Gardening

I had a new lawn installed in summer 2009 after years of having a waste-land of a back yard. I ended up shoveling half of the turf from the back yard into a dumpster to get rid of all visible bermuda grass roots. Then I turned it over to the pros since it would have taken me a month and they put in the new lawn,sprinklers,etc. in a week. I actually have a nice back yard now.

Mixed Pansies, English Daisies, Daisies, Roses, Navel Orange

Gladiola, Agapanthas, Zinnias

I had 11 tomato plants in 2009 and ended up making a couple gallons of tomato sauce. I also had beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and peppers. I bought my own rototiller this year so I don't have to hassle with renting from Home Depot anymore. It's always a pain since my proof of car insurance tends to lapse around the time I put in the garden and it makes renting their truck more difficult.

I used black weed cloth this year and I only had a few weeds. I also used drippers on a timer since I don't have time to water the garden with the hose anymore.

I'm looking forward to Spring 2010!

Setting up the garden in 2007

Planting the garden in 2007. I planted tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, beans, pickling cucumbers, peas, dill, onions, and zucchini.

Garden in 2007. This garden turned out great and produced vegetables that we like to eat, for a change. Maybe next year I'll find a way to squeeze pumpkins into the mix...

Garden in 2006: tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, peppers, sunflowers. The corn did not work too well; it grew too tall and did not pollinate well. The sunflowers grew very well but all of the flowers pointed towards the neighbor's yard - rats! I didn't have time to do much with the sunflower heads except cut them down and pile them on the patio table. The local squirrels had a field day!