Harvesting

I wish we loved radishes as much as we them.

 

YouTube said we could fix the fact that we had a pallet under our porch step as another step due to some serious slope issues around here. 

And they were right!

But I'll never do that again. 

Step one.  Remove the sod because we had plans for that, which is a different story. 

Then you rent the red tractor to begin filling the hole. Most people would be digging down to build the patio foundation, but we had opposite problems as usual.  It was a concoction of YouTube videos really.

Tamp it all down. 

Tamp it all down again. 

Sprain your ankle after forgetting that you took out that last step in preparation for burying it. 

But you keep working because you took the week off, and there are things we've committed to now.

Then have two-days of morning freeze with a rain storm during the one week you took off  work to do this project. 

Then, have a whole bunch of gravel, and sand, and rip-rap (another story yet) delivered on the day you can't rent that red tractor again because the wheel is broke. 

So you hook the gorilla cart up to the John Deer and you get to work. 

And you form the patio in a 30 degree morning, so you can be working on gravel in relative warmth in the afternoon. 

Pause.  

Enjoy Easter. 

Find a tractor to rent no matter the size.

No fence was harmed in the performance of this project, amazingly. 

Put your son to work cutting the stones.

Because when I am in charge of stones, things go wrong. 

Work to the point that you no longer take pictures of anything because you just want to be done. 

 YouTube was right, but they shouldn't have said it was easy...

 

Nightfall

She fell down. 

But we ate around the fire the other night, and it was lovely to be outside after dark again. 

 

Growing Around Here

Our collection of garden boxes

Which are filled with magical soil. 

That arrives in large dump trucks. 

But grows my hyacinth for morning breezes!

And poppies from my dad.

 

Growing Here

Morning coffee with my hyacinth is coming.  I can feel it. 

 

Also sown, all the seeds from my dad's garden.  We'll see how they fare. 

 

Confusion

My transplanted day lilly wants to bloom.

Composting

Now we have a composter with stirring paddles, a dumping station, and spinning wheels. 

Now we have discussions daily over what is allowed to go into the composting bin.  It is a surprisingly opinionated area. 

That's Better

July 2020. 

We painted, a lot.

Then sometime after that, we stained the columns and cleaned the place up. 

But, we couldn't stop there. 

"Mom?  What's all the wood in the garage for?"

A weekend project, of course.

We do have lots of hand around here. 

That's better.  

Still Growing

We're still pulling beans and peppers out of the garden as November begins. 

In anticipation of gardening finally ending at some point, Patric has been working at a composting bin for the backyard.  It is reminding me of wasp nests and my father every day.  We'll see how it goes.

Growing Around Here

The Corn plant is taller than most all of us now. 

Basil roars back to life. 

Maple tree in the flower garden...

A few late summer bean blooms. 

Which made for some pretty good beans. 

Oregano from my dad's place. 

And a hibiscus that doesn't yet realize it is mid-October. 

Blooming Here

Well into October our impatiens, daisies, and marigolds are showing off. 

I guess they love all the water we've been pouring into the grass around here. 

Outside Around Here

Bluebird on my window.

Texas Star Hibiscus

Last splashes

And fall color arrives.

We're ready.

The Backyard

We recently had the weeds torn out and had the lawn seeded in our backyard. 

The front yard in the foreground, solid.

The backyard a barren waste.

Then it started to arrive. 

And now I think the back looks better than the front!