Changes on the South Side

So, we've been making some progress over on the south side of our yard.  If you aren't currently aware of the state of things over there, go check it out.  It's a little bit scary.  And shameful.

Here's a picture of how things looked last week:

Aaahhh... intimidating.  But it's only the beginning.  We are slowly making progress toward my vision of a cool little retreat.  As a way to keep track of what I'd like to do in this space, I've put together a modest list of some of the things I'd like to accomplish this season.  I've titled it...

My Modest List of Humble Endeavors:

(with reference photos)

1. Plant that orange tree.
 
Done!

2. Get rid of those awful weeds.
 
I worked on this today.  It was hard.  I worked for an hour and a half, all big and pregnant and sweaty    (there's a real image for ya), and looking at the pictures, you can't really tell the difference.  But consider that I mainly picked up a layer of sticks all over the yard and raked up a bunch of dead leaves and grass that had been covering everything.  Later this week, I'll get on actually pulling out a lot of the weeds.  I might do some research about weed and feed to see if this might be an appropriate option for me.  I'm such a novice.  If anyone out there knows a bit more than I do about gardening, and has any sage advice, I'd love to hear it.

Oh, and remember this yucca?

Well, right next to him were these giant weeds that had grown into small trees.  We dug those out of the ground yesterday.  And we also found something else: lillies!  I had no idea that we had lillies growing in our yard -- I love them!  And they kind of have some sentimental value to us because I decorated our entire wedding with lillies.  I carefully dug them out and replanted them yesterday in the back yard... which is an even bigger mess than the south side right now.  But now it's a mess that has some lillies!

Anyway, here's what this area looks like all cleared out.  I'd love to build a little house around the AC unit that you see there, but for now, I'm just so happy that those giant weedy trees are gone.

3. Encourage the pitiful grass that we have left to grow and fill in with weed and feed and watering.  If that doesn't work, we'll have to go to plan B.  I don't know what plan B is, yet.  This is a fly-by-the-seat-of-my- pants sort of operation.

4. Build vegetable frames, one or two of them.  If you look at the picture above, I'd like to build the frames right about where the bottle brush is standing.  Oh, and we talked to our neighbors, and they'd love to have this tree, so we won't have to kill it after all.  That does make me feel a little better... I was feeling slightly guilty over killing off a tree that's sort of thriving.  Or could be, with decent care.

5. Plant some veggies.

6. Take out the lava rocks and turn this part of our yard into a real flower bed.  Man, I hate those lava rocks.

7. Arrange the tree trunk stepping stones.

8. Add some sort of seating... benches... something.

9. Oh, and have a baby at some point in the middle of all of this.  Since I probably won't be done by June.

10. Enjoy the fruits (get it? Fruits!  ...because we're planting a veggie garden...) of my labor.

Thanks for reading!
Sarah