All my favorite magazines spend a substantial section of the
monthly issue on the topics of lawn and garden.
Over the last couple of years, I have noted a big swing to “Creating
Outdoor Spaces”, “Outdoor Living Areas”, etc.
I am intrigued as I love the outdoors and am always interested in doing
something new and innovative in our yard.
From childhood, I preferred outdoors to the inside. I loved mowing the yard and started when I
was about 9 or 10. After using a push
mower on a rather large yard, my dad came home one day with a small riding
mower that I could handle. A little
yellow Murray. Was I ever in tall
cotton! That hasn’t changed; I’m still mowing the yard, but now on a green John
Deere riding mower and love it. I mowed the yard when Collin and I married. He was farming and working 16 plus hours a
day. He didn’t have time to consider the
yard. I mowed when expecting Micah up
until about month number 7. I knew I had
overdone it and that I would not be mowing for a while.
When we moved to this one and only other
home, the yard work began. We expanded
the usable, but overgrown property in the back yard where weeds and briars had
grown. It was also a rock bed. Collin spent hours carrying a bucket and
picking up rocks. Eventually, we were
able to mow. This section fell behind a
small creek that ran through the middle of our acreage. Bryan referred to it as “our second back
yard.’ It was the site of our first
garden and my children spent hours playing there.
There were no trees to speak of except one line of hardwoods
in the back.
We began planting trees on
the west front to get shade for the house.
Now they are in abundance and require a great deal of yard
maintenance. In the spring there are limbs
and debris from the winter and spring storms.
Tassels also fall from the oaks.
In the fall, there are millions of leaves to rake, burn, mulch, etc. Still I love working in the yard, but it’s
not a job for wimps or the faint of heart—its work.
Over the years, we’ve done several things including edging
and flowerbeds with landscaping brick, designing a fountain,
added a patio, and Collin
built a pergola over it complete with electricity for fan,
and we hung a great
porch swing. (The inspiration for my blog name and theme)
We’ve spent many hours
there drinking morning coffee,
grilling a dinner meal, and enjoying it on the
patio table.
In the fall, we’ve put on
warm clothes, made a fire in the pit, and again enjoyed hot coffee.
Last fall, we added a deck on the end of our
house off of our bedroom. We’ve spent
hours this spring and summer enjoying this outdoor room. Can you tell we like swings? This was an old one we had saved and up-cycled.
However, getting to the point of this post, this summer we
completed a rock garden. There is an
area behind our house and garage space that has bothered me for years. I tried a number of ideas to enhance the ugly
sight, but to no avail.
First, it’s on a
rock bed and would have needed a great deal of digging out and dirt hauled
in. Nothing would grow except weeds and
scraggly grass that I didn’t want.
Again, after looking at many ideas in my magazines, I envisioned a rock
garden. Why work against the rocks when
that was the foundation of what was already there and a big part of the
problem. I had mentioned this to Collin
some years ago, but some things just take time.
The summer before last, our good friend, Larry invited us to
come visit his cabin get-a-way in the hills of Ash Flat and get some “boulders”
as Collin called them. With tractor,
bucket, chains, and trailer, I picked out big rocks and the fellows loaded them
for me.
We got home with those and Collin used our tractor and placed them strategically for me. Phase I was complete. Getting that much done was an accomplishment.
This summer, we found time to resume the project. We went to Home Depot and purchased the
landscape brick to mark the boundary and secured the wash rock. It was a pretty big undertaking and took the
better part of two days, but we were successful. I was so pleased and I think Collin was
satisfied that it made the driveway space look much better. Adding in a few garden statuary pieces I had
in some other places and stored away, phase II was completed.
I have some ideas for hiding the air-conditioning unit and
gas utility, but that may come next summer.
It’s always good to have some additional goals and ideas. When I mention these to Collin, he always
looks at me and sighs, but I think he’s on board. He just likes to tease me.
We have a big yard and there are several different areas and
spaces where I would like to create some additional outdoor living rooms or
garden areas that would be pleasant. I
have ideas all of which take time, energy, money. Perhaps by next spring, I’ll have another
creative idea for an outdoor home improvement. I’ve always found nature to be relaxing and a
stress reducer. Pulling weeds or setting
flowers in new planters has always provided a means for me to clear my head as
well as creating something beautiful to the eye. It’s rewarding at the end of the day to sit
peacefully with a glass of sweet tea, enjoy the “View from the Porch Swing”,
and to. . .
Live Simply,
Marcia
