I got a blister on my hand today. It was warm today and dry and I was motivated. So I went outside in the latter part of the afternoon and mowed…and mowed…and mowed. All the weedy grass that had been pulled a few weeks ago was still there but now it dry and crispy, leaving its seeds everywhere. It looked about as horrible as the tall grass did. I didn’t finish the mowing job but I managed to clear large sections of the back yard and the side of the house before moving to mow the front yard. It all looks so much better now. The Scientist came out and helped by pulling out more weeds/grass even though he should rightfully have been taking it easy as he’d done a blood donation in the morning. Between the two of us, the garden is looking far more respectable now.

We have a few ideas of changes to the garden. We’ve got some large pots that have nothing growing in them so I plant to buy some herbs to add to the garden. The chilli plants are coming back to life so I might buy one or two more of those. I don’t know if I will bother with jalapeño or not as they just don’t seem to survive here. I also moved a pot that previously held a thai chilli along with a fig tree growing wild. The chilli plant is long gone but the fig looks like it’s growing a bit. I moved the pot to the back of the house to see if it will be okay with a bit more direct sun.

A less immediate plan for the backyard is to have a patio installed. We may or may not get that done this year but it’s one of our planned major projects. Our idea is to try to mostly enclose the patio so we can move exercise equipment there but also to have one end open to allow for eating outside under cover. This will be good for the dogs as there will be a decent covered area to stay in outside. We are still considering possibilities at the moment and clearing up some of the mess in that area so that we can get a proper quote on it.

In the front yard we have a few lavender plants that have been there for years but most of them look a bit scraggly.  The old plants are most likely to be removed. One of the plants is almost all deadwood so it’s not exactly pretty there. We are considering adding lavender or something simillar on the side of the driveway. We’ve had terrible luck with most plants there so I am not very optimistic of our chances. Meanwhile new lavender plants have grown wild under our drain pipes next to the carport. We also want to till all the ground in the front and try to do over that area properly and make it mostly natural,

One thing I noticed while mowing the front yard was there were so many seedlings growing from one of our shrubs. We bought one of the plants years ago and it uprooted during a storm. But in the years since, several plants have grown and it’s actually turned out to be an invasive plant so I really don’t want it any more. The main plant is now stretching out towards the street and one day I will cut it all out. But there is also an old bottlebrush tree that is now dead in the midst of all the living plants and that will most likely be the first to go from that area. It had pink flowers on it but never really grew much even though it lived for probably fifteen years.

Anyway, with all the mowing I did, a blister developed right under my right pinkie finger. I don’t think that’s ever happened before so I guess I did a lot more mowing than usual today.  Next weekend we plant to do the side of the yard and to finish up the other areas with whippersnippler and other fixing up.