moving on North

I know, I know, I should just show you a before and after picture and call it good.

But then you wouldn't appreciate the process.

All the hard work I did.

And Jeff too.

Owen might have even helped a little (but then again maybe not).

But first....

OUR MIRACLE!!!!!

Our Ash tree in front of out house. The one that has to be there because the street is lined with them. The tree that shades our house from the HOT afternoon sun. The tree we love.

So when all the other trees on the street had leaves, ours only had a few. I was so worried.

I stopped everything and devoted a day of TLC to this tree.

i raked off the bark around it.

added mega amounts of Ammonium Sulfate.

added soil and compost.

added more Ammonium sulfate.

watered it all in.

replaced the bark and then held my breath.

and continued watering it every day.

I waited...

and waited...

and one morning if I squinted really hard I could see baby leaves coming out of what I had thought were dead branches.

then it happened again, and again, until every single dead looking branch had leaves.

We were so happy. Our miracle: our resurrected tree. I could once again sleep at night without dreams of the city taking a chainsaw to my tree.

Back to business. The before of the North flowerbed:

Step one: we had to cut down the tree. I know, I just spent 10 minutes of your precious time telling you how much I loved one tree and here I am about to take an ax to another.

But believe me, I didn't want that on my shoulders.

I made J do it.

The bottom line was "wrong tree. wrong place." I'm not the idiot who planted a tree that gets 40 ft tall and 30 ft wide ,4 ft from the house.

Go J Go! Chop J Chop! That's the punks you hear not me...

Step 2: Install some dry-layed pavement for a small patio.

Lucky for you I was so busy and hot and sweaty I didn't take too many pictures.

It was about this point J turned to me and said

"I've hauled dirt, boulders, gravel, wood, stone, bark, and sand, what else do you want me to do?"

Me: "Ummm dig up some grass, plant some shrubs, maybe a few trees, and weed my garden. Honey? Where are you going? Is is something I said?"

These punks thought the purpose of this project was the sand box we'd parked in the drivewayPunks.

Step 3: Plant stuff and pull weeds, and pick out rocks, and try to level all the beds, and make the grass line look nice, and install the drip, and avoid dehydration.

Step 4: Spread bark, relax, enjoy, smile.