Let the Landscaping Begin!

It's going to be a slow process, but the landscaping of our yard has officially begun! When we moved into our home our builder had only cleared a small portion of our lot and seeded (basically enough to appease the inspectors and to show the "buildable" portion of our lot). They surrounded this area with lovely black tarps to prevent erosion while the new grass grew.

A view of our home & yard from the farthest corner of our property.

A.R. and I had been debating whether or not to get the rest of our lot mowed or not as we knew it would be quite a bit more work for him come next spring/summer especially with a newborn. Curiosity about the true size of our lot got the best of us and we started exploring our options. We spoke with the company that's been spraying our yard for ticks all summer and fertilizing the small patches of grass we do have and come to find out they had the equipment necessary to mow and finish the last piece of our lot. Also, we learned that the best time to seed and start a new lawn in New England is right NOW! We got some quotes and took the plunge and holy crap were we surprised...

A good portion of the newly mowed section. The row of bushes in the background were planted by our builder, but got completely buried in brush this summer.

It's hard for me to visualize distances and square footage unless it's just right there in front of me to eye. I knew where the stakes were on our lot as we walked them many times before moving in, but the ones marking the back corner have long since been buried beneath waist high grass, weeds, and wildlife. When I crested the hill and looked behind our house last Wednesday I was shocked to see our yard mowed. I walked it with Tomas and he promptly settled in and took a dump in the middle (I think he knows it's his play ground now!) with a lowered jaw from shock. Our yard is a lot bigger then I had envisioned it! I love it and so does A.R. until he realized how much he'll be mowing next year!!

Another view from the farthes stake of our side yard.

He's just about convinced me to cave in and let him get that inground pool he wants, so he has less lawn to mow. I know how much work pools are, too, so I still hesitate a bit and of course it won't happen until our kids are older and wiser (I'm terrified of a toddler falling in and drowning even with a fence). This first mowing was just the beginning. The landscapers will be mowing and raking the area two more times before laying a herbivore down to kill the weeds and garbage out there. Then they'll aerate our whole lawn (new and old portion) and reseed the whole thing. Then it's up to us to water religiously and pray to the grass gods we get some awesome regrowth in the springtime. Next on our list of yard work: replace the dying tree in the front yard (after the builder digs it up) with a dogwood my Grandmother is getting for us and start exploring decks for the back of the house.

A portion of our yard as seen from our walk-out basement.

Our 1st Lawn Mowing

Over the weekend we went to just about every home store shopping for the perfect lawn mower. A.R. wanted a rear-wheel drive, self propelled, push lawn mower for now and once our entire lot is excavated and cleared he'll add in a ride-on. After consulting with the other men in his family (his Dad and two of his brothers) and bringing them to all the stores on Sunday, A.R. brought home a Sear's Craftsman lawn mower and he even found it on sale! I'm so proud of my self-trained bargain shopper.

Yesterday he mowed our yard for the first time! We still have a long road ahead of us to establish our lawn and kill the weeds that are growing, but it really looks like home now. I can't believe how much more it looks like a real yard now. Last year at this time our foundation had just been laid. This photo was taken on June 26th, 2008:

It took him a couple hours to mow the side and rear lawns, but he didn't get to finish the front before the sun set. It was so cute to see him out there in his wife beater with his latest man toy. He was so proud of himself and I think he felt pretty manly after mowing the lawn for the first time ever. A.R. grew up in a home with 3 older brothers and a father so he never had to mow the lawn as the baby of the family. (Spoiled!) I can't wait until our whole yard is established. I think it'll be bigger then we anticipate and have plenty of room for our deck, patio, shed, and one day a play scape for our children. It'll be nice to watch our future children play on our yard one day... :)

A.R. mowing in his wife beater (that's our neighbor's house)

Our side yard all mowed (my garden is in the background)

Adventures in Gardening- Part I

I'm the one in our relationship that typically comes up with special projects for us to undertake together. A.R. simply comes up with more electronic gadgets for us to buy...his latest dream gadget is a 58" flat panel TV which he emails pictures of daily and points out while we are in various stores. First, it was a 46" that he HAD to have. Then, he talked me into getting a 52" inch and now I think he's pushing his luck with a 58" on his wish list. We plan on purchasing a flat panel to go above our family room fireplace at the end of the month and I think he's going to win on getting the 58". Sneaky. He knew I'd cave. Especially after he had two of his brothers coerce me. Plus, I don't really think I have much choice in the matter after all the sweat, blood (yes, my DH has scars from our garden already!), and aggravation that went into starting up my latest project for us.

The seedlings start to grow!

"My" vegetable garden has now turned into "our" vegetable garden and after all the work we put in just starting it, we both have a greater apprecation for all the farmers out there in America and the world. Gardening is NOT easy, but we're hoping in a few months it WILL be rewarding if only we can get one vegetable after all the labor we've put in. I think I was a bit ambitious with our first garden and perhaps we both got a little over-excited over the thought of fresh, home grown tomatoes. This year's garden will consist of green beans, cucumbers, Dixie Squash, Butternut Squash, tomatoes, carrots, and pumpkin. I started all the seeds indoors myself in special trays. Much to my surprise a lot more of them then I anticipated actually grew, so I didn't transplant all of them. Of course we tilled and planted in the middle of a mole's wonderland, so we'll be fighting the rodents for the fruits (er, vegetables) of our labor!

Farmer A.R. with his hoe in hand...he hates this pic. LOL!

Two freshly hoed rows, with strings line up for two more...

Our gardening adventure began on Memorial Day weekend when we arranged to rent a tiller and a truck from our local Home Depot for 24 hours. We both thought it would be a piece of cake to till our land which borders wetlands and has great soil. What we didn't anticipate was the subsequent 4 trips BACK to Home Depot for more supplies including a trimmer with a bush wacking attachment to weed wack the waist high grass where our garden was to be. It turns out that the tiller couldn't handle tilling the ground until we cut the grass down. DOH!

Saturday, we wasted the first 12 hours with the rented tiller making trips back and forth to Home Depot getting additional supplies we didn't anticipate needing. It was actually so bad that our bank card got put on fraud alert and the company actually froze our card until we called to tell them we were idiots and that Home Depot now owns a small share of our home. Bright and early on Sunday A.R. woke up and started weed wacking the grass with our new trimmer when he got his first battle scars slicing his knuckles while changing the blade on the trimmer. Then, he staked out the 4 corners of our garden. With just 4 hours left on the tiller rental he began tilling the spot that would become our garden. After tilling we loaded the tiller back in the rented truck and headed once AGAIN to Home Depot. It turns out we mis-read the time the tiller was due back and turned it in a mere 3 minutes before we would've been charged another day. PHEW!

The 1st rows are planted...the stakes have a deer fence hooked to them that you can't really see.

Learning to use the tiller on Saturday was quite an adventure as well. When we first got it we tested it out by trying to till some of the land by a fence that is on our property so I could plant some Hostas under it while A.R. tilled the vegetable garden. The tiller started once but then sputtered out and we couldn't restart it prompting a call to the rental department of Home Depot (I think they know our names now!) and come to find out there's a teeny tiny switch on it that shuts on and off access to the gas tank. A.R. soon had it up and running again and practiced for a bit before taking it down to the vegetable garden spot.

Next year we will plan a lot better BEFORE we rent the tiller as far as doing all the prepwork, so we can maximize our time with it. Unfortunately, we wish we had the tiller a few more hours as now there are a lot of grass roots in our garden and some grass is re-growing. One more pass with the tiller would've really helped break them up more. We learned so much this year and after two days of hot baths to ease my aching muscles I now swell up with appreciation when I drive by a home that has beautiful well-kept gardens. It is HARD work. Every muscle in my body ached for an entire week as we finished hoeing the rows and planted the seedlings. This weekend I get to weed it for the first time and plant the last row (carrots) of vegetables. I also have to put bean poles and some form of trellis contraption that my cucumbers can use to grow on.

Our garden is pretty big. Now we have the tomato cages up as well.

If you have any tips for a gardening beginner feel free to comment away. I'm learning about fertilizing now (1st application went on last weekend) and stablizing those veggies that need cages, poles, and trellis' to grow well. Remembering to water has been a challenge, but the rain we've had this week has really helped. Now I have to make sure little bugs aren't eating the leaves on my tomato plants!

H