Heather's Garden

Well This Isn't Good

Remember the events that got us started gardening?  If you've gone way back and read my first post (though I wouldn't advise it, the early posts weren't very good) you know that we started on our garden adventure when we bought a new grill back in July of 2006.  The old girl held up pretty well over 5 years of heavy use, though apparently at some point this winter one of the doors fell off:

 

And there was some rust:

 

But she quit on us a week before Father's Day...while Lee was in the middle of cooking steaks for dinner.  It probably just needed replacement parts, but coupled with the broken door and the rust, we decided that it was time for a new one.  We worked a great sale at Lowe's and ended up getting a new grill for 20% off and after a delivery snafu, free delivery.  Here's Lee and SS2 on Father's Day with the new grill:

 

You may have noticed that it's on the patio and not next to the house anymore.  While it's terribly convenient to have the grill right outside the kitchen door, the shady side of the house is mosquito nation and frankly, we've really enjoyed have the walkway free (now we just need to clean it up):

  

And grilling has been a much more social activity for Lee since there is actually space for more than one person and chairs for everyone.  It will likely end up on the gravel patio and the wooden table and chairs down there will be reconfigured.  But the death of a grill after 5 years of heavy use was not the only problem in the garden over the last few weeks.  I don't know exactly what this is, but I found it on a potato plant:

  

And then these larvae appeared, which certainly look like Colorado potato beetle larvae to me.  I've found them on all but 2 of my potato plants and removed the sections where I found them and disposed of them, but I'm afraid I didn't find them all:

 

But the flowers on the Adirondack blue potatoes were truly beautiful (they're gone now):

 

And the smaller pots of fingerling potatoes along the drive looked great:

 

Until they didn't.  I think we'll be harvesting these shortly:

 

The container tomato plant I bought with fruit already on it is doing okay, but one of the early tomatoes had blossom end rot, so I disposed of it:

 

The foxgloves are all but gone now, this photo is from 9 days ago:

 

But there are some great things happening in the garden.  Flowering nasturtiums abound:

 

The raised herb bed looks great, even better than this week old photo shows:

 

The same with the zucchini, though I've already found 2 cucumber beetles:

 

I think it may be a banner year for the jalapenos:

 

We harvested some kale and Lee made a delicious kale salad from this recipe.  I went out on Sunday and picked a bunch more because we want to have it again, but this picture is from a week ago:

 

The weather has been weird, pouring rain, pouring rain, and oh, more pouring rain, then hot, hot, hot, and when it hasn't been raining and the sun hasn't been blazing, the mosquitoes have swarmed.  So I've had a bunch of plants sitting around waiting to be put into soil.  Many of the plants below are destined for the containers that will soon be emptied of potatoes, well hopefully the containers hold many potatoes:

 

As will these, except the marigolds that have to be planted in the tomato containers.  On the right are some cucumbers I picked up for a $1.  They look much better than the ones I've been growing from seed.  Also on that side are Scotch bonnet peppers, also $1.  I'm a little scared of them, but Lee loves hot, so I'll try growing them:

 

This week is supposed to be pretty clear and not too hot -- in the low 80s.  I'm hoping I can get some gardening done after work this week and get these poor plants in the soil.  What are your gardening plans for the week?

Not A Lot Of Gardening Going On Here

But a lot of outdoor living!  I am stuck inside on weekdays, but I keep my camera on the couch next to me and when I see a cool bird on the feeder I snap it:

 

But more often than not a blue-jay or a grackle come along and frighten it away:

 

But the red-bellied woodpecker returned:

 

On a Saturday trip to Walmart I splurged and bought a new bird-feeder.  You can probably tell by the photo that it's a good bit larger than the last one, which is why I bought it.  We were so tired of having to fill it on a daily basis:

 

There's been a lot of good eating.  Pork fried rice and some incredibly expensive and tasty halibut that Lee poached in some sort of cilantro/scallion concoction: 

 

But basically I'm wandering around enjoying the garden.  The foxgloves are stunning in person and just not photographing the way I wish they would:

  

Actually this one's pretty good:

 

And I'm having fun trying to figure out what the various plants are.  I think this is the millet in the mix:

 

But while some things look fantastic:

 

Wait, what's going on with the creeping jenny in this container:

 

I'm so not happy about this:

 

Sawfly larva.  I plucked and smashed 7 that day and another 3 since, but there could be more:

 

Friday afternoon our little garden helper came by for the afternoon.  He's always up for watering the garden, but here he's helping Lee pluck debris from the raised bed (huge winds last week):

 

We're extremely lacking in the rain department (I'll be setting up the sprinkler tomorrow because everything's super dry).  Look at that golden oregano droop.  I think it recovered after I watered it, frankly I forgot to check:

 

When I went to wind the hose I spotted this guy: 

I'm pretty sure it's the bug I watched come from the soil in one of my containers last week: 

 

What is it?

 

So loving the fish container with the creeping jenny.  This was an inspired idea if I do say so myself: 

 

The strawberry patch is also making me extremely happy:

 

I may very well be picking and eating this strawberry tomorrow:

 

There are so many berries that we're hopeful we'll get a few before the birds hit them hard:

 

On Sunday Lee mowed and tackled his last project in the garden, getting the brick/much area for the double-lounger cleaned up.  He weeded it and at my suggestion turned the bricks on their sides for better stability:

 

We've been enjoying having the driveway clear of the Adirondack chairs, so I positioned them in front of the potatoes between the lounger and the raised bed.  It's probably the sunniest spot in the garden and pretty level (Lee wasn't pleased I was taking his photo in his mowing outfit):

 

I love being more in the garden.  I may very well move that tiki torch.  See the sun tea brewing?  It's delicious:

 

More of the view from my chair:

 

Zooming in a little, but the angle is correct from my chair:

 

I really need to deadhead the irises: 

 

The sage in flower:

 

Pretty, but too much distraction from the tomato plant.  I turned the container so the bloom was right in front of the fence.  Better:

 

And though this container is very pretty I kept thinking there was space for something small and wouldn't some basil look good.  So I put one of the mystery basils in there.  We'll see:

 

On Monday I will deadhead the irises while I run the sprinkler in the back of the garden and then shift it up when I'm done.  The grass is doing fine where it's established, but the blank spots that we seeded aren't doing so great:

 

Oh and I have to go buy more potting soil for the potatoes which need hilling again.  I swear, we had better get a gigantic potato harvest!

Where To Start

On Sunday I walked in the March For Babies with some girlfriends.  I had to leave the house very early and in my rush out the door (not accustomed to leaving the house before 9am) I neglected to assign Lee chores.  I didn't need to worry.  I arrived home some 6 hours later (we brunched after the walk) to a very tired husband and some weeded beds.  The Mother's Day garden:

 

The hosta/rhododendron garden:

 

And he got every single leaf out of the lawn (he had left a huge pile over the winter and they were a bitch to get up).  Now we just have to mulch the various beds and watch them grow.  Speaking of growing...the first of the Swiss chard seedlings appeared that day in the pots along the driveway:

 

As did the first flowers on the phlox.  Pink on one plant:

 

And purple on the other.  Love the funky shape of the flower buds:

 

I saved the wire trellis from the patio tomato plant that I bought at Walmart last year and luckily it fit the one I bought last week.  Now in its home on the patio:

 

The other plants I bought that day have not found a home yet, but I am playing around with potential pots for them:

 

Tuesday brought the first potato plant poking through the soil.  I think we have plants or signs of plants in every container now:

 

On Wednesday I managed to talk Home Depot into honoring the $2.48/bag price they had over the weekend for 1 cubic foot Miracle Gro Garden Soil for flowers and vegetables (regularly $4.97/bag).  We stopped in on Saturday to get it along with the mulch that we did buy, but they had sold out of the bagged soil.  I think someone made a mistake and posted a lower price than they were supposed to, but regardless, I got all 16 bags for $42.06 or 37% off: 

 

Unfortunately in order to get that bargain price I had to go to Home Depot in the middle of a pouring rainstorm.  And then I carried all 16 bags to the back patio by myself.  I was soaked:

 

And there they sit still.  Life has conspired to keep me out of the garden all week.  Luckily the garden has continued right along without me.  This picture doesn't really show how pretty the strawberries are with their little white flowers or how perky the tall growth is, but boy they're making me happy:

 

I did find some time to stop today and pick up tomato and pepper starts which will be planted over the weekend.  And we have the raised beds to build and fill -- I think SS2 can be counted on to help with that on Sunday as part of the Mother's Day festivities.

Could It Actually Be Spring?

Mother Nature is playing with us I suspect.  In February she sent us several days in the 60s, but today it was only 20-something.  I guess March will be a lion.  On February 18th my buddy Ryan came over to hang out and it was so warm I had to take a walk with him.  Massive melting gave him all kinds of puddles to stomp through and rushing water in all the storm drains.  He had a ball:

 

Luckily traffic was light because he was so excited he ran as fast as he could until I'd yell at him to stop and let me catch up.  It was heaven being outside just wearing a hoodie over a t-shirt:

 

The warm temps have led to a lot of melting, but man, there is still a lot of snow out there (the rest of these pics were taken 3/3/11): 

 

This is the north side of the house, so this pile (reduced by half -- it used to be all the way to the bottom of the windows) will be around for a while: 

 

I haven't seen these planters (or that chair) since December:

 

I have a feeling that this berm (did you know that the word for a large pile of snow?) may be around until May:

 

One of the reasons I haven't posted in ages is because Lee and I have both been down with a virus since last Monday/Tuesday, hence the cough drops below next to evidence that the indoor plants haven't exactly flourished:

 

Here's some more evidence.  The coleus is probably the most successful of the window plants, but one of the containers of strawberries failed completely.  Still it was a little green to get us through a very long winter: 

 

Lee bought me a very nice plant for Valentine's Day.  I'm not certain what it is because it didn't have a label, but I'm pretty sure that it's a peace lily:

 

Still in the container that it came in above, but Lee came home and suggested we put it in the "magazine basket" we had used for another plant years ago.  Good idea, Lee:

 

I suddenly felt like it was spring today so I went out to the garden to see if I could find any signs of it despire the 20-something degree weather.  I may have been wearing a heavy winter coat and boots, but sure enough there were signs of spring to be found.  A daffodil in the patio garden:

 

And a sure sign of spring, chives in one of the herb containers:

 

I was so excited that I bought a seed starting greenhouse kit today at Walmart.  It's definitely that time of year.  A few more weeks and we'll be springing ahead and tidying up the garden! 

The Long Weekend

Heading into the long weekend I didn't have any plans other than to enjoy my garden since I was going under the knife early on Tuesday morning...that pesky gallbladder had to come out.  But then on Friday schedules gelled and all of a sudden I had something to do each day of the long weekend.  But Saturday morning was spent tidying up the garden in preparation for a small cook-out on Monday.  VPH gets the He-Man prize for weeding the hillside

While he got started, I made a quick trip to Walmart for Borax and spray bottles to make a solution to clean the chair cushions.  But I couldn't resist a hanging container of osteospermum at Walmart.  Remember that post in the driveway that was exposed when I cut down the large bush to get more sun on the plants in pots?  Not empty any longer:

I mean really, could you have passed these by?  I don't think so:

This may be calendar-worthy:

Then VPH and I both worked on cleaning up the cushions.  Here they are drying just a little bit more:

VPH also washed the patio really well:

It's officially summer now:

The lamium is blooming so prettily in this container:

 

I imagine that's how the cute little lamium plants popped up beneath it...seeds thrown from the flowers above last year:

 

I didn't notice them until VPH weeded though.  He also went to town on the huge maple stump.  Much better:

 

Carpenter bees are all over the garden, but I didn't see the damage from this one right away.  The sawdust on the cobweb drew my eye:

 

This was my view on Monday evening.  Our guests had left, I was happily full (and on my 2nd beer), the garden looked beautiful, and I had my feet up and a big book to read: 

 

I'm recovering pretty well from the surgery, but I'm tired and still a little sore.  The most frustrating thing is not even being able to water the garden.  But it's limited activity for only one week and most people feel better by then.  Everything else has gone exactly as predicted, so let's hope that does too!

IT ONLY TOOK A YEAR

Saturday brought another glorious day in southern CT.  It's forecast to be 77 here on Wednesday...77!  But then on Friday we'll go back down to the normal high 50s and low 60s.  It's really hard not to get ahead of myself in the garden.  So instead of playing with plants that don't need fussing (none of our perennials are ready for dividing), I decided it was time to finally turn our attention to finishing the shed.  You may recall that the shed was delivered last April and we finally assembled it in October.  Well we didn't get around to getting the plywood floor in before it got really cold, so we used a huge tarp we had on hand and locked it for the winter.  VPH emptied it all out:

 

And off we went to Home Depot for the floor.  Some complicated math (it just fit into our car cut into 4 pieces) and $50 later we had our floor.  Even better, it fit the shed perfectly:

 

Then the tough part of the project...cleaning out the old pop-up shed.  Something got into the birdseed over the winter, the roof ripped along the ridge-line, and well gross.  I'm just glad we had stored the chair cushions in the new shed for the winter:

 

We sorted into keep, give, and trash with me doing the grabbing inside the shed.  It took a while, but it was well worth the effort.  I moved the very last set of shelves towards the door of the empty shed and screamed:

 

Four mice:

 

They scurried around as frightened as I was:

 

We moved over to the patio to give them some space to escape, but they didn't go far.  I even poked at this one with a stick and it still wouldn't leave the marsh marigolds along the front of the shed:

 

VPH shoveled most of the seed out into the garbage and I threw this photo up on craigslist.  Someone's supposed to come pick it up on Tuesday.  I love it when people will come pick up our garbage!  I offered the tarp too, but not the bungee cords.

 

We decided that items that we used once or twice a year didn't need to be in the shed, so this stuff will go into the basement.  VPH loves that rake, but it's too tall for the shed:

 

Look how much we got in there and how nice and spacious it feels:

 

The chair cushions take up a lot of space, but we had room for the leftover plywood from the 2 sheets we had to buy, our large garden tools, and the lawnmower:

Then we have outdoor living items like the chairs in a bag, large serving dishes, furniture covers, pinon wood, scrap wood for the firepit, candles, citronella torch fuel, smaller garden tools, and tucked into the corner the leaf-blower/sucker and weed-whacker:

Some landscape fabric and the ridiculously large tarp are drying out on the gravel patio:

 

We still have to do something with all of this stuff behind the shed.  Some of the containers will be used for potatoes, some for compost, but a good bit of the haphazard compost pile will be dug out and used for the new raised bed we'll be building soon.  I'd like to replace it with this fun project I found, but modified to fit the space:

 

And then I celebrated the end of a very productive day with the first fire of 2010: 

I have a feeling I'll be sitting out there again soon!
  

WRITING THIS WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN

And I can't tell you how much I'm loving it!  It's been absolutely glorious here since Friday.  I'm starting to get tan!  More importantly, I have completed garden clean-up and I've got a nice blank canvas ready for planting:

 

And VPH mowed the lawn/marsh marigolds:

And cleaned up the patio (I cleared out the herb barrel saving any perennial herbs that survived the winter):

All the better to enjoy our awesome bulb border:

And the pretty marsh marigolds in bloom until the leaves on the trees fill in and they die:

I'm so loving the tulips (now appearing in yellow and orange):

That I can't stop photographing them:

I find it so peaceful sitting on the patio staring at this border, listening to the wind chimes, and watching the grasses move in the wind.  I wanted to share the experience with you, so I've uploaded a short video here.

Someone still has to weed this bed, though you can see that the hostas have come back, and the fence is down.  The reed fence we bought was too see-through and we won't be using it.  I think we're just going to have to deal with seeing the neighbors since we can already hear them:

In the perennial shade garden I've got bleeding hearts:

 

And fiddle-heads:

 

VPH has lots and lots of stuff to cut into small pieces for compost:

 

The grill is back in its proper location, but I can't get over how different the space feels without those 3 trees.  Granted, the leaves and brush haven't filled in yet and the marsh marigolds have yet to die:

 

But just compare it to what it used to look like:

Much bigger now, no? 

I just watched the weather for Tuesday, 80s at home, 90s at the office (62 miles north).  This is just odd for CT in April.  Then we're back down to the 60s (normal for this time of year) on Wednesday and hopefully then I won't feel so much like I'm behind on my gardening.

MY FAVORITE PART OF THE GARDEN

This month's Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop topic is Decks, Porches, and Patios.  Like that old question "If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound if no one is there to hear it?"...I ask, "If you have a garden and no where to sit and look at it...?"  Well you get the point.  That is why my patio is my favorite part of the garden.  We actually have two patios, one concrete and one gravel (which we seem to have named the "gravel pit"):

The concrete patio is the one that we refer to as our "patio" as it is the original (in my first post ever I wrote about how it came to be).  We spend a lot of time on it in nice weather -- and even sat through a 10-minute rain shower on it recently:

This is a view of the patio from the gravel pit (where the gazebo used to reside before it died in the December ice storm).  Note the herb garden on the bottom left of the photo.  It's one of my favorite subjects to photograph from the comfy chairs around the firepit table.  As an aside, I cannot figure out why the windows were placed in this configuration when they put the addition on the house:

The wildflower patch is another favorite photography subject from the patio:

This is our view as we walk around the corner of the house into the garden.  It's pretty obvious when I look at this that I designed the entire garden while sitting on the patio: 

 

This is the view from the chair I sit in most often.  Look how big those zucchini are getting:

I chose to plant the hydrangea on the left where I could see it from the patio, which is how it ended up in a not-so-great location that gets too much afternoon sun:

I can also stare straight at the wall o' plants from here.  Lest you think that all the plants are located for prime viewing from the patio, these are here because it's one of the only places they get a lot of sun and VPH doesn't have to move them every time he mows (and isn't his grass looking wonderful?): 

I can even see my lonely tiger lily at the back of the garden between the 2 trellises made from the corner supports of the deceased gazebo (using the zoom setting on my camera): 

I have one bone of contention re: the patio...we have an incredibly loud neighbor with small children (girls who scream all freaking day long, and parents who scream at each other all freaking night long).  They live on the other side of this oh so attractive bamboo fence which we installed (precariously) so we didn't have to stare at them although we're stuck listening to them:

So clearly the patio plays a huge role in my garden.  From hours spent plotting the next garden move to meals with friends, it's by far my favorite part of the garden.

R.I.P. GAZEBO

Do you think it's a problem that I tell a lot of stuff to R.I.P. here?  On Monday afternoon VPH and younger step-son (both home due to April school vacation) helped me to disassemble the gazebo.  If you're wondering why we would disassemble the gazebo you obviously missed this post. 

The table's wet because it was covered in rusty water and sludge, so VPH cleaned it off.  When the gazebo collapsed, it gouged the table pretty good.  I'm trying not to let it bother me:

I didn't win the pergola on Ebay, and I'm not sure what to do.  I think a large umbrella might do the trick, but I really want a pergola.  The guy in NJ selling the previous pergola just put another up for auction, so I emailed him and asked if he has more and would he be willing to sell me one directly.  We'll see what he says.  But the poor table and chairs look so lonely now and it's sure not a garden room anymore:

I was right, the top of the gazebo is a good size for throwing over the firepit table.  After it dries off I'll clean it up and seal the hole in the middle:

I spotted a flash of blue off in the distance while the men did the heavy labor:

I've never seen these out there before, but this is the first year that the yard hasn't been completely covered in leaves come spring.  Can one of you knowledgeable readers identify these flowers for me?  [The answer was scilla siberica.]

They're not too far away from the day lilies, which VPH has promised not to mow this year now that we know they're there.  I suspect this portion of the yard was once a pretty little garden:

And most exciting of all -- I've got hostas in the perennial shade garden:

Both are looking good so far:

I have to admit that I squealed in delight when I brushed away the leaves to find actual plants growing.  Tax Day will be all about finishing the garden clean-up and getting my seeds started.

Hardscaping Continues

After many weeks of estimates and redesigns back and forth we were both happy with the price and the design and John started work on the last day of April.  It was only going to be a 1 day job and boy was I sad when he pulled his bobcat into the back yard and started tearing up the sod that we had fretted over so last August.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the earth he was digging up was a beautiful dark color and full of worms.  On the south side of the house next to the patio where the wildflowers are located the earth is clay more than anything else.  On the west side of the house (by the grill and flagstone walkway) it's also clay mixed with more tree roots than I could previously imagine.  On the east side of the house it's really sandy.  But if I ever want to plant something in the ground in the middle of the yard, it would grow!

Our landlord came by to see the work on day 1.  She asked us to get John to put together an estimate for tearing up the old asphalt parking space and putting down gravel on the side of the house and in the front for the 3 parking spaces (2 of which were previously on bare earth or mud/ice all winter and mud/dirt all summer).  She must have liked the price he gave her because she told him to go ahead with the job.  John used the old asphalt and such to reshape the land around the side of the house and the entrance to the yard, scraping back the topsoil, burying the debris, and placing the top soil back on top.  I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process because it really was fascinating.  I also wish I had a before picture so you could see what a difference it makes, but this should illustrate the phenomenal improvement...2 neighbors have come by and said, "Is this really 4 Blank Street?"  It's that different.  (Pardon the fake address, but you never know who's looking at stuff on the web.)

John finished the job on May 5th, we headed to a Yankee game, Clemens announced he was coming back, and we came home to the other happy news that the torn up areas of the yard had been seeded and covered in straw.  Have you ever sat and watched grass grow?  We had to water twice a day and not walk on any portion of the lawn that was slowly coming up.  We soon started walking all the way around the perimeter of the yard to get to the 2 sheds and the container vegetable garden that I planted somewhere around this week.  This is the reason I started this blog, I can't remember when I planted anything!  It was a very long 4 weeks of watering, avoiding the grass, and imagining what my conversation pit would look like once the gazebo and furniture were set up. 

Next up, actual plants will be incorporated into the garden!

Winter Scheming

I didn't spend that much time over the winter thinking about what to do with the yard (don't believe everything VPH says), but I had a few ideas.  I found out that we were getting a larger than expected tax refund in early March and my imagination went wild.  I love shopping on-line and I'm particularly fond of the W Mart site -- low prices without the unpleasant experience of walking into the store and fighting the teeming masses.  The only drawback to enjoying the patio in August/September had been the swarm of mosquitoes that attacked every evening.  If only there was something that would allow us to enjoy the outdoors but would keep us separate from the bugs. 

Sure there are those tent rooms with no floor that you zip your self into, but have you ever seen one that wasn't butt ugly?  I'm sure they're very functional and all, but I just couldn't see us in one, plus VPH, who usually goes with the flow, had vetoed this structure out of hand.  Something had to be done though and I mounted a concerted effort to find a solution. 

Then I found this on the W Mart site.  Isn't it lovely?  It's a gazebo/it's a screened in structure.  I love things that are atheistically pleasing and functional!  So it went on the must have list and as long as we're getting it, we really need some furniture to go in it.  Wait, where are we going to put it?  Remember the patio is awesome, but it's also already covered in furniture and I love my fire pit table and probably shouldn't use it under a canvas awning.  We need another level spot in the yard!

Initially my idea was to have the whole yard graded and re-seeded.  I started getting bids and again, way too much money for a rental.  I approached my landlord about possibly splitting the cost, but this time they weren't interested.  I started revising my idea to a smaller scale and working with the one contractor who was responsive, helpful, and reasonably priced, my pal John (I'm happy to share his company name and contact info if anyone has a project they need a guy and heavy duty equipment for).  Together we came up with the idea of a 15' x 15' gravel pit. 

I started calling it the conversation pit, but I was the only one who could see it.  My landlord has repeatedly said, you do what you want, but I don't think a big pile of rocks in the middle of the grass is going to look good.  To which I really wanted to say, you see any grass out there woman?  But I'm trying to be a nicer person.  Here's the sketch that I made for John.  Ironically, this is pretty much what we ended up with, but for some reason I didn't know where the spigot was located on the side of the house -- not where it is in my drawing -- and don't laugh at my horrible drawing ability or my sense of scale, or rather lack thereof.

The Beginning

NOTE: I'm a read from the beginning kind of girl too.  I've left these old posts here because I like the record of the garden, but damn, they're boring.  Hang in there, I promise the writing and photography gets better!

In early July 2006 we purchased a new grill. I sent my very patient husband (VPH) out the side door to clean up a space for a few concrete pavers so we could keep the new grill reasonably level and clean while we figured out what to do next.  I'm embarrassed to say that the old grill was leveled courtesy of a cinder block (not too ghetto).  The whole yard was on an insane slope, more on that later.  VPH did as requested and came back inside 15 minutes later. 

"You have to come see what I found."  With visions of rat babies dancing in my head (did I mention how ghetto it was on the side of the house?), I followed him outside.  Under about 4-5 inches of dirt and tree roots he had uncovered a flagstone.  "Wow," I said, "I guess someone else had a grill out here at some point.  Hopefully it will be big enough for ours."

The next day I came home to find him hacking away at the tree roots with an axe and a few feet of a flagstone walkway cleared.  Several weeks later we had a flagstone walkway that ran from the parking area in front of the house to about 2/3 the length of the house where it suddenly turned under the foundation.  We knew that the back half of the house was an addition, so our theory is that when they added to the house they decided it wasn't worth saving the walkway (which probably led to a patio that's under the house now) and covered it up instead. 

VPH added the big stones on the border and I added in river pebbles to finish the look.

This was lovely, but it only served to remind me that the yard was unusable.  My step-sons were no longer interested in throwing a ball around with VPH (they were 16 and 20) and we really had no grass.  As you faced the yard from the back of the house it sloped from right to left about 10 feet over 30 feet -- I hope you're envisioning a yard without a single flat surface because that's what we had. 

We solicited bids for a concrete patio, but were appalled with what contractors were asking for a 15' x 15' patio with a sidewalk to where the flagstone walkway turned under the house (about 15 more feet).  One wanted $3,000!  I can be an idiot, but even I'm not dumb enough to spend that kind of money on a patio for a rental!  A friend's boyfriend had just started a landscaping business and came through with a very reasonable price for us and we went ahead with our landlord's permission.  They graciously ended up splitting the cost with us and paid to extend the concrete sidewalk and put in concrete steps to the side door which you can see at the bottom of the photo above/right.  I know, I know, it's a rental, but what we paid for the patio was less than what we pay a month for rent and it's been nearly a year now and we've used the patio almost every day for 9 out of the last 12 months.

Shortly after the patio was poured in early-August 2006 we installed sod around it (leaving an empty rectangle between the patio and the house for a future wildflower patch) and then left on vacation for a week in Stowe, VT (great vacation spot summer or winter).  Our upstairs neighbor, who never used the backyard before the great adventure and still doesn't, generously watered the sod for us twice a day for a whole week!  We came home to green grass and then a week later threw a picnic. 

Here's my first trial and error glaring error: in a rush to prep the patio for company we put down river rocks the length of the concrete walkway from the side door stairs to the end of the patio -- here's the kicker -- without putting landscape fabric beneath them.  Huge mistake.  VPH and eldest step-son spent a whole day this spring raking up all the rocks, separating them from the dirt and weeds and then putting them back in place -- on top of 2 layers of landscape fabric this time.  I made other mistakes along the way (and am sure I will continue to do so), but that was the worst so far. 

The picnic was great and we enjoyed our patio for the rest of the summer, fall, and incredibly warm winter.  I read a book and drank a glass of wine on the patio on Christmas day, but winter returned with a vengeance in February and by Easter (typical Christmas-time sleeting rain weather), we were ready for spring.  But the yard was still chock full of weeds and sloped incredibly.  I spent the entire winter plotting for the spring.  I think if VPH had known what the spring would bring, he might have run away during the winter.