Yes.
So, since I cannot do anything too strenuous right now due to my high risk pregnancy, I am always looking for other ways to still get physical activity in while keeping safe.
Today's search brought me to gardening.
Next weekend, we are having a gender reveal party for our newest kiddo.
In anticipation for that, I have been cleaning and organizing whatever I can without over exerting myself. Besides, I really want to have my house in order for when the newest kiddo comes.
Well, when I looked into my front and back yard, I had a thought. We are going to have people hanging out in our back yard! And, the front yard is the first impression, of course.
First, let me start with explaining our house situation. We are renting a nice house.
We were super lucky (with the help of our realtor friend) to find a brand new house that has never been lived in before that was up for rent. The homeowner lives in another country, and its managed by a local realty company here.
So, we got this super nice house for a great price! The only problem is that my kids are breaking it in for whoever moves in after us.
How long will we stay here? With the kiddo coming and my health concerns, we are not wanting to move anytime soon. I mean, the last place we were at, we stayed there for almost 7 years! We don't like moving. And, the only reason why we moved is because we needed more space and we were totally ready for home life vs apartment life.
With all that said, most people don't really take care of rental houses. Which makes sense, since the house is not theirs, they typically take no "ownership"since they do not own the house.
We are not those type of people. We take pride in where we stay. We want it to look nice and we want to live in a nice place. Yes, I understand that putting in the extra work just increases the property value and its money we are spending on someone else's house. But, I'd rather have it look nice then live in a slum.
Now, the weather here has been… less than savory.
Typically, Texas weather is pretty awesome. But, with the "Polar Vortex" that has been going on all over, we have had weather down in the 30s! That's super odd for where we live in Texas.
Because of that super cold weather, all the plants have pretty much died. the grass is all brown and crappy looking and some of my plants that I planted died because we would have a flash freeze and I didn't cover them properly (I need to start watching the weather I guess).
Well, the last few days have finally brought in rain and warm weather, so I finally have some green grass peeking through the brown dead grass. It kind of looks like bad patchwork.
I have a lawn person coming next weekend right before the party to mow, but the challenge is getting rid of the weeds and getting what little grass I have to grow even more in the meantime so he not only has something to mow, but also so it doesn't look super bad once he does mow.
So, today, we tackled the front yard!
I enlisted my helper (aka my toddler who is super clingy right now with the baby on the way and has to be by my side constantly) and we had fun! However, he did abandon me about halfway through, which is understandable. It's difficult for a toddler to stay engaged for too long. I was actually surprised he stayed as long as he did. (below is when we started- he said "this is my strong man face")
As far as what we accomplished, we pulled all the weeds and got rid of trash that had collected in the bushes.
Then, we mixed up the dirt and old mulch to kind of aerate the ground around the bushes.
After that, we added some Scott's Nature Scapes Red Mulch around everything to make it look pretty.
Which, by the way, I noticed that the weeds in Texas are a whole different beast compared to weeds back home. I grew up in Indiana. Weeds are not a big deal. You have dandelions and flat leafy weeds that are kind of tough to pull, but they don't hurt you.
Weeds in Texas have thorns and they are super prickly. And, I'm not talking about mild thorns. You need gloves. And, they somehow still make their way through the gloves to dig themselves into your fingers! And, they are long and ivy like, so once you get them out, they try to wrap around you and stick you everywhere! UGH! It was rough.
And, I wasn't wearing sissy gloves either. They were gardening gloves with extra padding on the finger tips and whatnot. But, they were no match for these weeds.
The roots were also way down in the bushes and even when I found the source root, I couldn't pull it out since it was tangled around the bushes roots. I feared pulling out or harming the bush. So, I trimmed it all the way to the ground and left it be.
All of this took about 2 hours. I felt it was time for a break, and I was curious as to how many calories are burning gardening and looked a up a few articles here (if you are so curious and inclined to read):
As far as what we have left to do?
Well, for one, I didn't get enough mulch. I got 2 bags and it didn't even cover half it seems. I need to go back at some point and get 3 more bags. Also, my toddler made a mess on the sidewalk of dirt and mulch, so I need to sweep it all up.
Also, I got some Scott's Weed and Feed for the lawn, and I still need to cover the yard with that, then water the lawn. I don't know if I will get that done today, though, since it's already lunch and my eldest gets out of school early today. That may be a weekend project.
In addition, we haven't even started on the dreaded back yard. For some reason, the back yard seems to have gotten more water than the front yard, so there are TONS of weeds everywhere.
I don't think I will work on the landscaping in the back yard until after the lawn guy comes and mows next week.
I will most likely need another 3-4 bags of mulch for the back yard as well.
We also have a small tree that needed assistance to keep straight. But, I think it is big enough now to no longer need the bars and wire. I fear a hinderance in its growth if it stays on much longer.
However, that is not something I can do. For one, I need to ask the homeowner's sister (who is my local contact for things like this) if its ok to remove it and also find out if she wants her gardener to do it or if its ok for us to do it. Better to ask then do something they don't like.
I had already asked her about doing the landscaping when we first moved in. She said she would love any improvements we would do (at our own expense of course- we just wanted permission).
Whew!
What a mouthful (again). I think I have a "chatty Kathy" problem! LOL!
Hope this was fun to read and I inspired someone to get out and exercise by gardening.
And, if you don't have a garden to work on, I have plenty to do here and could use the help!
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