I spent most of Friday doing yardwork. A hard freeze was predicted for the night and my grandchildren were all somewhere else so Friday was a perfect day to get lots done.
I mowed and edged and did lots of pruning of all the flowering bushes as well as pulling up the last of the zinnias.
All the clippings got bundled and bagged and will be picked up Monday. Our city's waste management picks up our trash, our recycling and our green waste.
The backyard was in need of organizing too. So I put one play area on the east side....
Another play area by the back door and picnic tables. (If you don't live in Oklahoma or haven't followed my blog for long, you may be wondering about that giant gray thing. It is a concrete safe room for tornado protection. Yes, we have been thinking of ways to beautify it but haven't yet got around to it)
The grandsons will be thrilled with this new digging area made with paver stones from a neighbor and dirt of pots that need replaced.
The only plant still growing in the vegetable pots was this jalapeño. It has tiny peppers and quite a few buds on it. My husband moved it up near the back door to protect it from last nights freeze. It survived th night just fine. But I am wondering if it will actually give a harvest.
There were 2 pots of succulents on the front porch and I brought them in for the night too. They really thrived this summer.
The 2 pink rose bushes both still had a few blooms. So I clipped and saved the pretty ones before I whittled down the bushes.
One quirky thing about my town is we are home to lots of Canadian geese that live here year round. For some reason, they forgot to fly north and now they just stay.
They look cute but when a big bunch of them hang out on streets or sidewalks for long, there is a lot of icky big goose you-know-what on the ground afterward.
There they go, marching down our street in row...... I am glad they weren't hanging out here while I was working so much yesterday.
You have been a busy girl!!
ReplyDeleteYour yard is very nice. I am sure the grandchildren will love the new dirt place. My own sons loved to have a dirt/sand box. When I did day care for older children the sand box was the most popular play area in the yard.
ReplyDeleteYour geese look wonderful to me. At least their droppings are on the ground. In our area we have Starlings and Sparrows. I swear to you there are enough of them at all times it looks like a clip from the movie 'The Birds' around here. Our cars, the drive ways and anything out side is a mess a good deal of the time. I always say to myself the old saying we had as a kid "birdy birdy in the sky, why did you do that in my eye? I don't care, I won't cry. I am just glad cows don't fly." I really am.
I am in central TX, near Austin. It got cool here last night, but no freeze. I love the cooler weather and I am hanging my laundry outside today. We are supposed to get rain in the middle of the week. As our drought is so bad I am praying for lots of rain.
Roxie, I do agree that your starlings and sparrows worse. I have seen cars just covered in white from you know what- ick!
DeleteI am glad cows don't fly either :)
I grew up in Texas, but a long way from Austin.
The grands are going to love the dirt! After rain, cold and snow... yes, I said snow I need to get out do the same thing. It is suppose to warm up this week so I hope to get it done. Great job on the clean up!
ReplyDeletethank you ! I am so glad to have it accomplished. I would like to do some weeding and put down mulch in the front beds. But it may or may not get done
DeleteMy aunt just moved and as I was at her house last weekend, she gave me her little jalapeno plant in a pot that had been outside. I have it indoors in the sun and it has a couple of teeny peppers on it, but doubt they will really grow indoors. Oh well, as long as it lives and stays green, it looks pretty! And then maybe I can bring it back outside in oh, about 6 months. So that concrete tornado room...it underground? I'm assuming you don't have a basement then?
ReplyDeleteMelanie- very few basements in Oklahoma because of the rocky and clay soil here, they are very difficult to dig and to keep dry. some people have storm cellars but we chose an above ground safe room as they are easy to get into, safe up to 250 mph winds and they won't flood during heavy rain like some storm cellars do
DeleteI understand that you can bring peppers inside over the winter and replant outside in the Spring. We haven't tried it yet, but your little pepper plant might be a great experiment for that.
ReplyDeleteLOVE your dirt spot for the kids to dig in. I have a hard time keeping the boys out of my garden beds even though they have a sandbox. Kids love dirt! :o)
Tammy, when we had a sandbox, the grands scattered the sand making food in the play house and "feeding the deer"
DeleteSo when I set up the yard this week, I put the play house way away from the dirt pit so hopefully they will be less tempted to scatter the dirt.
You've done a lot of work and everything is looking great. You can keep the Canada geese. We still have LOTS here, lol. Years ago an American told me we must not have any homeless people here because there were so many birds roaming about in the parks. Sadly, that was once true but now we have far too many homeless people with no where to live.
ReplyDeletethank you Joyful.
DeleteWhat? You don't want a flock of geese keeping you company as you work outside? ha.
ReplyDeleteno I don't :) They are large birds and I am intimidated when a flock of them is too near. silly birds should fly back to Canada
DeleteGorgeous rose blooms / the geese struck me as funny...as if they were out trick or treating in that picture! :)
ReplyDelete