What I've Been Doing

So for the past 6 weeks or so I have not been blogging. What has been happening is that Spring has been springing, and I have been outdoors as often as possible. While he was here my brother Charles cleared the way for some re-landscaping in our yard,... to say the least. He did the big stuff, Jim followed up with more big stuff, and now I am working on the tedious little stuff.

In our front yard there is a line of White Pines that separate our yard from the road, and from view. Under those White Pines was planted English Ivy, lots of it. There were also some rather unsightly evergreen shrub things and stumps of long-ago cut trees hiding under the Ivy. Among the standing trees were a few dead trees, killed by the Ivy.

Before: from the road.

Under the trees, once some of the trimming of the trunks was started.

Charles hard at work.

The rest of the front yard.

So Charles went to work felling the dead trees, cutting out the shrubs, and trunking the White Pines, (trimming the lower branches). Jim ground out the stumps- fresh and old, and cut away the Ivy above ground. Now I am pulling up the Ivy roots in hopes of completely eradicating it from that area of the yard so that I can plant grass seed. Instead of the chaos of the Ivy and mess I am aiming for calm, sedate, mow-able lawn. Pulling up those roots, however, is not easy. Quite painful at the end of the day, in fact!

After: under the trees. Visibility!

The front yard now, ready to become grassy lawn,... almost.

We have two acres, much of which needs work and change. By focusing on one area at a time, working from the more visible to the private spaces, I hope to achieve small victories in the yard. One step at a time!