Slowly but surely

Other than push-mowing our tiny strip of townhouse lawn in Denmark, we did absolutely no home stuff for almost two years. What we did do over that time though was think about it. A lot. And last fall we were able to get started.

First on the list was replacing the windows and siding on the porch. We finished re-siding the house proper, but we just weren't able to get to the porch before leaving in 2008. Its out back, and only one neighbor has a clear view of it, so it was ok for the semi-short term. The windows went in last fall, the siding got done this spring, and the deck will be finished (probably) in the next month. Whew. Get ready to finally check that project off the list.

My big thing this year has been converting the lawn in our front yard to no-mow, and planting native shrubs and perennials. The no-mow that was seeded last fall is doing great. I think I watered it once in April, and I've spot-sprayed crabgrass and hand pulled other weeds. Although you can mow no-mow once a month for a manicured appearance, we haven't. I wanted to just see what it looks like at its full growth.

Click to view pix.

porch and yard 2010

I've decided that this fall I'm going to extend the no-mow around the big tree in the front yard, and further down the hill. But instead of using round-up to kill off the existing lawn and weeds I'm going to smother. This will take longer (two seasons - fall and winter), but it will be a nice little experiment. The ultimate goal for the front yard is almost-zero-maintenance. Primarily no mowing, and no watering.

PPP - Peter went up to the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa last weekend. Then Rich and I followed up a day later to collect him.