Our Yard | South-side Backyard Fence

You may remember that a few weeks ago I tackled the project of ripping out the weeds on our south-side fence. I’ve been working on it steadily, but still joke that I have more weeds in my garden then desirable plants! Sadly, it is true.

Here’s a reminder of the start of June:

Here’s our work-in-progress as it stands last week:

• Note the laundry basket. My sister accidentally left it at my house during her cross-country move. I repurposed it as a weed collector.
• Another row of black fabric material has gone down after I pulled as many of the weeds and violets as possible.
• One shepherd’s hook has been moved closer to the fountain and four more have been installed. Added were wire baskets that I picked up for $1 each at a garage sale. I’ll be putting in coconut fiber or something similar and planting the tall hooks. I’m not sure what to do with the short hooks yet. I want to plant nasturtium to climb up each set of shepherd’s hooks.
• Right now, the “living fence” is empty. That’ll change soon though (see below). Look this week for a post on how we made our “living fence” and the plants within it with which we are experimenting.

Thank you Baker Creek Seeds for the free gift of the carrots. I planted them immediately.

An Aside…

I always thought that I’d move into a house and the next week I’d have a gorgeous yard with little to no effort. Then, when I started gardening, I was put off by the amount of work it took when you are eking out a few precious minutes per day to weed, plant, harvest, dig in new beds. I was ashamed to show people where I stood with my projects, since it looks nothing like Better Homes & Gardens.

But, I’ve taken a different viewpoint. This is a work in progress. In ten years it’ll be gorgeous, but for right now it’s not. I’m okay with that. Until I put the work in it wouldn’t even be a possibility. So while I endure the ugliness, I remember that soon it’ll be beautiful. AND… it would help if I could find some steenkin’ wood chips.

Want to keep up on the “Our Yard” series? Read the other posts here.