Yard work!

I love our house, I really do, but lately it has started giving me a stomach ache.  Since the warmer weather has set in, our yard has become a jungle again.  Having grown up in the country with a massive yard, I know it really isn't that big.  But it feels that big right now.

I have slowly, but surely, been working on getting all the beds weeded and cleared of debris (and then putting down a weed stop product to help in the future).  I've still not gotten around to all the beds yet and today I was depressed to realize that the first ones I did need some major attention again.  The sad thing is that the weed stop seems to be helping.

Our house is surrounded by natural areas on three sides -- two are wooded and the third is a lot that was cleared (probably 4 or 5 years ago when our lot was cleared) and is now a grassy, weedy mess.  I feel like our house is surrounded by a patch of light resistant devil's snare (FYI -- a reference to Harry Potter for you non HP fans out there).  Am I ever going to get this place under control?

We have thick patches in the front lawn of creeping charlie (which comes from the mint family), spurge and several other highly invasive weeds.  I have put down some herbicide, but I've also been (vainly) trying to pull as much as possible.  To help with this task, I have taken to paying the kids to help with weeds (I have 3 different buckets, all worth a different amount when full).  Reid is really quite good -- he is both quick and capable of getting just the weeds.  Ross is very thorough, but slow.  Lucy is worth nothing more than a bucket 1/2 full of grass dumped in a flower bed or on the driveway or in the grass (luckily she has a short attention span and spends little time "helping").

It rained here all day today, which is nice because, even though it will make the weeds grow, it gave me a day off from the incessant weed pulling.

Maybe in another 3 or 4 years we will have the yard beaten into submission.  Until then, I am highly considering hired help of the professional kind (and if you know Jeremy & I, then you know we don't usually hire help).

The good news is, however, that the front bed I re-did last summer looks quite nice.  I also managed to clean up a rather large bed by the road.  I really should try to get some pictures...maybe later this week, once the monsoons cease.