The backyard is coming along. I decided on English Ivy under the hammock. It needs to grow in but it is supposed to be very hardy so hopefully I won’t kill it. Actually, Linus is the Ivy’s enemy right now. He has already dug up 2 of the patches I planted. I replanted both of them but only one survived. He is now on notice!




The pond is doing better now that the raccoons have stopped coming by. There are only a few tiny fish left but the plants are coming back.




Here are my orchids, I’m very proud of them. The two in the front are doing extremely well. I have already cut off 6 stems to give away. I confiscated the three in the back from my parents house since it is too hot for the orchids at their house. All 5 plants belong to Grandpa so I am doing my best to keep them alive. The climate at Grandpas old house is just like ours here so I think they should be here. : )




Here is the swing that I bought. I think it was a good buy. Perfect for afternoon naps; especially if you have jetlag like Don here.



Here is my tiny fern, someday it will be big and strong.



And here is the next area I will tackle. This will be a potting area with a small shed for tools.




Still much to do….

I don’t want to let another summer go by without being able to enjoy our petite backyard. Ultimately I would like to put up a new fence, move the pond, rebuild the deck & basically redo the whole darn thing… But that’s not going to happen so now I’m working on new low cost plans. I have bagged up 7 full size bags of leaves & poo so far. This week I’m going to concentrate on this area. Here it is yesterday.



And here it is today minus leaves & dog poo, plus a hammock. It’s a really peaceful spot for the hammock. I want to put some sort of moss or shade tolerant ground cover all around the hammock and some ferns at each end. There will be stepping stones to get to the hammock. I’m reading up on what sort of plants grow here but haven’t been able to find any of them at the nursery or Home Depot. I’ll try again tomorrow.




Next I need to clean up the side of the house. It looks like our neighbors have been dumping their trash bags on the side of our house. Classy, eh? Ugh….I realize this neighborhood was kinda ghetto before all of us DINKS moved in but that’s still tacky. Oh well, that’s why I’m creating a little sanctuary in the backyard.