Green Dreams - Part I

My favourite thing about living in a house (as I believe I have mentioned earlier) is having a frontyard AND a backyard.  This is a significant improvement from the apartment I spent the last 6 years in.


For years, I've been cutting out pictures of yards and gardens that I love.  Now it's time to make that dream a reality.  First things first though, need some garden tools. It was such an exciting day when Grant and I went to the garden store to buy garden tools - 31 years old and never owned a rake!  It was a dreamy day!!  


We had made a list, but that list flew out the window once I was allowed to go into Lee Valley. (Prior, I did not allow myself to go in there - I heard I would love it too much, which would cause serious storage problems for an apartment girl).   The rumours were correct - Lee Valley was made for me. My new favourite place.  Bought some hand clippers,  hand saw and a manual push lawnmower - had to seriously restrain myself. Everything else we got at RONA, thanks to a lovely giftcard from E & B.


Up to that point, our yard looked like a total jungle - grass was long, trees were overgrown and things were of a general un-tidiness. So, Grant was eager to get our new lawnmower into action. Here he is posing for me (isn't there some kind of right-of-passage for a man with a lawnmower? I had to document this).


From the picture on the left, it doesn't really look like we need a lawnmower (at least  on that half of the front yard - note the lack of grass).  But the other half of the yard needed a haircut.


Here are a few shots of the virgin backyard - untouched by anyone up to this point (except for that pile of twigs and leaves that I made with my NEW RAKE). A good reference point for things to come....