Probably a little fear...

All of a sudden, I feel as though I know everything I want in the rest of the backyard. I can almost envision it.

Problem is, I'm afraid to start any of it, mostly because, it's no longer a "bang one thing out and move to the next" kind of project -- everything has to be planned for and tied together, or it will look patchwork. Problem with THAT is, there's no money to be had for such a monumental project, especially with the garage roof needing replacement and the skylight upstairs needing to be removed and roofed over. Those two things will cost some dough, and they're definitely not DIY projects, particularly for this DIYer.

Right now, there's still a sand/soil pit where the hot tub used to be, surrounded by bricks and concrete slabs...I want to reuse the slabs as a patio in some portion of the yard...then replant the pit with grass (I'd love to turn it into a garden, but with two little boys growing up quickly, they're going to need a serious play area in the backyard -- like *I* had growing up).

I also want to set up and plant a long thin garden along the west fence, in part to eliminate the grass up against the fence, allowing me to not have to get out the trimmer when I cut the grass, at least there, anyway. But this garden can't be too wide, for the reasons mentioned above.

Then, we have the boys' swing set to put somewhere. I wanted to landscape around it with mulch (or rubber mulch, or whatever), raised up a bit too -- not really for safety (we didn't have that in our yard, and we were fine), but more to give it a feel that it belongs there, as part of the overall landscape back there.

On top of this, the deck really is going to need to be redone in the next couple years, I think...and part of me wants to just do it now, but expand it to the west, along the entire back of the house. This, of course, is where the "no money for that" problem really arises.

So I guess one of these days, I will go out and start measuring, and then maybe sketch out a plan...maybe I can do everything with the exception of the deck, but incorporate it into the design for future inclusion. Who knows? Again, it's not like other things around this house don't need to be finished/started/fixed.

The veggies are ... vegging out...

IMG00445-20110513-1921.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, I got the back two raised beds turned over, supplemented with more topsoil (erosion in a contained bed? Really?), and planted. I'm trying, this year, to give plants like my tomato plants a little more space to spread out and not overcrowd each other (or the walkways), especially since A.J. will certainly be out picking them with me a lot of times.

In fact, A.J. helped me plant the two tomato plants you see here. He dug part of the hole, and when I gave him the plant to put in the hole, he literally threw it in the hole. Good thing they're resilient. :)

The bed partially visible in the lower left-hand corner has carrot seeds and two more tomato varieties. I have one Big Boy plant and a Yellow Pear cherry tomato variety, just for the interesting-ness of it. We'll see how they do and if the Yellow Pear tomatoes taste any good.

All that's left in the garden now is to fill up the expanded end bed, which is now 4 foot by 8 foot, and then plant my corn. I should be able to pack quite a few plants in there, so I hope I'll get some better ears of corn this year. We shall see!

In other news, I have to get the garage fascia and soffit repaired so that I can have the roof replaced, as it's coming down in the area that was attached to the "carport" that covered the hot tub. That's really important to get done, because right now my garage fascia is open for business for any wildlife to sneak into the garage and make itself at home. Thankfully, it has been too inconsistently cold for bees/wasps, which is my biggest concern, honestly.

Then, we just have boatloads of things that need to be done around here, particularly outside, though not limited to outside. I love my boys, but it's tough to get things done when you have the two little ones running around and all that. And, unfortunately, they're nowhere near old enough to truly help (though A.J. tries and wants to help me with things all the time).

C'est la vie, right? :)