Gardening = No Fun

Don't get me wrong. I like gardens. I enjoy other people's flowers and landscaping and appreciate their efforts. I just don't enjoy planting and maintaining my own.

Last week I was consumed with a gardening project I have put off for years. Our backyard bed was an eyesore that has been overgrown far too long. (Our front yard landscaping has always come first.) Off and on I've weeded it, making improvements, but never completely tackled because the amount of work needed was THAT overwhelming. To make matters worse, our house isn't completely fenced, so passersby could see our mini jungle from the street.

What finally motivated me? I just met the neighbors whose house faces our backyard - poor souls. I pointed out where we lived and had to apologize on the spot for our out-of-control garden. The embarrassment alone got me into gear to do the project right.

Over three days we completely gutted the center, put down a liner to prevent weeds and filled in the open space with ten bags of mulch. (This mulch calculator estimated perfectly.) Thank you, Tony Horton - without P90X, I would have thrown out my back loading the mulch in my car alone - that stuff is heavy. My Mom also dropped everything one night to come watch the kids so I could enlist Brien's help to finish digging out the home stretch. Let's face it, men are just better cut out for manual labor. He accomplished twice what I did in half the time.

While our landscaping still isn't anything spectacular - we won't ever be selected Yard of the Month - I definitely feel a weight lifted after the countless hours spent pulling weeds or thinking about needing to since we've lived here. My yard work isn't done, as it never is, but I'm hoping the liner will at least make future efforts manageable. Next, I may even add some low maintenance plants, though maybe that would be too ambitious... I can't kill the rocks I have there now.