That new spot in our yard...
I'm not too shy to admit that I have many talents. However, there a two things at which I suck BIG time... Sewing and Landscaping. Really anything to do with yard work except for possibly the occassional lawn mowing is more than I wish to attempt. More often than not I spend my time envying the nicely landscaped yards of others and return to my own home filled with disappointment at its lack of lustre. In a world of 'Paris Hilton' lawns, mine is sadly the 'Amish Wife'. It's well maintained but nothing really pops!
Enter my friend LB. In the 2 yrs. she's lived in her home on the river, she's taken a plain jane grass expanse and turned into horticulture central. There's the fresh herbs growing between unique varities of plants. There's the area set aside for the rose garden with several varities and colors of roses entiwined around a lattice archway and a stone bench for just sitting and admiring the surrounding beauty. There are trees here and there, some with buds, all with beautiful leaves. And as you approach the front door to your left is a gorgeous pond with large goldfish and trickling fountain.
Yesterday LB, my daughter and I went nursery hopping. It's hard not to be with LB at a nursery and not get caught up in the possibilities. It would be absolutely impossible to drag my dear friend away from a nursery without a plant or tree or 5 or 6 something or others under each of her arms just waiting for the opportunity to burst forth in all their grandeur somewhere in her yard. So, I did it! I foolishly thought that I too could turn my little plot of nothing into something spectacular. Using my daughter, who seems to enjoy such pursuits as planting and watering as my excuse, I purchased $72 worth of decorative grasses and peat moss for our yard. Last night was spent figuring out where to plant it all. After the idea of making a special plot in the backyard was nixed we found ourselves right smack dab in the middle of the front yard forming a plot around our only tree of which I have no idea what brand or origin from which it hails.
After a mostly sleepless night and a 6:15am wake-up call from the dj on my clock radio reminding me that there's a heat warning in effect today, I somehow managed to propel myself from my mattress and made my way down the hall to my daughters room to encourage her to start our project before it got too hot. She tried to push me off until tomorrow but I reminded her that she has plans for Tuesday and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow our precious grasses to perish in the garage.
With shade from our house still covering the front lawn from the morning sun, my daughter and I with shovels in hand began the chore of clearing away the grass. Sounds so easy doesn't it? Clearing sod with a shovel. Let me explain how the first 30 seconds of our project went down. I was the first to try pushing my shovel into the thick grass. The resistance I met was SO great, I might as well have been digging up concrete. So my daughter decided to give it a try next. With exacting force she kicked against the shovel, only to have it sit in the same spot and delve no deeper into the soil. So, being young and filled with more energy than I was able to muster she lept into the air and slammed both feet against the shovel, only to have the damp soles of her shoes meet the smooth metal of the shovel thus sending her sailing backward and slamming down on the ground where her back met the metal edge of the shovel I had previously tossed aside. Oh man, did I feel bad... But my daughter felt worse. She's got a slight cut across her back to prove it.
After a brief stint of almost giving up, we went inside to compose ourselves. When we came back out it was with a new found strength and a definitive purpose. Come hell or high water we were gonna tear that grass out and realize the dream of a lovely landscape with ornamental grasses. 3 hrs. later that's just what we achieved... Well, not quite. We eventually cleared all the sod, with some help from my husband who's working from home today. Thankfully there were no other incidents involving pain except for the ones currently residing in my hands, legs, arms and back. We haven't planted our ornamental grasses yet but they're prettily perched in a wagon which sits just inside our giant (seems like 40 acres) sod free plot surrounding our tree of unknown heritage. At some point we're going to have to go out there and dig some holes and throw in some peat... But for now we'll just sit back and admire our effort. Oh, and we're trying to reach LB by phone today so we can let her know we've uncovered a nice plot in which to place her body after we kill her... Because she makes it all look SO damn easy!
Enter my friend LB. In the 2 yrs. she's lived in her home on the river, she's taken a plain jane grass expanse and turned into horticulture central. There's the fresh herbs growing between unique varities of plants. There's the area set aside for the rose garden with several varities and colors of roses entiwined around a lattice archway and a stone bench for just sitting and admiring the surrounding beauty. There are trees here and there, some with buds, all with beautiful leaves. And as you approach the front door to your left is a gorgeous pond with large goldfish and trickling fountain.
Yesterday LB, my daughter and I went nursery hopping. It's hard not to be with LB at a nursery and not get caught up in the possibilities. It would be absolutely impossible to drag my dear friend away from a nursery without a plant or tree or 5 or 6 something or others under each of her arms just waiting for the opportunity to burst forth in all their grandeur somewhere in her yard. So, I did it! I foolishly thought that I too could turn my little plot of nothing into something spectacular. Using my daughter, who seems to enjoy such pursuits as planting and watering as my excuse, I purchased $72 worth of decorative grasses and peat moss for our yard. Last night was spent figuring out where to plant it all. After the idea of making a special plot in the backyard was nixed we found ourselves right smack dab in the middle of the front yard forming a plot around our only tree of which I have no idea what brand or origin from which it hails.
After a mostly sleepless night and a 6:15am wake-up call from the dj on my clock radio reminding me that there's a heat warning in effect today, I somehow managed to propel myself from my mattress and made my way down the hall to my daughters room to encourage her to start our project before it got too hot. She tried to push me off until tomorrow but I reminded her that she has plans for Tuesday and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow our precious grasses to perish in the garage.
With shade from our house still covering the front lawn from the morning sun, my daughter and I with shovels in hand began the chore of clearing away the grass. Sounds so easy doesn't it? Clearing sod with a shovel. Let me explain how the first 30 seconds of our project went down. I was the first to try pushing my shovel into the thick grass. The resistance I met was SO great, I might as well have been digging up concrete. So my daughter decided to give it a try next. With exacting force she kicked against the shovel, only to have it sit in the same spot and delve no deeper into the soil. So, being young and filled with more energy than I was able to muster she lept into the air and slammed both feet against the shovel, only to have the damp soles of her shoes meet the smooth metal of the shovel thus sending her sailing backward and slamming down on the ground where her back met the metal edge of the shovel I had previously tossed aside. Oh man, did I feel bad... But my daughter felt worse. She's got a slight cut across her back to prove it.
After a brief stint of almost giving up, we went inside to compose ourselves. When we came back out it was with a new found strength and a definitive purpose. Come hell or high water we were gonna tear that grass out and realize the dream of a lovely landscape with ornamental grasses. 3 hrs. later that's just what we achieved... Well, not quite. We eventually cleared all the sod, with some help from my husband who's working from home today. Thankfully there were no other incidents involving pain except for the ones currently residing in my hands, legs, arms and back. We haven't planted our ornamental grasses yet but they're prettily perched in a wagon which sits just inside our giant (seems like 40 acres) sod free plot surrounding our tree of unknown heritage. At some point we're going to have to go out there and dig some holes and throw in some peat... But for now we'll just sit back and admire our effort. Oh, and we're trying to reach LB by phone today so we can let her know we've uncovered a nice plot in which to place her body after we kill her... Because she makes it all look SO damn easy!
Labels: absurdities, Good Friends, Projects
posted by EmBee at 10:09 AM
2 Comments:
i can help you with the sewing but i am even more hopeless than you where gardening is concerned. i consider it great success if a thing merely does nto die, i don't even consider looking good.
Figures that you can sew Lime... You crafty woman you! But the lack of gardening surprises me. I've always gotten the impression that you were indeed a woman drawn to the earth and it's potential to beautify and feed the world.
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