Fixing up the Yard with the Home Depot

Over a month ago, we started working on our yard. I spent an entire day clearing out the side yard and fixing the planter bed. It was a lot of work, but worth it.

Over the last week and a half, I’ve taken on other yard projects, and enlisted my son to help. We started with a trip to the Home Depot. Then we cleared out the lawn area to prepare for a new lawn, and we planted seeds and potted plants in the planter bed. We can already see growth. Our grass is starting to come in as a carpet of seedlings.

We already have an automatic sprinkler system in place, but an automatic sprinkler system doesn’t mean an automatic yard (although I wish it did). A yard, we’ve discovered, is a living thing that needs TLC. It needs to be watered, but also cared for. It needs to be loved!

It has been fun to see the progress in the yard over these last few weeks. Seeds that Little Moore and I planted are starting to sprout. He is even more excited than I am to see them grow. Here they are two days ago, just starting to come up.

The plants are getting bigger. Soon we’ll have to thin them out, and talk about why thinning the plants is important… which may lead to a lesson on thinning our toys out as well!

Soon we’ll have zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and hopefully watermellon plants, as well as strawberry, bell pepper, and tomato plants growing in the yard. We’ll talk about why bugs are important (boys and bugs are a natural fit), and which bugs are the “good bugs”.

Throughout the summer and fall, I hope we’ll be able to harvest some of our vegetables, and enjoy them in the kitchen. Kids are always more likely to try new things if they’ve helped make them themselves – and growing veggies in the garden absolutely counts!

Before then, there will still be a lot of yard maintenance. The weeds will keep coming back.We’ll have to mow the lawn. In the next few days we need to head back to Home Depot to fix the sprinkler that has gotten another stone in it (replacing one sprinkler head after four years isn’t so bad), and look at the best way to give the roses a very late pruning (or a very early pruning, depending on how you look at it). We might check out the Garden Club Community Forum for tips there.

Maintaining the yard is a constant process, but one that is simple compared to the big tasks we’ve undertaken. Buying new tools that will last us for several seasons. Clearing out all the weeds and debris. Re-building the planter wall. Getting new plants in the ground. We’ve done a lot, and it really shows… just in time for my inlaws to arrive today!

I hope that my journey has inspired you to make some progress in your own yards – regardless of the size. Getting dirty, wet, sweaty, and sore is so worth it! And if you have any questions along the way, know that the friendly folks at The Home Depot are available to help out!