(soon to be retired)
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A deck with a view, or two
When I stand on my back deck (which is up 1-1/2 stories from the ground because our house is built on a slope, and the first story is almost at ground level out front, but in back it's up about 1-1/2 stories), and if I look to my right, into the neighboring back yard, this is what I see:
And then I turn my head 180 degrees and look to the left at our back yard, this is what I see:
Two totally different scenes, no? Our garden is just growing along at its own speed, sometimes too fast for us to keep up with it. Paul does a decent job of trying to keep some of the bushes under control, but he's not a gardener at heart and he only gets out there to tame the wild gardens occasionally.
On the other hand, looking off to the right, into the neighboring back yard, there is an official "garden" where they grow food. Very economical, very prudent to grow your own food. But what a sight! I think I'd rather buy my food at the store and have my back gardens to gaze upon than the one in the neighboring property. It's just such a jumble of stuff. Tools, implements, and oh the noise when the rototiller is going! Ooof! My poor ears! Not conducive to a quietude that I yearn for here. I have to admit that the noise level coming from that yard has diminished slightly over the last year. When that big square vegetable garden was being made, the rototilling was interminable. I don't know how the plants had any nutrients left after that poor dirt got rototilled for hours and hours on end. Over and over again. I've read you are only supposed to till the land a litle bit, to leave the living organisms intact so the plants will have nutrients from which to grow. I can't believe the soil over there is alive anymore after all the tilling that has gone on.
But that's just me. I used to be the gardener here until it got so I just couldn't physically do it any more. Now Paul tries his best, with the little free time he has, to keep up with the growth of things in the garden, trimming tree branches and shrubs, weeding a little bit at a time but not nearly enough. That's OK. I don't mind weeds. They are God's living creatures, too. Just like the flowering trees we admire and love, the weeds have their own beauty.
This corner garden out front just grows at its own pace. It needs serious tending to but Paul just never seems to get around to it. I don't mind, though. I like things growing up willy-nilly like this. That plant above with little flowers just appeared there one year and I think it's mint or catnip or something like that. We don't have a cat so can't test it out. It may be a mint plant. I probably should harvest some of its leaves and use them for tea!
Above is that same corner garden taken from farther away. The large bushes that outline it are burning bushes that we planted maybe 10 or more years ago. We never thought they'd grow that big! Paul really needs to prune them down quite a bit. You can't even see our porch because of those monsters.
Above is what it looked like several years ago, when it had more structure and was a lot younger. You can see those burning bushes as small plants then, and now look how big they have gotten.
And over along the property line, I especially love the various bushes we've planted there to obscure the neighboring property from sight.
Holly bushes, barberry bushes, some azaleas near the front by the street, and a few other things along our property line keep the garden a little more secluded. We used to have 3 pine trees that we planted out in the far front left-hand corner by the street and those things grew so tall so fast that we finally cut them down. I kind of miss them now but they ruined the lawn out there with their root system so I guess we're better off without them now. I have a picture of them somewhere, maybe I'll go look for it.
So that's about it. Just trying to stay cool in this heat wave we've been having. It's not overwhelming right now but I have my trusty A/C's going and am very comfortable inside. I think I'll take the dogs out front now, to stretch their legs, do their business, and just sit in my chair out there and groove on the loveliness of summer.
Cheers,
Bex
2003 - 2007 Archives at Diaryland
2007 - 2009 Archives at WordPress
2009 Archives at JournalScape
2010 Archives at JournalScape
2011 Archives at JournalScape
2012 Archives at JournalScape
And then I turn my head 180 degrees and look to the left at our back yard, this is what I see:
Two totally different scenes, no? Our garden is just growing along at its own speed, sometimes too fast for us to keep up with it. Paul does a decent job of trying to keep some of the bushes under control, but he's not a gardener at heart and he only gets out there to tame the wild gardens occasionally.
On the other hand, looking off to the right, into the neighboring back yard, there is an official "garden" where they grow food. Very economical, very prudent to grow your own food. But what a sight! I think I'd rather buy my food at the store and have my back gardens to gaze upon than the one in the neighboring property. It's just such a jumble of stuff. Tools, implements, and oh the noise when the rototiller is going! Ooof! My poor ears! Not conducive to a quietude that I yearn for here. I have to admit that the noise level coming from that yard has diminished slightly over the last year. When that big square vegetable garden was being made, the rototilling was interminable. I don't know how the plants had any nutrients left after that poor dirt got rototilled for hours and hours on end. Over and over again. I've read you are only supposed to till the land a litle bit, to leave the living organisms intact so the plants will have nutrients from which to grow. I can't believe the soil over there is alive anymore after all the tilling that has gone on.
But that's just me. I used to be the gardener here until it got so I just couldn't physically do it any more. Now Paul tries his best, with the little free time he has, to keep up with the growth of things in the garden, trimming tree branches and shrubs, weeding a little bit at a time but not nearly enough. That's OK. I don't mind weeds. They are God's living creatures, too. Just like the flowering trees we admire and love, the weeds have their own beauty.
This corner garden out front just grows at its own pace. It needs serious tending to but Paul just never seems to get around to it. I don't mind, though. I like things growing up willy-nilly like this. That plant above with little flowers just appeared there one year and I think it's mint or catnip or something like that. We don't have a cat so can't test it out. It may be a mint plant. I probably should harvest some of its leaves and use them for tea!
Above is that same corner garden taken from farther away. The large bushes that outline it are burning bushes that we planted maybe 10 or more years ago. We never thought they'd grow that big! Paul really needs to prune them down quite a bit. You can't even see our porch because of those monsters.
Above is what it looked like several years ago, when it had more structure and was a lot younger. You can see those burning bushes as small plants then, and now look how big they have gotten.
And over along the property line, I especially love the various bushes we've planted there to obscure the neighboring property from sight.
Holly bushes, barberry bushes, some azaleas near the front by the street, and a few other things along our property line keep the garden a little more secluded. We used to have 3 pine trees that we planted out in the far front left-hand corner by the street and those things grew so tall so fast that we finally cut them down. I kind of miss them now but they ruined the lawn out there with their root system so I guess we're better off without them now. I have a picture of them somewhere, maybe I'll go look for it.
So that's about it. Just trying to stay cool in this heat wave we've been having. It's not overwhelming right now but I have my trusty A/C's going and am very comfortable inside. I think I'll take the dogs out front now, to stretch their legs, do their business, and just sit in my chair out there and groove on the loveliness of summer.
Cheers,
Bex
2007 - 2009 Archives at WordPress
2009 Archives at JournalScape
2010 Archives at JournalScape
2011 Archives at JournalScape
2012 Archives at JournalScape
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