How does our garden grow

The first really, really beautiful weekend of the year (though a tad hot), and how do we spend it? Doing yard work. At risk of sounding like a negative Nancy, welcome to home ownership! We started the weekend on Saturday morning by getting all of our shopping out of the way - Target, Container Store, the local nursery, and, everyone's favorite, Home Depot. Doug and I went a little crazy at Home Depot, and not just with our shopping, either. That place on a nice, sunny Saturday is a mad-house! So many people! We got most of the the things that we needed for the many yard/home projects we have on our to-do list for spring, but not without burning a hole in our wallet. Doug is amazed by how much everything cost, and I'm amazed at how many carts we needed to haul away all of our stuff. I've never needed two carts at a store. Ever. I needed to document this. Once our shopping was done, we dug in, literally. Doug started on his grass project (he's determined to grow grass in the many dirt patches around our "lawn," but we fear that a) we started too late in the season this spring, and b) it was too hot this weekend for the seeds to germinate), and I set out to do more planting. I planted flowers in everything that could hold dirt, pretty much. The other window box, the decorative birdbath in the backyard garden, the hanging planter on the garage, the pot that the old ornamental grass from the fall was in that we never did anything with, and the large terracotta pot that was sitting at the side of the patio collecting leaves and other unwanted waste. I also planted the growbox that my sister and her family gave us for my birthday this year. I planted broccoli and spinach - now let's see if we get anything! I am sure that this growbox would yield a bounty (at least it looks that way in the pictures), but the growbox may have met its match in me.
Our Saturday efforts paid off, though - the grass seed in the backyard is planted, the window boxes are planted and up, and the yard is beginning to look good with the flowers I've planted and those that are coming up on their own. I say we get an A for effort.

Today was another day in the yard, or at least a partial day in the yard. We started early again. I cleaned the skylight screen in the bathroom upstairs, as it was full of leaves and schmutz from the fall/winter, vacuumed the lint from the dryer, and washed the outside of the windows. The latter was a larger project than I wanted, and because our windows are the old kind on ropes it really didn't go very well (as all I washed were the storms, basically), but still - I feel better about myself now that I've made an effort to wash the windows. I also invented a new use for the Swiffer (though someone please tell me to learn not to wear stretchy pants with those underwear): You have to be creative when you're short like me. Doug reconnected our gutter on the northwest (?) side of the house and reattached it to the rain barrel, and he also finished his grass project for the front lawn. All the grass is planted now; we just have to water it and hope that it actually grows.

What's next on the list of things to do? Plant a blueberry bush and potentially a raspberry bush in the front area we de-stumped last fall, re-mortar the steps, mulch, weed, mow the lawn, water the plants... I'm not even including the things that we have to replace or buy, like the doorbell, the front storm door, the front lights on the house, hooks for hanging things in the vestibule, shutters for the sun/cat room... Yes, it is never ending. But it's fun, in a way. Or at least different. I'm sure it will get boring at some point, but for now while we're still learning it's actually kind of invigorating. Will our house ever be featured on HGTV? Not likely, but it will look good to us. (Awwww...)