Vacation & Aeration Narration

My vacation continued through Tuesday but I didn't get a whole lot done those last several days, and I didn't feel one bit guilty.  I did get the windows washed and some of the tree trimmed, and I'm sure other small things, but mostly I sat, put my feet up, and relaxed.  It was very nice.

Tuesday morning I had the lawn aerated for the first time since we got the house.  I probably should have done it sooner for the sake of the front lawn.  I discussed with the workers the new terrace and patched areas in front, and so those did not get plugged but did get overseeded and fertilized.  They were unable to get some of the side of the house and the little strip of grass between our front yard and neighbor Dave's, so I will have to do that manually, probably in the fall by this point.  Also, they advised against raking up the plugs and to just let them break down naturally.

Now I have to water the whole lawn lightly for 21 days for the seeds to germinate.  After that, water less frequently but for longer to soak in and get to the roots.  Ideally, I should have an awesome lawn by the end of summer, but realistically it's going to take a lot of work and multiple years, I think.

The back yard is still really nice and mostly lush but for an area or two that needed attention, but the front is sparse and filled with weeds.   The city seeded the terrace and patches in front, and their "grass" seed is at least 50% other-than-grass seed.  I've been trying to knock down the weeds with a spot treatment as it will be some time now until I can treat the whole lawn, when the new grass is more established.

Is that more than you wanted to know about our lawn?  Well, if you're up for more yard updates with big pictures I'll see you after the break.

The gardens are doing well, mostly.  The tomato plants are outgrowing their cages, but haven't been bothered by critters at all.  The radishes have been picked and more lettuce planted.  And, unfortunately, we're not seeing anything from the potatoes yet.

The stump area has come to life.  All the orange flowers have come back from last year's wildflowers, and while some of this year's have come up I'm still waiting to see lots more.  We removed the cages (between taking these pics) from the outside two bushes, new last year and eaten away by rabbits over the winter.  They had outgrown the cages and we hope they're big enough to be left alone for now, but in fall we may need to protect them again.  The middle bush is still caged, and if you look close you can see sunflowers growing in the other two cages.

All six sunflowers are looking good in this area.  We lost two so far, one that I took to work that I didn't think would make it anyway, and one on the left side of the stump area that appeared to get pulled out by something.  There are others not pictured here that are already taller than their cages.

And we had a nice, if short, walk this afternoon up the bike path along the creek.  I didn't see any ducks, but the flora has come back well from the burn, and the tall ones are still coming in yet.

Happy weekend, everyone.