WR: From Jungle to Garden

Yard work was the story of our weekend. Adam was able to borrow a truck from work, so we were definitely going to take advantage of it. It was raining Friday night, so we decided to just have a low key evening. After dinner, we watched a movie "The Way Back," which was somewhat dull. Then I caught my second wind and decided to work on my secret project upstairs for a few hours. I was up until midnight working on it!

On Saturday, we slept in until 10. Chester too! I think it helped that he was in his kennel and the house was dark because it was raining again. Saturday was supposed to be our big yard work day, so we were a little nervous. I made some french toast for breakfast, and then we were off to Linder's Greenhouse. This weekend Linder's had their annual fundraiser coupon where 15% of your purchase went towards the MN Midwest Pug Rescue. By the time we got there, it was only sprinkling. We got a hydrangea, rose bush, geranium, a flower for my hanging basket, and then some tomatoes, tomatillos and jalepenos. It was great to pick up some stuff and support the rescue!

Next was Menard's to pick up some gardening supplies like compost, peat moss and a little top soil. Our last stop was Jimmy John's to grab some lunch quick so we could devote our afternoon to the yard!

Our main area of focus was the mess behind the garage. As I mentioned last week, it's a jungle. This is what it looked like last spring.


the jungle last spring

By summer, you couldn't even see behind the compost bin, much less walk back there. It was a nightmare. And the thought of trying to do anything with it was pretty overwhelming. As Adam said when we were done, "I never thought we'd do anything with this space!"

Luckily, I had cut down most of the vines last weekend, 

the jungle last weekend

so all we had to deal with was the really thick vines and weed trees. We spent the warm afternoon cutting trees down (Adam), hauling branches to the truck (me), and taking THREE full truck loads to the compost site nearby (Adam). We also worked on cleaning up the fence line of weed trees and vines behind all the raspberry bushes. It was exhausting!

And here it is - all clean and ready for planting! Who knew those block dividers were even there?
They kind of look like hell, but who cares!

Chester was a really good boy, especially considering he spent most of the day watching us from the back door because it was too hot out for him (he still hasn't shed all his winter fur).

We rewarded ourselves when we were done with some cold beverages on the patio. For dinner, Adam grilled burgers and I made a side salad.

Chester was fascinated by the helicopter that went by -

I was so tired from all our hard work that I fell asleep on the couch at 8! Crazy.

We got up around 9 on Sunday, and soon found ourselves outside again. Unfortunately for us, it was a really warm and humid day. Once again, Chester spent most of the day watching us from the back door. Occasionally, I would bring him outside for 15 minutes until he got too hot. He loved it.


So sleepy...

Saturday was the clean up day, and Sunday was the planting day. Since we were relocating our garden from the middle tier to behind the garage, we had to move all the cages. Then Adam took down the old fence. It looks terrible now, but soon the grass will take over. It originally was grass when we moved in 3+ years ago, but we decided to make it our garden. The grass never took the hint and we were constantly battling it. To help it along, Adam also added some grass seed.

Behind the garage, Adam spread all the peat moss, compost and top soil in the space, and then I started to plant. It faces south and gets a lot of sunlight, so hopefully this space will work out for us.

I also planted some beans and herbs along the side of the garage where we always plant. While I was planting, Adam mowed the lawn, put down grass seed, and fertilized.

Our last task was to plant the hydrangea on the side of the house and rose bush in my flower garden (3rd time's the charm, right?).

We were well wrapped up by the time the storms rolled around. We got a little bit of hail, but not enough to cause damage. I was worrying about my decision to plant, but everything looks fine. In between storms, Adam worked on cleaning out and fixing the rain gutter along the house. I read inside with a snuggly pug. It was delightful. Poor Adam.

It was an exhausting weekend, but it feels great to finally reclaim all that wasted space behind the garage AND finally have our garden planted. We could have done this long ago if we actually would have had any kind of spring...