Our New House!

A few weeks ago, a friend of our told us they were redesigning their back yard and would be bulldozing much of their garden. If we wanted anything we could come over and dig it up. So, we rented a U-Haul pickup truck, bought some supplies from the hardware store and headed over to their place in Denver.

We dug up four very large tree-like shrubs and about ten small ones. We started at about 1:00. It was a nice day but fairly long work. By the time we had some dinner and got home it was 7:00pm and nearly dark. The dirt in our backyard is all clay. It’s tough to dig in and incredibly sticky when wet. I went at it with a pick but it was still hard work. We got everything in the ground but my back was sore for three days after.

Two weeks ago we had several days of wind and rain which softened the ground and knocked over the four tall shrubs. I wasn’t looking forward to getting out there in the sticky mud and fixing them… so I didn’t.

Last Sunday, we decided it was time to do some gardening. Our grass was growing out of control so I bought an electric lawn mower. I knew I wanted electric so I wouldn’t have to do any engine maintenance on it. The cord was a little cumbersome to maneuver around the lawn but the mower did a great job. It’s a 3-in-1, meaning it can kick the grass out the side chute, dump it in a rear bag or mulch it and put it back in the grass. I chose to bag it this time.

The lawn also has several dead spots and some open seams in the sod. It was planted at the end of October and has withstood a fairly harsh winter and “dog use”. So, I bought a bag of “Lawn Repair”. It’s a combination of three grass seeds and fertilizer designed just for this purpose. I dug out all the dead grass and loosened the soil with a little claw tool and sprinkled in some seed. I’ve got a sprinkler system so all the watering is done for me.

We also wanted to change out some of the shrubs they gave us for the front yard. Ann didn’t like the two junipers so we dug them up and got rid of them. We moved the others around toward the walkway and planted on tall and one short shrub on the far side.

Our Autumn Blaze Maple sprang to life! From bare branches to this in only two weeks. There’s Ann peeking out the window.

In the back yard we put all the plants upright and staked them to help out in the next rain. The kids took some time to play in the mud!