AJ and Alison's 'Toy'

Remember AJ and Alison's new place - 

well, now they're landscaping and planting. Look at their beautiful results. I know what hard work this is and I'm SO PROUD of them and how it's turning out. Alison's email tells the story:

"We have been gardening!  Well I have been gardening, AJ has been digging a lot of holes and trenches and then being dismissed since baseball started. We learned after we moved in that the sewer line runs parallel to the house and under a couple fruit trees that had been planted in the last few years so we started by digging those out. It took forever but the trees survived and are now happily living in some other person's yard. We replaced one of the trees with a petite Japanese maple that should not be as tempted to destroy our sewer pipes as the old trees would have been. We also had to remove a few feet of soil that had been back filled in to level out the yard but was just being held back by a (quickly rotting) wooden fence. I left that fun chore to AJ :)"

"There is a small, shady front yard that I have yet to tackle and then a strip of dirt that runs the length of the house and is only about 10 feet deep. I foolishly assumed that it would be a snap to transform this long narrow patch into something more desirable but boy was I wrong. I have been at it every weekend for a few months and it is finally starting to look like a yard! That side of the house gets a good amount of sun all day so I chose California natives that were suited for lots of sun and little water. There are many penstemons, monkey flowers, a manzanita bush that should someday reach 8 ft high, some douglas irises and a few others. 

Nothing edible besides my little potted herb garden and the raggedy tomato plants that out tenants put in. I also have some succulents  (Like these maybe... hmmm...)

in pots and in a weird little dirt patch that is closed in by the driveway and some left over cement steps to nowhere. 

By next spring it should really look like something. If I get to the front yard before summer really kicks in I will send along some pictures of that as well. Since the side yard is so long and narrow it does not photograph very well but I made a little collage of the plants and also a before and after. The before picture was taken before we closed escrow while I was waiting for the realtor, home inspector, and AJ to crawl back out from under the house. No way was I going under there. The after picture is from this morning. Hugs and kisses to your whole gang and I love the blog!"

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