I had some time and helpers!

We worked in the backyard today and cleaned up the patio. My helpers stayed for maybe 40 minutes before they gave up and went inside. It was hot and humid, but now we can walk around the table and it's finally clean enough to enjoy a meal out there again. In the background, you can see my ferns have gotten huge, the blue gingers are looking straggly, and the ti leaf and crotons need to be trimmed down. I hate just throwing away good plants, so I'll have to make cuttings. Which means I need a place to keep my babies while they root. SIGH>>>> I make so much work for myself.

Eventually, I want to make a grill cover, but that will have to wait till I finish some curtains for my home. Anyway, I think we will plan a family dinner outside this weekend.

Weed Killer or not?

NOT! My DH offers to help IF he can use weed killers to get rid of the weeds. I said I'd do it myself. I refuse to use weed killers in my yard no matter how "safe" they say it is. Roundup is supposedly safe to use and biodegradable. I've found research that suggests it may not be as safe as claimed. Whatever the verdict is, I prefer to keep my children and the environment safe.

Click here for an article from Scientific American about Roundup.

Yes, my yard has lots of weeds, and I'll get to them a little bit at a time. But I have a plan to keep the weeds down to a minimum. Yes, it'll be tons of work. Yes, it'll take lots of time. And Yes, it'll have to be done slowly, one baby step at a time. My yard might NEVER get completed, but my family will be living in a non-toxic environment.

July's update picture

This is the view from my front window now... Much better than when we started. I moved the little mandarin plant into a shadier spot and it seems to be recovering. And my cheap $0.78 dahlias and blue flowers (what is that?) should help ad some instant color. My yellow callas might be coming up soon, looks like one of them is breaking ground. Looks like it's time to cut the grass again and get more work done on the rest of the yard.

So I'll work a little on this spot and make sure I also spend time maintaining the rest of the yard. The strip along the street is looking really bad again, but I want to redo that one too.

Making a bit of progress

It's the beginning of July and I've made a little bit of progress. Pictures will come in the next post... really. It's just too dark to take them right now and I didn't realize I didn't have my card in my camera this afternoon. DUH.

The little section along the wall is starting to take shape. I have a few callas planted, though I'm still waiting for some of those rhizomes to come up. Yesterday afternoon, there was a mongoose playing amongst my callas... I thought he was going to kill them so I chased him out. He was rolling over the leaves and chewing on them. It'll look pretty empty till the callas grow in, I'm considering planting some dahlias or something till they do. Then I'll move them into the future flower garden in the backyard.

The gardenias are looking good. I hope they grow here. I had a couple planted by the front porch, but they died. And it looks like the little mandarin plant will need to be moved. I got it at the Urban Garden plant sale for $1.00, so if it doesn't make it, I won't feel bad. But it's so pretty with it's orange middle... I'll have to dig it up and move it to a more shady spot.

And of course, I finally got all 3 arecas in. I will have to start doing this in the evening since it's starting to get really hot out there during the day... Except coming home at 8pm doesn't leave much time for me to get out there and work.

Gosh... I can't believe it took me 5 months to get this little bit done. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have the whole front yard finished.