Monday, June 11, 2007

Another Weekend in the Garden

I didn't get much stitching done this weekend. On Saturday, we went to the Elfreth's Alley Fete Days so we could see inside other people's houses. (You can read more about it here.) After lunch in Chinatown--it was perhaps too hot to have walked so far, but at least we weren't working in the garden--we sat in traffic on the way home. It took twice as long to get home as it took to get there! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a stitching project for the ride.

On Sunday, which was overcast and much cooler, we finished up the garden. First, we removed the lawn. With a shovel and a serrated trowel. Fourteen kitchen garbage bags worth. (Why not lawncare bags? Because we have a weight limit on what the garbagemen will pick up.) We broke for lunch so the dude could watch the highlights of the French Open and I could make dinner--indeed, we had invited the family over for dinner and to see the new garden. I put together two meat loaves and peeled and boiled 2.5 lbs of potatoes. The dude went off to rent the rototiller, and I finished bagging the sod and brought the plant material from the back of the house. By 4:30, I was heading for the shower and the dude brought back the rental. This meant, of course, that we didn't do a lick of work around the house--we didn't even manage to vacuum up the dirt we had tracked in. The kitchen floor looked like we had mulched with grass clippings. So of course, when my ultraclean sister and cousin arrived, they did the dishes and vacuumed the floor while I finished the potato salad and made dilly beans (Moosewood). Anyway, the results:



Click to see "before."

6 comments:

Michelle said...

Looks great! You are really making a lot of progress. Now, if I could just get someone over to clean my house!

mainely stitching said...

Wow Anna, I'd hire you! I'm afraid the commuting costs would be a deal-breaker, though. ;) Seriously, great stuff. It's so homey and inviting. I'll need to re-do my front garden once the town is finished tearing up our street. Sigh...

Anonymous said...

Hi Anna! Saw your comment on Barbara's blog and stopped over. Don't you love when things get spiffied up? I've been doing that for over 20 yrs and I'm still adding or moving things. Good work there. I think it's cool that you went to Lancaster to get the plants. I haven't been up there yet this year, but my mom's neighbors always buy all their hanging baskets, etc. there. I like Richardson's. There is one on Rt 1 in Concordville.

Anonymous said...

It looks wonderful - well worth all the effort!

Chelle said...

Amazing transformation! You guys rock!

Anna van Schurman said...

Thanks, everyone, for your lovely comments. We won't be hiring ourselves out--we've decided to put off the backyard for another year or so as it is! :)