The Taming of the Yard

I have written before about our yard. It was quite a jungle. These before pictures are actually after pictures of what it was before the big pruning of December 2008...yes, in the central valley of California we do yard work during Christmas Break. We called it a pruning of biblical proportions. It took us three weeks of ours and our neighbor's green bin to get rid of all the junk. These pictures show what we have done since then.

Isn't this lovely? The scraggly grass is now looking a lot better with the help of a lot of really good fertilizer and plenty of water.
This is what we call "behind the roses." We have a bed of roses (not the Guns 'n Roses kind) in the middle of our yard. They are quite stunning, but right in the way. We thought we would utilize the space behind them so we moved all the plants that were randomly placed everywhere.
I like mint in gum and toothpaste and especially in grasshopper cookies, but not in my yard. Pretty much everywhere you see dirt there is actually mint and/or ivy. I spent hours pulling it out. Good thing pulling weeds is one of my favorite things to do and another good thing that my baby takes somewhat regular naps.

Mint/ivy VANQUISHED!

Raspberries transplanted and Madge (the dog) checking our work.