It is the best of times because it is fenced in. It's full of trees but not too full of trees, so it's shady without being dark. It's a nice size (about 1/3 acre). It feels private, due to the slope and the trees.
It is the worst of times because it has at least a year (and probably more like many years) of neglect. The plants that the previous owner's tried to add are not good choices for their locations. Weeds x5000. And not just plain weeds, either, we have Power Weeds that fight back when I try to remove them.
Exhibit A:
Power Weed, aka "Stinging Nettle"
In the following picture, you can see a small area of low weeks on the far left, a center area of tall weeds, and then a lilac on the far right.
The far-left weeds are these:
Soft little weeds with tiny flowers. At first I thought they might be chamomile, but after a little research they were revealed to be regular weeds. With their shallow root systems and sturdy stems, these were a breeze to remove. Lucas helped:
The middle weed group is made up mostly of this:
Stinging Nettle. A weed not to be messed with.You can see it reaching into the picture on the far right:
The bad thing about this weed is that every leaf is covered in minute stingers that cause burney lumps like a hundred bug bites. The good thing is that they tell you the soil has excellent fertility. This is what the leaves look like under a microscope (every little hair is a stinger):
My goal was to clear out all the weeds in the area so that I could A) stop looking at ugly weeds out the kitchen windows and B) plant this lovely assortment of bulbs (ignore the tulips, those are going somewhere sunnier).
Nothing like a good group of spring-blooming, self-naturalizing bulbs to make a girl love her yard. But, in order to do this, first I had to battle the Nettle.First blood went to the Nettle . . .
(the smeary white stuff is Benadryl cream). . . but I won the war!
Weeds removed, bulbs planted. Now I can't wait until next spring!!
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