My Yard Boy

This is my husband. I really like him.

He doesn't appear on my blog often because he doesn't care to have his picture plastered all over the internet. What a shame. The man is a hunk with some seriously sexy biceps I wouldn't mind showing off. Most of the time I respect his wish for anonymity. But not today.

See that weed in his left hand? It is the last one of scores of tall weeds that he pulled around the yard this morning, after mowing the neighbor's un-landscaped yard (in which we garden in exchange for weed control). Because I was crippled all through spring and into mid-summer, the garden next door was much reduced in size, which left the remainder of the yard at the mercy of nature. Translation: because I have been siting on my fat apple for the last five months, the weeds took over. Prickly lettuce, goats head, knotweed, spurge, kochia, pigweed, and wild sunflowers flourished.

I feel responsible for the mess - after all, I am the one who made the deal with the kind, gracious woman next door. My husband is busy with more important things than yardwork, such as earning a living and seeing to the temporal and spiritual needs of 500 people, so I haven't asked for help with what was clearly a losing battle for me. As a result, the nightmare next door has been preying on my mind all summer.

And now they've all been cut down to the ground. Because he noticed that I was in over my head and just not keeping up.

Thanks, honey.

Guess What?

Remember that post earlier today, about my weedy yard? Well, I have just redisovered an eternal principle: that confession is integral to true repentance. There's a scripture about that here, somewhere. Oh well, I'll just paraphrase.

"...When we undertake to cover our weeds, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the chickens, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Master Gardener is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the gardener-hood or the authority of that woman.

"Behold, ere she is aware, she is left unto herself, to kick against the rocks, to persecute the children, and to fight against bindweed forevermore."

My point is this: until I published photos of my weedy yard this morning, it stayed weedy. But once I let go of my gardening pride and confessed to y'all that I am not perfect, the strangest thing happened. I wanted to weed. So this afternoon I sat down and ripped all the weeds out of the backdoor flowerbed.

It was invigorating. It was almost... fun! Over and over my fingers searched out the crown of the bindweed, and pulled it from the ground.

For your convenience, here is the BEFORE pic:

And... AFTER!


Remember the clump of grass next to the lillies, BEFORE?

And, AFTER.

The flat contains some flowers and ground cover given to me by a friend. I'm planning to plant them tomorrow.

Oooh, and bonus: While working, I found a ripe strawberry; the first strawberry of the season! My kids would have been so excited! But I selfishly ate it without telling anyone. (See? I'm not trying to hide my sins anymore.)

It was delicious.

A Boost for your Self Esteem

I am a Master Gardener. Most people are intimidated by this.

It's an uncomfortable title that I try not to be let known (which is why I put it on my blog). I took a 40 hour class from the USU Extension service and put in 40 hours of volunteer work to earn it. And now people think I not only know everything, but that I have a perfect lawn and garden.

#1: I do not know everything.

#2: Even if I did, knowing does not necessarily equal doing.

The purpose of this post is to disabuse y'all of the notion that I have the perfect yard. Welcome to a glimpse of my garden thus far this year.


Here is the $14 flat of geraniums that I failed to plant.


Here is the forgotten pack of Jalapeno Peppers.


Here is my weedy backdoor flowerbed. The bindweed (in bloom) and thistle are healthier than they've ever been. It must be all the rain we've had. And the fact that I haven't pulled them out yet.



Further down, in front of the lillies, is a nice big grass clump with ripening seed heads. The strawberry plants beyond the rain spout are barely visible because they have been nearly covered by weeds.


Here is the back fence bed, which also has strawberries, day lillies, and sage, none of which can be seen. Instead, the crabgrass from the neighbor's yard and sunflower seedlings from last year's flowers have taken over.


Now, you should all breathe easier knowing that my yard is such a disaster. Right? Suddenly your own gardening skills seem better, don't they?

My work here is complete.