...T'other side of the Fence

...Where they say the grass is always greener. That was until now. In this entry, I wax about the new greenery we have. Yes, this is a Gardening Post, even tho I vowed to never do one previously. I do house-type stuff, not nature-type stuff; I prefer to leave that to, well, Nature. Roxana, on the other hand....

So we have this great front window in our Living Room, perched atop the hill in the Heritage District that even peeks at the SF Bay & Mare Island (in two places), even though the glazing suffers from sandblasting over-spray. But, as we look out to admire the view, our eyes are drawn to the lava rock & wild weed landscaping our front yard sports. Then we see the lush green grass our identical neighbor boasts. Green with envy, to say the least, especially because they have no children to make use of that turf and we have 2 growing little girls.

What would they do with a rock garden but throw them all about? (Lava) rock gardens are intended as a low maintenance landscaping solution, which is ironic because they breed an impenetrable network of weeds under that weed-barrier tarp. By the time that fabric is breached, it's too late...they're everywhere! Now, I don't actually have any pictures of this sorry state of our yard because it was just too unpleasant to look at and not worth the pixels. So, my father-in-law stepped in (in a very good way), and suprized us with a crew to install a lawn for us!!! How cool is that?

The first day was spent carting off all the lava rocks, weeds and fabric. Also, we had them rip up a few plants we had little concern over. The rose bush, we begrudgingly had relocated. I mean, what kind of person kills a plant that produces roses, anyways? The day ended with the clayish soil being rototilled.and about half the area being marked out for lawn-age as you see in the above photos. Day 2 was all about laying the turf down. Voila! a water-hungry plot of land! O! but it will be played on and avidly appreciaited by all.

And NOW we have this plushy green joy to look at outside our window. Much prettier than lava rock, wouldn't you say? Btw, that tree is a plum tree of some sort; pretty in the springtime. So, R has been busy with the gardening lately, with much continuing help from her father. A few new pots here, a dash of color there, and now it's starting to look quite homey. Soon, we will lose that CMU wall for something a bit nicer...and then there's the cursed ivy.


By the way, the picture to the left includes "the cat" in tow, after a brief escape to go chow on the new lawn. He has become ever more insistent on getting out since seing the new grass below his inside perch (the big window). Once he darts out, he begins eating grass at a furious rate, and eats even fast as you approach him. I suppose this is better than having to chase him around the yard. The young tree in the background (behind the Foxglove) is a Japanese Weeping Waterfall Maple. With it's lacey foliage, it remains rather small and takes the form of an umbrella...as long as we don't kill it someow. Here it is before it was planted, and you can still see the lava rock I was ranting about before it was removed.

Well, this all occurred two weeks ago, and now we have a new dillema. Just this weekend, we had out waterline burst, and I was certain the lawn crew had something to do with it. Come back soon, and I will relay the (ongoing) saga of Plumbing in the Anterior Dimension.