work this year, those three things equaled a wiped out me sooner than I’d hoped.
I did make progress though and I didn’t so overdo it that I’ll be unable to get back outside today. My goal is to finish shifting the mulch and gravel and to get the plants into the ground. If all goes according to schedule I’ll be able to measure the length of the pathway I’m putting in then do some mathematical calculations inside. That will allow me to stop at Lowe’s Monday on my way home from work to pick up bags of sand (for underneath the pathways) and any additional blocks or bricks I may need.
So, here’s what the side yard looked like post-weeding and pre-mulch/gravel shuffling…
(yeah, the ice plants need a serious haircut so the wall is visible, but that won’t happen until after bloom season is over)
…and here’s how it looked when I stopped…see all the pea gravel and the lack of bark mulch?
Definitely still a work in progress but some progress was made as it’s no longer all bark mulch.
Now, here’s the main part of the backyard at the beginning…
…and here’s what it looked like when I stopped (from the opposite side, sorry ’bout that)…
The path from the swing to the patio is almost gone, the bark mulch has been brought in closer to that terra-cotta pot and the mulch has been spread into many areas where the path used to be. The swing area has also been closed off, the pathway used to meet it on the right but in the near future, will meet it on the left.
So, what is left to do?
The path above that goes off to the left needs to be obliterated, the gravel moved to the side yard and the rest of that mulch moved to the main backyard. The bricks and blocks from the pathway need to be added to the every growing temporary pile in the fire bowl area…
Where the terra-cotta pot now sits there will be a mound of dirt and soil amendment that will be the home of my manzanita tree. At various other locations throughout the yard will be homes for the other plants I purchased a few weeks ago.
Then there’s the pathway issue. I have to move the patio-to-swing path 5 feet to the left of where it was so that when the manzanita tree matures, its branches will not overhang the pathway.
There are more pathways to replace but if I can get the all of the above done this week I will be THRILLED! And DRIVEN to finish the rest of the pathways. The more I get done the more aggravating the undone gets.
Time to exhale and complete keep expectations realistic…for now.
Posted by ordinarybutinteresting 
