Our New Old House

The trees in my back yard are surrounded by a lot of really random brush. One of them sort of looked like it might be a lilac bush that had grown beyond being productive. Sure enough, this spring my suspicion was confirmed and way up high there are a few lilac blossoms. I’m going to trim this bush all the way down this fall and hopefully train it back into being a nice looking lilac for next year.

[tags]yardwork, photos, lilac, bushes[/tags]

How’s that for a family friendly title?

Spring is in full swing around here and I’ve got the photos to prove it!

I don’t have much time for gardening this summer, so in the places where there have been unsightly weeds growing, I just dug up the ground and sprinkled a bunch of random wildflower seeds. We moved into this house at the end of summer last year so we never got to see what kinds of things would come up in the springtime. Not really knowing what would come up, or if they even would, I’ve been gratified to find that there are actually some sprouts coming up! It’s nice to know that my touch does not automatically mean death to all plants, just indoor ones. (I can’t seem to keep houseplants alive!)

I’m trying to remember just what I planted where, so if you notice my identification of certain sprouts is off, please don’t mock me too harshly.

These two flower pots were left behind by the previous owner. They were growing some pretty serious weeds when we moved in last fall, so I just cleaned them out and planted marigolds and alyssum.

Some ferns came up in one of the front flower beds, and I like ferns, so I let them stay. They seem pretty happy there.

Anybody know what this tall, shooty thing growing in my back yard is? It’s probably a weed, but it just looked so different from all the other weeds that I thought it might be something important.

There’s a good chance that some of that undergrowth is poison ivy.  I haven’t been itching from walking through there yet, but lots of people in this neighborhood have mentioned having poison ivy sprouting up in their yards.  My mom got a horrible outbreak last year when she was clearing some dead grape vines and there was some poison ivy intertwined with them.

I’m blogging like a crazy person this week, so check back often for more photos!

[tags] yardwork, photos, weeds, ferns, marigold, flower pots, wild flowers, poison ivy[/tags]

Too much? It’s ok, you can tell me if I’m being too graphic.

First off, I’ve got a shot of what will soon be my very own vegetable garden! Well, ok, it’s not all mine. My friend Lars is a gardener who grows much of the food he and his wife eat through the year. He was telling me about all the veggies he wants to crowd into his back yard this year and I thought, hey I’m not using my back yard right now! He can grow some in mine! So he and Christa came over and while Lars and I dug up the ground out back, Christa cooked us an amazing dinner of vegetarian shepherd’s pie and roasted asparagus.

More pictures coming soon!
[tags]vegetables, vegetable garden, gardening, photos, yardwork[/tags]

My good buddy Lars came over last night and planted a big vegetable garden in my back yard.  Lars has a green thumb and I’m trying to learn from him.  Hopefully I’ll have some pictures of little vegetable sprouts coming up soon!  I think this is what he planted:

• zucchini
• pole beans
• various squash
• leeks
• carrots
• kale
• lima beans

Meanwhile the flowers I planted a few weeks ago have sprouted.  Pictures of those coming soon too.  I love spring!

[tags] yardwork [/tags]

I was feeling presidential today so I thought I’d clear some brush. (wink)

I focused on the fence line along the alley.

Before:

After:

More Before:

More After:

Zoot watched through a new storm window.

I found a stick with four snails on it. Can you see all four of them?

Here’s a closeup:

There was a dried out puff ball mushroom left over from last fall.

I stepped on it to help Nature along. Fungi are a very important part of the ecosystem and they get a bad rap.

While I was walking through the yard I found evidence of violent warfare!

Not very threatening when you put it in perspective, though.

This tree has grown around this rock.

Wish I knew what kind of plant this was. Anybody know?

The east side of Des Moines has an awesome system of alleys. Here’s the view north up our alley:

And south down our alley:

I did not take a before picture of that one, but notice how clean the fence line looks after I got rid of all the dead sticks and weeds.

I’m so glad spring is finally here!

[tags]yardwork, trees, photos, alley, weeds[/tags]