The Yard

The Yard

I spent years getting our yard together. When we moved in it was a large, flat, and slightly uphill toward the east. Basically, the home of grass and weeds. Also on a corner, so two side streets. Up one side a neighbor’s house, and the other, a large field, gardened each year by its owners, and many neighbors. More than the back yard being a weedy wilderness, it was apparently also the shortcut from the side street to the field.

Getting the “gardeners” to walk all the way around was one of my first priorities. I’m not rude, but it was irksome that shortcutting through our back yard was so popular. One of the neighbors who gardened there, had a habit of knocking on our window and waving, every trip over and back!

I fenced us in, totally blaming it on our dog… That neighbor loved dogs, thank goodness, so we stayed friends. And I continued yard overhauling.

I even accidently built a hill! I wanted to make a patio behind the garage, which was shaded all day, but desperately needed to be flattened first. The extra dirt built our hill!

I built a brick sidewalk going up to a huge rock, (formerly sitting in the middle of nowhere) and made the rock a focal point. Beyond, a vegetable garden! My husband’s pride and joy, I don’t garden…

That triggered other yard changes. Years later, we had privacy, and gardens everywhere. Not that I actually “gardened.” Bushes and perennials are so much easier, (you only need to weed.)

Yesterday one of our new neighbors stopped by with a gift for helping them move in. It was a lovely, probably expensive, plant, but, it was an annual… I’m still not a gardener… I passed it on to my mother.