Working in the yard

This spring, I went a little crazy and hacked away at the little trees from the forest that were trying to encroach on our property line.  It was a lot of work, but it was great for arm toning.  There is still a lot that I would like to do, but once it got into the humid summer months, I decided to take a break.  We took at least nine truck loads to the dump.  Maybe more.  There are also still trees and brambles hanging out that didn't make it to the dump.  We also lined out our yard a little and planted lots of things.  Some were bought, some were transplanted from other areas of the yard.  It looked really nice.  Sadly, the deer liked it too much as well as the voles.  We shall see what survived next spring.  We figured out a trick for the voles (but it was a little too late for most of our flowers). Stick pinwheels in the ground.  When the wind blows, the vibration drives them crazy.  Much cheaper than other things we looked at, and it works!

For the deer, we got a tip about Irish Spring soap in panty hose.  It worked for a few weeks and then not so much.   

 Landon had a blast helping us get the branches in the trucks.  Often he would just grab one and take it all over the yard.

 Two truck beds full and a trailer hitch.  This was just one of two trips for that day.

 Our hostas were starting to sprout

 We planted some hyacinth 

 We think this is Angels breath

 Our butterfly bush.  Wow, it looks twice the size right now than it does in this picture.

 This is our patch of vinca and lilies.  We got a good price on lawn edgers and put them around it so that the vinca wouldn't take over the lawn.

 The vinca was in bloom and they are so pretty

 We got some great deals on flowering trees, so we also planted some of those.

 This drain is now covered with angels breath and lilies, you can hardly see it anymore

 Okay, so this pipe is the drain from our water system... We aren't sure what to do about it.  When it does a cycle (once a month I think) it just floods the area.  We put the pipe up because it was causing a big hole in the ground, but now all the grass is dying because it is too wet... Any ideas?

 We had a fire area in our yard in this big clay spot.  It was perfect until Landon discovered it.  Ash doesn't come out of clothing all the easily...  So, we need to move the fire pit somewhere else :)

We also made raised garden beds.  I can't believe I don't have any pictures!  I had some on my phone...

I can't seem to figure out how to get the pictures off my phone... Hmm..........