This entire homemaking thing is fun. OK, it is challenging at times. But my Hubby and I are having fun with learning the ropes. Minus the mess we had when the washing machine overflowed. Even the couple of times when I have burnt part of our dinner, we are having fun. The Hubby is especially taking a liking to me trying to make him fried eggs for breakfast. Because as hard as I try, it just doesn't happen. The yolk always breaks, or they get stuck in the pan.
Our newest adventure however, is landscaping our backyard. We have plans. Actually, we spent December-March making lots of plans. Finally settling on our "action plan" the day before we began. An area for entertaining with a nice BBQ grill and good seating, a small garden, green grass, some flowers, and a fountain. Eventually, we would like to put in an outside projector.
But we started a few weeks ago. My Hubby and his cousins demolished concrete walls and dividers. Our backyard left lots to be desired. We figured we would level things out and begin from scratch. Demolition happened one week. The following week, they poured a new cement area for entertainment and cooking. They set the grill in there and my Hubby also set up an outside sink. I am still not completely sure how that happened. But his uncle and aunt had an old sink they were getting rid of. He brought it, and they made a countertop to lay the sink in. He used some piping to run it from the water pipe where the water hose is, to the sink. Now we have cool, running water. We even managed to treat/paint the concrete to look like a nice floor. And they tiled a countertop and the sink. It was looking really cool. Who would have thought we could accomplish all of this? I didn't even know the guys knew how to do these things.
2 weeks ago, we started landscapping. The guys started with laying a simple sprinkler system. Nothing fancy, but it will get the job done. Then Sunday after church, we met for breakfast. My fingers were crossed that we would lay sod. Sure enough, after breakfast, we picked up our sod and spent the entire rest of the day laying it. It was exhausting, almost too unbearable. But it looked nice. We all enjoyed some pizza and beer looking at our accomplishments of the day.
This leads me to this past weekend. Saturday morning we went to the local Farmers' Market. We bought 3 plants and some veggies for the week. But mostly we just looked around. Sunday we made more of an effort at Lowe's and came home with a few bushes. And lots of those brick things. I really have no clue what they are called. My aunt, she gave me some small bushes from her gorgeous plants, and some irises. Her garden is amazing. I had so many questions for her, and she tried to explain everything in great detail.
Then Lola, called me, I think Monday. We were talking about the packets of seeds and such that she had sent me. So here comes my question.....Do you really start out seeds in small containers and then once they are small plants, plant them in the yard? Lola told me she uses old egg cartons or those aluminum pans to start the seeds out. As I take it, she fills up the containers with potting soil and then soaks them. Once all of the soil is saturated, she plants the seeds, then keeps them near a sunny area. Actually, she leaves them on her table in her screened in porch. Lola told me to keep them moist and in about 2 weeks, you will have some plants. She leaves them growing until they are about 3 inches tall.
Do you do that? Or do you just plant them in the ground? I am just wondering. Once I asked Lola about it, she told me she does this because the birds that live in her trees, eat the seeds out of the ground. She learned the hard way. Years ago, she bought tons of seeds for flowers and vegetable plants. They never grew. The next year she tried again, and happened to watch the birds picking at the gound. After asking a few people, she realized she needed to start out the plants in containers first. Maybe I am trying to skip a step here. But I am just curious.
I think I will probably tackle the seed planting this weekend. I will ask my aunt what she does. Because she has given me many tips. Although, I have a feeling, in the end, I will probably follow in Lola's steps.
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