Our Backyard (Spring 2014)

We've lived in our house for one year now. Thankfully, things are good- nothing major has broken, leaked, or needed to be replaced. Thank you, Lord. We've done lots of minor projects, like paint the living room and bathroom and add a storm door, but nothing major inside the house. We've been much more focused on the yard.

We have 1/2 acre, and I am grateful for lots of space. Unfortunately, it's almost all hill and has very poor soil quality. Still, we are doing to the best we can with what we have, and even better, we are enjoying it!

So, here's an update on our yard, as of this spring.

First of all, Behn is continuing the fence.

We chose a split rail fence (2 rail posts) and he is also putting in a nice wire mesh to keep the boys in the yard. This is a huge project. We had estimates done to have the fence completed for us, but quickly knew that it would be something we had to do on our own. He's probably about 1/8 of the way done. Due to the magnitude of our yard and constricted finances, it's a slow project, but we have fenced in a small area in the flat(ish) side yard and if one of us sits out there to guard the open side, the kids can play in that space with relative safety. I can already feel my heart rate decreasing, now that there is at least some barrier between the road and my little bolting colts.

Can I also say that Behn mows this entire hilly expanse with a push mower? We've got to be the only ones in the neighborhood that don't have a riding mower, but the cool thing is that Behn likes mowing and never complains about it! Oh, and he likes building the fence, too. I'm glad I have a husband who doesn't mind yardwork- I daresay he enjoys it.

(Below) I'm grateful for this grove of trees on the back of our property. It's shady and cool back there in the mornings and the boys love rooting around for acorns and sticks. If we get chickens, a coop will fit nicely back there.

As the fence is Behn's project, seeding this little area (below) with grass has been mine. All last year, this spot remained bald and weedy. Since it's right off the deck and the kids play here, I thought it would be nice to have some soft grass. I threw down some sod and seeds and now it's much better. It's still patchy and I want to expand it even more and add mulch, but this is a good start.

The Gardens

My favorite thing is the garden areas. Having a hill has been hard, but we've found lots of little spots to plan pretty flowers and life-giving vegetables.

^ These are daisies (purple and white). Looking forward to them blooming.

^ Hydrangea returned and I planted a row of sunflowers.

^ Hardy mums stood by their name and are growing back nicely.

^ This is our vegetable garden. I tried to make sure I wasn't over-ambitious and prone to giving up on it. It doesn't look like much, but there are 7 tomato plants, 6 pepper plants, several varieties of squash, basil, and 4 bean plants. Everything seems happy and growing so far.

I often get discouraged by our yard. I have a million ideas and it's been so hard to garden with little ones, especially since the fence is not done. But I have to tell myself, "You've done a lot in one year and you'll add more each year. It doesn't all have to be done right now." Hard for someone like me to be patient, but it sure pays off.

I will say this, though. Gardening and yard maintenance is more expensive than I wish. Almost everything costs money. Fence costs (a lot) of money. Seeds cost money. Sod costs money. Tomato cages cost money. Mulch costs money. Plants cost money. It really adds up. We still don't have a shed and we need to find a second-hand weed whacker. I think it's an investment, though. We're adding value to our property and teaching our kids how important it is to care for the earth and find joy in being outdoors. And hopefully over time, costs will decrease (gather our own seeds, compost on our own to add to soil, buy things at end-of-season on sale).

For what it's worth, I'm proud of our yard.

P.S. I didn't post the front yard, because I'm not as happy with the front beds yet. Maybe once the zinnias bloom I can write about that.