Saturday was a beautiful day. It was made much more beautiful by the fact that 2 days earlier it had been snowing. But Saturday was perfect. The sun was shining with a light breeze blowing through the trees. The entire neighborhood was waking up from a long winter sleep. From every corner of the world we could hear the sound of lawn mowers and trimmers. Looking outside we could see neighbors pulling weeds and planting flowers – their immaculate green lawns practically glowing in the April sun.
Then you look at our yard. Um…yeah. I am pretty sure you can’t call what is in our front yard a lawn anymore. I suppose that is the drawback of purchasing a home in the winter when the yard is covered with a beautiful layer of fluffy white snow. Who would have guessed that under that smooth and sparkling snow was a rolling weed infested “lawn”. (we talked to our neighbor and apparently the guy we bought the house from didn’t want to water his lawn last year, so it died and in its place grew multitudes of dandelions and other large leafy weeds. At least most of them are green).
However, we were inspired by the neighborhood spirit and wanted to take part in the ritual of yard work on such a beautiful Saturday. Matt pulled out the lawn mower he purchased in the middle of the night from a random person on KSL for $25. We were ecstatic that it actually started and even more excited when it actually cut grass. Matt took the reins and walked the mower over our weed covered dirt patch of a front yard. I decided to help out and work on the flower bed.
I made a choice this year to just let the plants that are growing around the house grow, and see what they turn into. I have no idea what is planted there, but I am good at guessing what is a flower and what is a weed. So I grabbed my little shovel and rake and set out to remove the weeds. What I wasn’t expecting was that some genius had filled the flower bed around the house with little rocks. At first I thought it was a random rock or two, then I opened my eyes and realized that this area of the yard had once been purposefully covered in little rocks. UGH! So now I am pulling weeds from not a flower bed, but a rock bed. Awesome.
Matt finished mowing the lawn and moved on to the trimmer that my parents gave him for his birthday. He was excited to play with his new toy. I raked up some of the moss in the front yard (it faces north and is always in the shade – but at least the moss is green) and then gave up on my portion of the yard work. I “helped” out after that by sitting on our swing on the deck and drinking diet coke while Matt finished up.
I will admit I have no idea what to do with this yard. I don’t want to spend the time to make it beautiful, but at the same time, I don’t want to be the shame of the block. I am seriously considering just installing astro-turf and never worrying about the yard again. I bet our lawn mower would make a nice planter.
2 comments:
Remember "sand sifters?" I used to love to play with them in the sand pile as a kid. I can picture you making a BIG one, out of a window screen or something. Then you'll be spading up those flower beds and sifting them to get the rocks out. It could be fun! Then you would have rocks to play with, too. Oh the possibilities! (for someone with imagination, like you) By the way, grass is also a weed. If you water it, and mow it, and try to inhibit the larger leaf guys, the grass will gradually spread. Maybe not evenly, but it will spread.
Sounds like the former owners made a half-hearted attempt at xeriscaping. I bet you guys figure out a way to make the best of it. If you really need help, I kinda like weeding, and can pick out some rocks. Maybe we can have a playing in the dirt party some Monday evening.
p.s. I only need one more shift covered for Disneyland :-)
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