The last little while...

So, we've been doing some decently exciting stuff around here. Lately we've been focusing on our future garden and our yard/landscaping. We decided to plant a Valencia Orange tree in our front yard, and are looking forward to fresh squeezed orange juice sometime within the next 5 years, haha.

Here's Matt planting the orange tree. Its doing pretty well, I think (hope). Also, we transplanted some bulbs from the backyard (what will soon be our vegetable garden) to the front.

Our future plan is to have steps going up just to the right of the bulbs. We'll see what happens :) This bare spot in the landscaping was created by the septic hunt earlier this year. There used to be a gigantic, gorgeous bush right there. Now, there are bulbs, and hopefully someday there will be steps.

In the backyard, we removed the bulbs from the flower beds to make way for vegetable beds. :)

I'm still working on getting all the bulbs removed and clearing out the dirt. We've decided to do Square Foot Gardening this fall. To start, we'll remove at least 6 inches of soil from the beds, and add Mel's Mix. We'll be good to go! My plan is to sow in late September, early October. We'll be planting: broccoli, beets, carrots, swiss chard, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, parsnips, radishes, sugar snap peas, spinach, strawberries, turnips, and marigolds for decoration.
We also decided to pretty up the yard. Under the trees was getting a little out of control, with grass and weeds about knee-high. We have a gardener that comes once a week, but he only mows the lawn and trims edges. Well, we found out that the city of Los Angeles gives away free mulch. Yep, all the yard waste that goes into the green bins every week gets turned into mulch, and you can go pick it up any day!

So, we took our truck and a shovel, and so far have used two loads full. We laid down landscaping fabric, and then the mulch, and we're hoping that solves our weed problem. We shall see. Here are before and after pictures:
Magnolia tree: before

Magnolia tree: after

And our other tree (not sure what kind): after

I have to say that I'm really happy with it.

We're also starting to compost. If you do SFG (Square Foot Gardening) you start with the perfect mix of soil, and then the only thing you ever add is compost. That's right! No fertilizers or chemicals. Just compost. Well, we'll need a bit of compost in the future, so we got started early. We have about half of a trash can full of compost already (we drilled holes all around it to let air in, add stuff once a week, and "turn" it {really just roll it around} a couple times a week. Couldn't be easier than that! Compost city!) and we are making more. We also have a compost pile-we decided to try two different methods. The trashcan is the much faster method, but I have hopes for the pile.

Well, that's about it. We DID have some guest come by yesterday. My nephew, Ryan, just got engaged two days ago, on his birthday. He lives in UT, but came to CA to propose to his girlfriend. They both came up for a visit last night. It was so much fun having them! It is weird to think that Ryan is all grown up, but I guess if his little sister is old enough to be married, then he is, as well. The funny thing is that for the second time I've been the first one to see a Blair child after he/she got engaged. Lindsay invited me and Matt down to Disneyland the day she got engaged, and we had an awesome visit with her. Now Ryan comes to visit. :) It makes me feel pretty special, tho...

Anyways, not much else. Anyone planning on staying up to watch the Perseids Meteor Shower on August 12-13? I've always felt that it was MY meteor shower, since it falls on my birthday every year. Some people are predicting up to 100 meteors an hour, with an average of around 60. That's more than one a minute! The moon will be nonexistent, so, enjoy! Get out there on a blanket in a dark spot and watch those falling stars!

Well, that's really all. I need to go get some stuff done, maybe start making dinner. Talk to you guys later.

Pam

PS. Happy birthday to Dad, who would have been 71 this year. We miss you, Dad!