The Hill

Every yard has its issues.  Every. Single. One.  Whether you have too many shade trees or no shade at all.  My issue here is the hill.  Our home is on a hill.  We have a corner lot with the front of the house being our street and the side being the alley access to our garages as all garage access on our street is in back.  Both sides of our lot are hills.  The front isn't as bad as the side but my husband still needs to wear baseball cleats just to mow it.  

The side hill, you can't mow with a mower.  This side hill is higher than I am tall (5'6") and about 35'+ long.  For years, my husband used a weedeater to "mow" this hill.  Several years ago, after some researching, I decided to landscape this area to stop the weedeating.  I put junipers on the hill.  I bought smaller ones because they are so expensive, but they spread fairly quickly.  While I waited on them to spread, I bought a flat of Creeping Phlox to interplant with the junipers until they filled in.  The Creeping Phlox spread fast and quickly filled in the hill until the junipers caught up.  The Junipers were about $17 each, I bought 4 but moved 3 from another area on the property and the flat of Creeping Phlox was about $16.  I filled in the areas that still weren't covered with mulch.  By getting it in bulk, it was under $30.  So for around $100 and our labor, we solved the hill problem.

That is a good hint in using inexpensive flowers to fill in until more expensive things fill in.  It really allows you to have a nice looking yard throughout the process.

Until last year...the drought and heat wave wreaked havoc on my hill.  We were under a watering ban that I did my very best to abide by.  I did put soaker hoses in my veggie garden to keep it alive but that is because that fed my family.  Unfortunately the hill became over run with weeds.  Due to the heavy rains in the beginning of the spring and my health issues of late, it has been a long time coming to get this hill under control.  

So today, I started.  As the picture will show, I only got about one-third of the way done but under the circumstances, I'm not mad!

Some kids were climbing on my hill and messed up a bucket I had buried but I'll just pull it out and we'll figure something else out.  I also am a fan of rocks.  I was shocked to see that in the city you have to BUY rocks.  I am too much of a tight-ass to buy rocks...LOL.  I went to some farmers I know and they allowed me to get rocks from their piles that they dig up out of the fields.  It was labor on our part and the going and getting them but instead of $.69/pound, I spent a little money on gas and got as many as I could carry.

If you don't know a farmer, another good hint is to check out www.freecycle.org for your area.  I've seen people changing out landscapes and just giving away the old stuff if you just go get it.

I know I didn't get a lot accomplished today but it was more than yesterday.  I hope you are all enjoying your day.