Digging In The Dirt

So, I've made some progress on the CRAZY amounts of yard work around this place and I wanted to show it off.  This is but a tiny corner of what I have to take care of and it's going to take me years to tame it all, but it's a beginning.

This is the retaining wall at the bottom of our driveway by our garages. (This picture is from two years ago right after the wall was finished)

Normally it is completely over run with weeds and looks horrendous.  This year I'm trying to tame it.  I've gotten the major section of it to the left of the stairs completed (now I just need to work on the long part of the 'L'.)  I weeded out all the crap that was in there. I have three small evergreen bushes planted in a triangle and between them are two day lily plants.  Up at the top, I have my black-eyed susans in front of the 4x4s and my gladiolas behind.  Up in the woods on our back hill we have vinca (aslo called myrtle by a lot of people) growing in carpets.  So, I went up there, dug up a bunch, and transplanted it down to fill in as ground cover.  The big hosta in the planter by the stairs is one that was there before the wall was rebuilt.  I pulled it out before demolition and then split it so that I have half in each planter on the sides of the stairs.

Finished product

bushes, day lilies, clumps of vinca

I made this one big so you could read it.

My next step is to weed out the long, narrow portion perpendicular to this and maybe transplant some vinca in there, too.  I'm not sure what I plan to do about that.

One day, many years from now, I hope to have this place look like someone who gives a damn lives here. It's very slow going but I'm trying.