Our Messy Yard Full of Spiders

We are still settling into the new house, and will be for a while I think. It is so much work- all the little things to be unpacked, hung, or stored. And we still have a long list of items that we need like blinds/curtains, a shed, a bathroom set (shower rod, curtain, etc) for the 2nd bathroom, a guest bed...

Yard sales have been great so far! We keep on getting awesome deals. And there's an sweet thrift store and a flea market just down the road from us. I'll take some pics of some of our finds.

One of the biggest hurdles is the yard. I like yardwork, or at least I like the idea of yardwork and landscaping. It's hard to actually get it done with these 2 boys distracting me all day long. I have big visions for our hilly lot, but right now, it is a mess. And it has lots of spiders. We've found at least 6 black widow spiders and some other scary giant ones. I don't mind spiders too much but I don't want my babies playing near venomous insects. My Dad sprayed the yard with bug killer which helped a bit, and Behn and I have been clearing lots of overgrown areas where the black widows are nesting. Behn kills the ones he finds, of course.

Here are some pictures of the mess that is our yard:

This is one of flat areas off the deck. All weedy and bald.

See the giant strip of dirt? That's where the septic was dug up to be serviced before we moved in. Behn found something called "Prairie Flower Septic Seed" or something like that. We need to throw some of that down and then that can just be a strip of wildflowers.

More weedy bald spots

The play area and raised beds. The spiders nest in the wood and weeds.

I have so many ideas for this yard- a fence, a clothes line, fruit bushes, a huge garden, lots of flowers...but here the little bit we've done so far:

Behn dug up an area for a small garden. 

I bought seedlings from the Amish and planted them- squash, cucumber, tomato, jalapenos.

This is freshly weeded and de-spidered. Awaiting flowers for those boxes.

In the front, someone planted pretty rose bushes. I've been trying to keep the weeds away.

We also threw down a row of zinnia seeds and planted the hydrangea bush my dad gave me. I have so many ideas for next year- sunflowers and strawberries to start!

That's an update on the yard for now. Any tips from a greenthumb are welcome!