Month: May 2011

Spring officially began March 20 and I was so excited to say au revoir to winter.  Then, mother nature played a mean trick on the folks in Montana (and several other places) by giving us a dose of winter mid-April.  We made the most of our snow day and the snow melted by evening.  Now, our temps are about 20 degrees below average and I’m not liking it.  Our fruit trees don’t seem to mind, though.  Ben is happy he hasn’t had to worry about a late freeze killing his prized trees.  We’re already in May and our plants are just beginning to turn green.

The bleeding hearts on the shady north side are doing swell.

As are the neighboring lily of the valley.  Last year, these had already bloomed.

Before we filled our front flower bed with roses and rocks to eliminate weeding, we had tulips and Allium.  A few obstinate tulips have popped up from under the layer of landscaping fabric and rocks.  Such a sweet surprise.

Notice the rose bush behind.  One tiny leaf shoot?  Seriously, I was hoping for tons (literally, one ton) of roses this year.  That and two tons of apples from our trees to make apple crisp.  Speaking of trees, this is depressing.

Where’s the beef green?  This day lily might do something this year.  The past three years have only given us green.  Sad, because the flowers are a deep purple.  Don’t ask why I haven’t removed the tag…

One thing that hasn’t had a problem growing or photosynthesizing is our grass.  In fact, it has over-grown our side-walk.

Ben and Vincent dug up the grass and our side-walk is about six inches wider.  More good news.  We stained our fence last fall.  Because we had never used the stain, we wondered how well the finish would hold up over winter.

Luckily, the stain is still in mint condition.  Yahoo to not re-staining this year.

Have you been stuck in a winter rut like we have?  Or are you a lucky duck and live in a warm climate?  Have your flowers and/or trees bloomed?  What is your favorite plant in your yard?  Are you like I am and wish a magnolia tree would grow in your climate?  What other plants do you wish you could have?  I can’t wait to get some plants in our window boxes and for the fruit trees to flower.  Just a little longer…

Our back yard rarely makes an appearance, with good reason.  We haven’t done a lot of work to this space.  And we don’t like how it looks.  But, this is what we’re working with:

Before I start my backyard tirade, let’s note the positive, shall we?  Our yard is very open, especially compared to other homes in our ‘hood.  The yard is completely fenced in, we have a patio to entertain on, and plenty of trees, most of which are a fruit variety. 

Now, onto the picture riddled rant.  When you walk out the backdoor, you’re greeted by hoses, toys and an old rug.  Ben and I are always switching between the two.  He hates this one, so he always tosses it. 

You’ll also notice there is no barrier keeping the rocks from spewing all over the patio.  This is because the previous owners constructed brick planters against the house.  The planters started falling apart, so we yanked those out, but the concrete extends to the previously pavered area, so we poured rock in to cover that.  Now it drives me crazy.

Continue to walk along the uneven patio, until you’ve reached this odd mostly paver filled 4 foot square area.  I am told this had a water feature before Ben tore it apart.

To get to the garage, walk around a trash can, which is now filled with dirt and grass clumps.  You can’t really tell, but a small brick paver path leads from the patio to the garage.  Because the grass is taller than the brick, the walkway is always dirty and covered over.

Then, you’ll notice our giant wood pile with a large, dead, grassless area.  Great for dogs.

Though, this isn’t as bad as it once was.  In April 2006, shortly after Ben proposed, I flew out to visit.  The wood pile was much larger (keep in mind the house extends about 4 feet beyond the garage), and the rest of the backyard was much shabbier, then.

Now do you see why the grass is dead in this area?  The pine tree was much smaller, we had a random group of honey locust trees (which had huge thorns), and the old fencing.  Yikes, I had forgotten just how bad this looked until now. 

Technically this next annoyance isn’t part of the back yard.  Rather, the north side (left if you’re looking at the house from the street) is covered with mold specks because the siding never gets direct sun light. 

 I think a quick wash with a very watered bleach solution should do the trick.  Or do you know of a more eco-friendly solution? 

Other annoyances?  Having two grills.  I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t really care about the benefit of charcoal over gas.  And, if you look closely, behind said grills, is a dog house.  Also, the south side fencing is still chain link because we have to dig out a concrete post.  The north side fence is installed, but not stained and we have half of a hollow core door as a gate.  Can you say, “Redneck”?  And the Ash tree by the patio has to go.  I’m trying to talk Ben into two smaller, symmetrically placed fruit trees along with hydrangeas.  The problem?  I have a black thumb.  Scratch that, I don’t even have a gardening thumb, so Ben knows he’ll be the one taking care of the plants.   

All of this to say, I think we’re finally going to do something about this!  Talk of a poured concrete patio (and my dream of a pergola) has been going on in our humble abode.  Nothing is set in stone (pun intended), but we’re really hoping to have the time and weather to tackle this.  Sooner than later. 

Any suggestions for an eco-friendly, scrub-free, mold-kicking solution?  Or easy-to-care-for part-shade plants?  Yes, I tried to use as many hyphenated descriptions as I could.  Are you planning a patio?  Or any other outdoor sprucing?