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Post by glowworm on May 25, 2008 21:45:27 GMT -5
This weekend I've been working on my back yard. It seems like just a few weeks ago I had posted (on the old board) about pulling 4 garbage bags full of weeds, but today I had to do it again. The weeds were taller than the bushes. The bushes were half dead and scraggly. I had to dig everything out and will have to start over with new plants.
It took hours to dig everything out. I had a lot of time to think. One thing that I kept coming back to, sunburned and sore, bug bites on my legs and dirt caked under my nails, was Why? Why do I do this to myself? Why do I wait until the yard looks SO bad before I clean it up? Why don't I just work on it for half an hour every week and be done with it?
And I think I came up with a reason: If the yard always looks good, it's taken for granted. Nobody notices. Nobody says, wow, the yard always looks so good. But if the yard looks terrible, and then I take the time to pull all of the weeds, people notice the difference.
I know: It's a stupid reason. Because if people notice when the yard looks nice, they obviously notice when the yard doesn't look nice. And it's not like I can hide my yard behind closed doors; it's in plain view for whoever walks or drives by.
But that's the reason. I like to make a difference, and making something like my yard change from really bad to really good, well, that makes me happy. I don't get any enjoyment out of working on something that already looks good and doesn't have room for a dramatic improvement.
So I'm looking for suggestions. Over the next few weekends, I will be spending several hours and a few hundred dollars to spruce up my yard. How do I motivate myself to keep it maintained? Hiring a landscaper is out of the question. I'm more than happy to pay a cleaning service to come in and do the house every couple of weeks, but I absolutely must do my yard myself. Not only do I need the exercise, but it's a pride thing.
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Post by artsygal on May 25, 2008 22:50:19 GMT -5
Glowworm,
I can really relate, i did that with my hair for yrs. I'd wait six months and my hairdresser would joke that I was coming for my twice yearly "makeover". Slowly I started making new appointments right away and asked him exactly when I should come in to "maintain". It felt boring at first but now it makes me feel better to always have my hair nice. I know for me there is that unhealthy pleasure in procrastinate , to then scramble and finish something and proclaim "look what I've done in a day" One thing I've learned about myself in the years, is that I've become comfortable with what I like to call "unnecessary drama" but I feel much better when I stop avoiding and maintain things in my life. I was addicted to the "high" tried to ignore the lows and consequences, I figure there's enough drama in life and I don't want to add any that I don't have too. It's not easy to do quickly, but you've taken a major step in recognizing your behavior, that's huge!!!
That's why I joined this group because squalor was becoming expectable to me and I knew that was a warning bell to me that I wasn't being "centered on self "
Maybe at first you should look at the plant's point of view, that by nourishing and taking care of them on an ongoing basis , the plants will do better and thrive and that your yard will look spectacular on a regular basis! It sounds like you really enjoy your yard.
best, artsy
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Post by BDG on May 26, 2008 1:55:01 GMT -5
Well the yard is always a lot of work, but does it give you enjoyment when you are out there?
For me it is part of my world I seldom go anywhere, (I don't want to most of the time), so I enjoy going out everyday to see what has bloomed. I have peonies and roses blooming big time right now, last week it was the rhododendron and snowball bush, the week before that it was the lilacs and before that the forsythias.
There are tons of plants that give you blooms and come back every year, you can add annuals to add color in between the perennial bloom times. You can lay cardboard down or landscaping fabric down or both together (best way to go IMO) and mulch to help stop weeds.
Make sure you dig all of the weeds up before you put the landscaping fabric down. If you create a place that you really enjoy and love you won't mind going out there to spend that half an hour to maintain it. Make sure you don't forget to add a good seating situation for you to go and enjoy the birds and butterflies and sip some ice tea, you need a good spot to rest when out in the garden.
Also consider a water feature, you can create your own or buy a small garden fountain with the fixings included. I have made my own and also purchased ready made ones. Right now I am working on one in a large flower pot where I have a water lily growing, I have got to add a small pump and some gold fish to eat the mosquito larvae.
There are all kinds of websites to go to for information on designing and building a garden, try and look for your style, I love the cottage garden style myself, but can't seem to get mine that lush, but I am working on it. Good Luck!
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Post by glowworm on May 26, 2008 10:17:22 GMT -5
Thanks so much, Artsy and BDG.  Artsy, it's funny that you used hair as an example because I am notorious for waiting too long between visits to have my color done. My hairdresser doesn't even comment on it anymore. She just sighs, shakes her head, and gets to work. I have internal conversations with myself about this every time I go: You make more than enough money to be able to afford to do this regularly. What are you going to do if you have to go to a funeral with these roots? A client meeting? BDG, I do enjoy gardening quite a bit. I even considered taking courses to become a master gardener, but couldn't find a way to fit it in with my work schedule. Now that I have had to rip out almost everything, I am going to take advantage of the opportunity to redo things the way I've always wanted. I am definitely going to go with the landscape fabric this time. I'm tired of spending hours baking in the sun pulling weeds only to have them all back - with friends - the very next weekend. |
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moineau
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 57 
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Post by moineau on May 26, 2008 10:25:21 GMT -5
Hi Glowworm, I so recognise about letting the yard get out of control and then being able to see the fruits of your labour when you attack it. My yard always goes to the dogs each Winter and it takes me a good while to drag it back to fit for human use and boy does it feel good, and folks are usually impressed as it is such a surprise, it goes full cycle from hell to paradise every year. I have been giving this some thought myself and I think one of the ways I personally fall down is that I don't have a close of season. That may sound odd but I think we kind of slowly drift away from using the outdoor space as the weather deteriorates, then because we are not out there maintaining, it begins to get out of control and by the time I realise it has happened the weather is too bad to spend any "pleasureable" time out there....so it gets left for a couple of seasons, by which time it is bad and so the cycle starts again. This year I plan to have a close of seaons when everything gets put away/tidied and then hopefully I can just do a couple of actual gardening challenges a month to keep it okay. To get back to your point of motivation...Maybe you could make regular dates to use that space, especially if the weather is warm enough to eat out. I don't know your circumstances but if you have family perhaps you could suggest that the evening meal is eaten outdoors. When I did that last year the family grew to expect it and were disappointed if we ate indoors. At the least we would try and eat outside Fridays...It started the weekend off well. Or perhaps if you are at a stage in this journey where you are comfortable to have friends around perhaps you could invite a friend over for tea/coffee in the yard. I guess what I am trying to say is that once it is nice and you have put all of that hard work in, enjoy the fruits of your labour. Be kind to yourself, you deserve to play in the yard as well as work. I find that once I start using my outdoor space each year I get used to it ( that is a motivation ) and miss it when I don't use it. We don't have many months when we can eat outside where I am, so I tend to go crazy for the outdoors when it is warm/dry enough to get out there. Dunno if this rambling helps, but your post helped me to think through where I fall down.  ) Cheers , Moineau. |
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Post by BDG on May 27, 2008 0:08:50 GMT -5
Glowworm I kept thinking when I responded that you had lots of gardening in your background, but my memory is so foggy, apparently from what I have read, my thyroid problems are causing confusion and memory problems, I'm sure old age is not helping me much either.  I would definitely take a hoe and hoe out any weed roots, sometimes the darn seedling somehow grow through the small holes for drainage in the ladscaping fabric and keep piling on the mulch, eventually all of the weeds will die, but it is not the instant thing I had hoped for but I am sure you are probably aware of all of the problems. What's your zone? I live in zone 6 and never think my growing season is long enough. |
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Post by glowworm on May 27, 2008 9:07:38 GMT -5
I ended up pulling seven large kitchen bags full of weeds and dead plants out of my yard this weekend.
My goal for the day is to get the landscape fabric and mulch purchased and installed before the blasted weeds come back. I've also heard of using layers of newspaper under the landscape fabric and mulch, much like the cardboard BDG recommended. I think I'm going to give it a shot. I hate weeds.
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Post by glowworm on May 27, 2008 19:49:20 GMT -5
The good news: I bought the landscape fabric and mulch today, and I did all three of the trees in the back yard! There's still a large bed area that needs to be done, but I need to do some more work to level and raise that area before I can worry about mulch.
The bad news: I found out that DH has been talking to his coworkers about having a cookout. Here. In about a month. ACK!!!!!!
BDG, you had asked what zone I'm in. Honestly I'm not 100% sure but I think I'm in zone 9. I've learned a lot of hard lessons in the form of expensive hybrids that wither and die in the heat. Now I look for "heat and drought tolerant" on the label when I buy plants.
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moineau
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 57
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Post by moineau on May 28, 2008 10:00:25 GMT -5
Well done on your hard work Gloworm. I look after a very large formal garden for a relative and am working around the beds myself with the weed fabric and wood chip mulch this year. So far the stuff that is down already is working fantastically well. ( Apart from where the squirrels found the only bits I didn't peg down and decided to dig ...but they soon got fed up with that thank goodness ). A cookout for DH and his gang...well there's a motivation if I ever knew one! Keep up the great work! Moineau |
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Post by glowworm on Jun 1, 2008 15:05:02 GMT -5
This morning I noticed that half of the garden is not getting any water at all when the sprinklers run. And the whole bed was sitting about 6 inches lower than it should have been. So the part that does get water, is mucky and soggy. At least now I know why nothing ever lives in that part of the yard! First I pulled out the last of the weeds - 2 bags full. Then I dug out what few plants were still alive, and transplanted them to another area of the yard. And I dug out another half dozen or so large, overgrown shrubs and got rid of them. Then DH stepped in to help me - we added 27 bags of soil to raise level of the garden - that's over 1,000 pounds of soil! After all of that hard work, we treated ourselves to nice long showers and a good lunch. The heavy lifting is over now, all that's left is plants and more landscape fabric and mulch. I can't wait to start picking out new plants for my new garden. |
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