We've been contemplating umm.. planning and/or delaying putting in an irrigation system since we moved to our country place last year. We have many good reasons for the delay, but mainly because our land was.... to use the term "heavily wooded" would be a lite description of the state of our "yard", you could barely see the house from the road for the most part. We've overcome major hurdles with the vast amount of yaupon, that has yet to realize it is NOT welcome in certain areas of our yard. I cannot believe they actually sell this stuff as "landscape shrubs" and moreover that people actually want and pay for it ! We can just hear the hardwoods "ahhhs" as we relieve them of the surrounding overgrown yaupons that have been robbing them of their much desired nutrients such as water and sunlight and a place to stretch their roots. It has been a delight to see the graceful shapes of the tree trunks as they have struggled to thrive and politely grow around the underbrush. One of the coolest things, is WE know their story of how and why their trunks have grown in such an artful array of leans and turns, and therefore we are rewarding them with beautiful surroundings of flowers and landscape beds, sunlight and water and S-P-A-C-E. Thus part of the need for the irrigation system which is in progress, it looks like a HUGE mole has taken over our yard, and the call before you dig peeps that are supposed to come out and mark all of the utilities....never showed up! But since the contractor we are using is the same one that put in our pool, he pretty much knew where everything was....almost.... a cut waterline and phone line later...he knows now!!! We're excited to get this finished as we have most of the plants purchased already (due to some killer deals at local nurseries this week). The next battle is to deter the deer that roam through our yard twice daily. After all we do not want them to think our landscaping is an all-you-can-eat deer buffet! Yes, we have researched all the "deer resistant" plants we should use and have purchased accordingly...but it seems the deer out here are not picky eaters. On the advice of a friend the best alternative is to buy a feeder and give them a place of their own. This may be our next purchase. We have determined that one of the "Deer be gone" sprays, is working, with the test plants we have placed in the future beds. Success!!!! I love dirt therapy so I am having the time of my life putting this all together, and in case you're wondering, dirt and mud really does make for great skin! Spa, shma a little time in the yard will do ya...speaking of which....it's time to get out there and enjoy!
New landscape bed in progress. Still working
on the layout.
These stepping stones are made of recycled
trash bags, Rick found them at Sam's.
Huge "gopher trails" currently in our front yard.
