Barber's Backyard

We're constantly wanting to do "something" with our yard, especially out the back. We've made several attempts in the past, but something happens (like pregnancy, or just lack of inspiration) and plans go on hold again. We started thinking again about what we could do - Kira loves to play outside, but it's not always practical to take her to the park. So, getting the yard done has become a priority once again. The girls' birthdays are fast approaching, too, and if we're having the party here, we'd better get cracking!!

This is our yard a couple of weeks after the lawn bloke came and sprayed what little lawn we had. He had to kill it off before rolling out the instant turf. You might be able to see little tufts of dead grass in our dirt carpet!



And this is the end result! When he arrived (20.11.09), the lawn bloke had just received a call stating that our turf was not available due to the high temperatures we'd been having (in the 40's, in November!), but he did the ground prep and edging anyway, with view to lay the turf the following week. But we got a call from him that night - he'd been able to get the turf after all (not sure how)!! So he came back at dinner-time to finish the job. Yay! And just in time for Erika's Baptism on Sunday!!!



Our next mission is going to have to be the fence. Not sure if you can see, but the bottom horizontal beams have rotted away - you can see the marks on the fence where the beams should be! Those sticks on the ground aren't from the tree! At this stage, we're not sure if we can just replace the beams, or if we have to redo the whole fence. The vertical posts aren't in the best condition, either.



This is our crazy tomato plant! You can see it in the first picture, not too long after we planted it. We've already put two stakes in to hold it up, and today (2.1.10) we went and bought a trellise for it. We're not terribly successful at gardening, so this plant is a delight for us! And we've already had a few tomotoes from it (they're a "grape" variety), and there's HEAPS more budding now! This plant is sharing a pot with another tomato plant, and some carrots, but I don't think those plants are going to do much unless we move this monster!



We might be a bit ambitious, but we thought we'd try our hand at tending a small vegie patch. At the moment, we have strawberries, parsley, lettuce, chilli, beans and snow-peas. And some pansies in the front, for colour! Kira helped me plant some nasturtium and marigold seeds in the discarded seedling pots too (and watered them in with her new purple "Dora the Explorer" watering can that she got for Christmas from Aunty Jeni and Uncle George!), so hopefully she'll get to see how plants grow, right from the start. She loves to come outside and hunt for new growth on our current plants - new flower spikes, baby leaves sprouting - very exciting!