This is a picture of our yard as you're walking down the road toward our house. It gets to be pretty well screened from the road as the season progresses with all of the brush and ferns that fill in the lower area of the woods. There are many lovely wildflowers growing along the tree line, although being wildflowers they are hidden from view since they are so small.
Looking up our driveway, the lawn looks beautiful. At least from a distance. I wasn't able to get a good shot without including some detail I didn't want to share. You may be able to catch a glipse of it between the branches.
This is a picture of our turn around area of our driveway. Also future location of a shed we'd like to build. We are in the process of planting the side yard as you can see from the freshly tilled soil. We have many plans for this weekend. I'm not sure it will all happen, but we'll be a little closer to the finish line anyway. We also want to finish putting up wood trim and roof on our kids' swing set.
The swing set rennovation has been a long drawn out process, we're going on year 3 now. Had I not had so many other things to deal with I may not have procrastinated for so long. I'll have to finish staining it this fall after the wood has been weathered. It will be finished though, I guarantee it!
We don't have an upstairs, so this is about the best view available of our front yard. I took this picture from our front steps. If you look across the yard you can see my newly planted shade garden by my green wishing well, just on the other side of my drain field. I had to buy small, young plants for affordability purposes, so it may be a while before my perrineals really start to shine. I've learned to be quite patient though lately so a little delayed gratification will have to suit me!
Most of our flowers stay hidden from view. They are shy and don't show up in the long view. That's okay though since if they were easy to see the critters would invite themselves for much more munching.
This is the untamed wilderness of the back yard. I have been busily transplanting native wildflowers from the yard to the new memorial garden included in this picture. I am still not finished with that job yet either. I don't want the poor things to get mowed over this weekend by Cheesehead, so transplanting shifted my focus away from the task of rock collecting. Hopefully I can get the kids to help me collect more rocks this weekend so I can free myself up to do other jobs instead.
Our poor grills and patio table set are anxiously awaiting a nice home to nestle into. Currently they are situated in positions that leave them least likely to tip over when put into use. It works for now, but boy do I wish I had some money to build a patio or deck! We need a shed first though I suppose....
I also took a new picture of our future garden location. I want to plant some blueberry bushes along the tree line too. Possibly raspberry and blackberry too. I am going to clear out the center area and start preparing this area for a vegetable garden next year. If I wanted to do a vegetable garden this year, I could probably use our side yard. The soil looks really nice and rich there, unfortunately I think it is way to shady there to have a successful garden.
So much work, so little time (and money!)
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
11 comments:
You have some nice property Cinj. One day, you'll have it looking exactly as you envision. Thanks for the tour.
Hi Cinj, I think the setting around your home is beautiful. Your plans sound like a real future homestead with fruit plants and everything. I know - isn't it awful that we can't just twitch our noses like Sabrina on "Bewitched" and make everything we want to do get done immediately.
What a lovely place to live! I fully identify with the "so little time--and money" situation, and the related lessons in delayed gratification. I'm splitting plants to spread them around, and then waiting for them to take hold, get big enough to split again--it's a long-term operation. Good luck to you in all these gardening endeavors.
--kate
Cinj, your home is set in such a lovely setting. While the shade from all those trees might be daunting, I bet it's also quite soothing at times.
Thanks for the tour :-)
Melanie
Hi everyone. I feel the most "at home" here than I ever have anywhere else. It is a wonderful place to live, so peaceful and full of God's beauty and abundances. I mean, where else could I get such abundant shade, sand, pine trees, and animal life? Well, I'm kidding a little bit but I DO like it the most out of anyplace I've lived. Well, except the not having many friends part.
It's so serene. I could see never moving from here again!
I'd love to be able to be self sufficient growing most of our own food here. I'm not sure if THAT will ever come true, but I imagine I'll have a fine garden one day....
Kathleen- So glad you enjoyed the tour. Just wait til I get some of my work done around here and start showing my after pictures!
Barbee- Ha. Funny you should mention that. I've often wished for the ability to do that. At least what I lack in magical ability, I've gained in strong muscles!
Kate- Good luck with your endeavors. I am constantly trying to find more ways to be frugal and stretch my dollar. I don't know if a garden can ever be truly 'finished' anyway, so we might as well enjoy the ride!
Melanie- I read a book about organic lawn care where I found the name of a grass that likes sandy loam, grows in my zone, does well in shade, AND needs little water. That would be the perfect type of grass for my yard. Now, if I could only find it in more grass seed mixes more abundantly I'd be all set! Hmm, where did I put that paper that I wrote the name of it on?
All of this shade is wonderful in the scorching heat of summer. I never had much shade in my old garden so I was watering 2 and 3 times a day. My hanging baskets were on their last legs already in early August because I just simply couldn't keep up. Now, I just watch the weather and if it's going to be too hot I just move the pots into the shade. My containers lasted well into October last year!
Little house in the big woods! What a great setting, Cinj! As you say, it's serene and peaceful, full of God's beauty and abundance. Er. Do you have a basement? If so, I'd get going on the deck and save the shed for next year. You need a place to sit where you can just relax and enjoy the view!
Lovely natural garden, have you seen Haensel and Gretel passing by?
Your home reminds me of several places I grew up in, including Bemidji :). Wonderful memories for your children. There is always work to be done no matter where a person lives, we as gardeners are never happy and we need to garden. It's very beautiful!
OFB- Yes, we do have a basement, but I really don't want to try to haul rototillers, lawnmowers, wheel barrows, and other lawn equipment up and down my newly carpeted stairs.
I guess that means we'll just have to win the lottery so we can do it all????
Titania- Thanks! Actually, there are a little boy and girl hanging around here who seem to have a sweet tooth....
Kathi- You grew up in Bemidji? When did you live there? My mom was raised in the Bemidji area. I still have several relatives living in the area. I wonder if you knew any of them! Wouldn't that be a small world?
I'm so glad I got to see your whole yard. Do you have lots of cardinals? They love pine trees as do hummers, woodpeckers, and owls. Barbee says watch out for owl barf! lol
You have done tons of work and like me, you like to garden and be a mom/nester. We are forever planning and coming up with more stuff to do. Even if you had it just right, you'd still be up to something. With all that land, you'll be at it for the rest of your life. I've only got an acre and I see no end in sight.
It really is a pretty place girl and you got lots to be proud of. I'm thinking about you lots tonight. I hope you hear something about the house!!!
Hey---If, you've got Lin's email addy, would you pass along my new blog address to her. Thanks! She responds to you every now and then.
Anna- Well, most of the yard anyway. I could use up all of the space in my camera taking pictures of all of the areas of my yard.
I haven't seen any cardinals here yet, but I have seen woodpeckers, humming birds, robins, nuthatches, and morning doves as well as some hawk type bird. I've heard owls, but not seen any.
Hmm, owl barf? It's been years since I saw that. I had to disect owl pellets in a high school biology class I took. I guess I'd be more concerned with fresh animal poo.
Stay tuned, much more work will be going on in the next few days. You're right though, I don't think I will ever really finish my yard. That's okay, we can't let things get too boring now, can we?
I don't have Linn's email address (actually I don't have anyone's email addresses), but I've got your new link up so next time she pops through hopefully she'll discover it.
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