Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Memorial Day Weekend Yardwork on Steroids

Ok so I didn't get the bathroom makeover. It seems the toilet fix wasn't expensive enough to justify making sure we didn't have to do it again once remodel time came around. When we decide to remodel the bathrooms we can afford another $5 toilet part. BUT!!! This weekend I did get something I have been wanting for a very long time!

It all started when the weather outside decided to correct itself and stared acting like how I think it should all year round. I decided it was NOT a day for being inside with the laundry and dishes. Instead I decided to play outside. Dan called me on his lunch break to see how my day was going and this is pretty much how the conversation went:

Dan- "How's your day going?"
Me- "Well... (hesitantly) it's going I guess,  I am making a mess."
Dan- "how is that?"
Me- (nonchalantly) "Oh nothing, I am just spreading newspaper all over the front lawn. I'm probably going to make all the neighbors mad."

I then went on to explain my madness and why on earth my choice of lawn decoration consisted of yesterdays old news (literally). I have been planning a flowerbed for the front of our yard ever since we bought this house. I even have plans drawn up with the shape, size, and species of plants with their colors and numbers of plants required. I think about it every time I sit out on the lawn watching the kids ride their bikes and color with chalk, I dream about it as  I skim through the amazing gardens I see on Pinterest and other home and garden sites.

By this time I could tell by Dan's responses he was "thoroughly impressed" and "excited" at the plans I had for us this holiday weekend.

So on Saturday we rented a utility trailer and hauled I think 2.5 square yards of dirt and the same amount of cedar bark chips to finish the play ground in the back. It was a lot of work! But we didn't stop there. Oh no, we "go big or we go home" here at the Glenn's.We went and got twenty 60 lb bags of concrete mix and  26 ft of scalloped edging pavers for the front of the flower bed. We are using the concrete mix to make our own paved walkway around my garden boxes in the back yard.


So Saturday we tackled the front berm with the dirt and pavers and are now letting that naturally settle for about a week before I plant anything in it. We hauled wheel barrow after wheel barrow of cedar chips around to the back to finish the playground. Then we put all the bags of concrete on the back deck so it would be out of the rain and ready for us come Monday. We had our total body workout for sure! It was a good thing the next day was Sunday. We NEEDED the rest to gear up for Monday.

On memorial day we woke up and took the morning slow but by 10:00 we were out mixing concrete with the red tinting. The weather that day however wasn't the weather we were hoping for but being the stubborn woman I am we still went forward with our putting in pavers around the garden boxes. I wasn't going to let some water ruin my fun! Dan and I spent 5 hours in the rain mixing and putting concrete into our brick molds and made it almost halfway around the 4 garden boxes. We would have gone further but we ran out of the red tint for our concrete mix. It is going to be awesome! And I just have to say that  I am very grateful for our pop-up canopy!



After we came to a stopping point due to a shortage of supplies we went out to grab some grub. Burgers never tasted so good! We then took the kids to the park to play for a bit and on our way home we drove through our local cemetery. The grounds were lined with hundreds of gorgeous flags of our beloved stars and stripes. It was a perfect ending to a busy Memorial Day weekend. 

Oh and I am pretty excited at how well the garden is doing so far. Check it out!
 tomatoes

pole beans and broccoli

pole beans, dahlias (to later transplant), cucumbers, spinach, and lettuce

strawberries

raspberries

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I love your garden boxes!! And the pavers are looking awesome-- I can't wait to see it all done!