A walkabout and summer dreaming

     We took a walk around the yard today dreaming.  We were kind of dreaming of spring, more of summer, but even more of distant summers.  We're new to this yard, so it's still very much in the works.  Sometimes it's hard to see all the progress you've made when you're thinking of the things yet to come. The yard is brown, plants are dead, and not too exciting yet, but spring is coming and the crocuses (or is it croci?) are blooming and the daffodils are close to popping.  There were supposed to be tulips somewhere, we don't remember where.  Perhaps they didn't take to the sloppy planting. It was a quick, last second job before the deck was built over them, never to be seen again.  Well, turns out they're never to be seen again anyways.
     It's not the warmest or sunniest day, so inside we go to draw out plans for where to plant all our little seedlings that are finally starting to come up.  It was a little slow going due to some timid watering.    
     While perusing some garden notes we also happened across some photos of the garden and yard.  Now we see the progress!!

The picture on the left is a small grassy field probably May 1, 2011, the day we arrived at our new homestead.  The trailer is still parked in the driveway.  The picture on the right is today.  It sure looks better in the summer when all that brown is green with splashes of red tomato, yellow zucchini, and purple flowers.
One of the first things we did was plant the vegetable garden.  I don't think we even had many boxes unpacked before we tilled our garden plot.  Normally we wouldn't bother tilling, choosing the slow but effective lasagna method, but given it was May 1 and we needed to get stuff planted and quick!

     Below on the left is, once again our first day.  Big slabs of cement that formed a wacky, crooked and slanted driveway.  To the right we have the garage now painted to look like a barn.  People saw it and said "All you need now are some chickens running around the yard."  Soon.  Very soon.  Just have to check with the city on that one.  For some silly reason useful animals are often not allowed. Not that a dog isn't useful.  They're great companions, entertainment, and exercise.  But they don't feed you.

Barley dog, who pops up in many pictures makes sure everything is doing ok in the yard.

We also installed our greenhouse, which I've mentioned in an earlier blog.  The cement was all dug up and relocated to be used as pavers around the vegetable garden and to guide you through the yard.  And of course, we built a back porch.  The left picture is the before.  It just had a small cement slab for a porch.  We love to be outside, and since our house is not too large, and the kitchen is not great for entertaining, we just had to have a nice big porch.  This is also a work in progress, as is everything on the property.  Hopefully this summer we will get around to building a bar and finding some furniture!

Not too bad for doing it all yourself, well, with some help from friends and good neighbors.