I have decided that I really, really, really have to cut back my yard!
I am not sure how I want to do it, but the exhaustion of getting the yard ready for spring is making my bones ache
I know that I want to keep this wee area it’s not hard to take care of, the weeding and watering all happens quickly, and the blooms within is lovely
But this bed is huge and causes my muscles to shimmered and tremble at the end of each weeding session….not to mention the hours worth of watering every other day
And this one…it exhausts me just to look at it—grass is starting to take over and it’s close to impossible to get rid of it
I just finished two hours raking along here…sigh.
So I’m taking this year to somehow shrink my workload and watering load in my yard/gardens.
I haven’t figured out how yet…but that is my goal this gardening year. Somehow, some way to shrink at least THREE gardens, which will cut down on the watering, weeding, and planting.
Sadly it will take away my blooms, but it has to be if I’m going to keep helping Terry on the farm and have a yard.
So now you know my spring, summer, and fall goal. We will just have to wait and see what I come up with and still keep the integrity of my yard intact.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
I feel for you; we’re going from 3/4 acre back yard to 1/4 acre back yard, but what we’re mainly losing is grass and fruit trees, so I suppose it’s not the heartbreak of losing your beautiful flowering plants. I shall be sad to wave goodbye to the mango trees…
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Fruit trees are so lovely but every so much work!
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Especially in this climate, where we have to contend with fruit bats, rosellas, fruit flies and possums! No, a smaller yard is going to be a blessing.
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🙂
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I am going to plant “cover crop” flowers this year. I’m sure most of my lavender garden is dead and if this new trend of too much rain is going to continue, there’s no point in replanting…again. I found some beautifully colored buckwheat and I’m going to just sew it as a cover crop down each row so I can have lots of flower color, the bees and hummingbirds will have plenty to eat and I won’t have to battle the weeds. I may try to harvest some seeds or just leave for the birds. https://www.rareseeds.com/search/?keyword=buckwheat
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OH! Sara! Thank you. I just might try it in the large flower bed the grass is taking over. It might be the answer. I can’t weed anymore on hands and knees, the arthritis is winning where my body is concerned.
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So sorry Linda. I did it last year…gave the kids all the big gardens, which alas they proceeded to neglect sadly. I kept my little gardens and the one big flower bed. I love to garden but arthritis says NO! most emphatically. I am going to try to find some plastic tree pots for my cannas this summer. They thrive in them and they are easy compared to putting them in the ground. Take care of you….
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It’s hard to see everything being neglected but age and health HAS to be factored into everything. Sadly.
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We’ve been trying to find ways to cut back on our flower beds as well. Each time we think we have a good idea, we think of the blossoms we’ll lose. I hope you have more success than we’ve had so far.
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I know…it’s the loose of blooms that kept everything last year…but with the farm and other work the yard suffered, will I suffered…so two huge beds must go. The one with the grass for sure.
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Welllll, your yard has always been gorgeous! I know I enjoy it so! And I totally understand wanting to shrink it – takes a lot of time and energy. I am kinda thinking the same thing as I stare at the greenhouse :::sigh:::
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I always wanted a greenhouse, but the work (at my age) would just over-whelm me. But GOOD for YOU!
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We have been going in the opposite direction. We have expanded our flower beds the last couple of years (74 & 75 YO) by building a watering system and hiring a gardener gal that comes by every couple of weeks and does all of the grunt work that knees and backs object to now. It has worked out very well for us, especially the watering system. This year we are going to expand one of the rock gardens, but first we have to put up some deer fence to keep the mowing machines out.
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Oh! Wonderful for you!!! If I had grandkids here I would use them, but to hire a gardener who would come all the way out here just won’t happen. Although, I am wondering if it is time for a different system of watering.
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Your yard sounds wonderful!
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I now have a lavender and mint jungle where I once had a flower garden. It takes no work at all.
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Lucky you…here Lavender takes lots of work. Mint doesn’t but oh my the lavender and it sometimes doesn’t make it through the winter either too cold or too dry.
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It’s the pits, isn’t it? I now have my flowers in pots and a couple of 4 x 4 raised beds. Not much bending over that way. I look at pictures of my garden of years past and am happy that I have those memories. I think some kind of blooming cover crop is a great idea.
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Do you think I will still need to dig everything out or do you think the cover crop will choke everything out?
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Good thinking Linda! My yard is exaktly in the same stage as yours, I can totally relate to what you are feeling. Flowers are wonderful but there is more to life – family, friends, work -and only 24 hours per day. Downsizing is good – keep your favourites and cut back on the rest! Good luck with your new minimalist garden, it will be great Linda!
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I’m going to take this year to ‘get there’ then after that I should be good to go for a few more years.
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Linda, I think you’re going to be fine. Just cut back on the areas that are too much work and enjoy those areas that you will have time for. There are some great ideas from folks on this blog that you could try if you want. When it’s too hard to keep up with everything, there’s no fun in it, and you constantly feel like you’re getting behind…so I can certainly understand your wanting to shrink your yard into something more doable. Experiment a bit this spring/summer/fall and choose a place or two that you can really enjoy. In the past I’ve had big flower gardens, then smaller ones…now just a little to water when summer finally comes. It’ll all work out!
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Thank you, Diane…last year the yard was a HUGE job…and that is how I felt about it…work and over-whelming work at that. It just wasn’t fun anymore.
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Let some just go wild! We had to do that with most of ours…it was just too much. The birds and butterflies still enjoy the blooms and the weeds blend in:)
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Our wild is ugly…sagebrush and rabbit brush. Works on the Back Forty though and I love it up there.
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Have mercy. I’m worn out just looking at all that.
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Me too. And re-designing it is another exhausting feature to the yard.
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I wish you luck and lots of energy.
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🙂
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I so understand. I’m cutting back on work outside for other health reasons but there is a time for growth and a time to draw inward. The weather has been so odd that it has been extra hard to keep up with as well. You have a good plan in place and your health is important.
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Thanks, and to help Terry…so his health stays steady.
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whew! same here, tho’ not to your extent. Betty has started (part-way thru’) the garden-prepping and always decries the grass which has made considerable in-roads. we’ve also been “flu-ish” this past week — seems we get “the crud” twice a year and THAT lingers about two weeks. never-the-less, i’m gonna try to play just half a game of hockey tonight …
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Oh! Good Luck! Have Fun!
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well, I did, tho’ i’m still “paying the price” — regardless how I “feel” (half-fluish) I feel obligated when players come in from Delta (of all places), Montrose, one guy drove from Moab! — and I, being the only goalie present, “had to” stay (and, if not exactly “play”, go thru’ the motions) for most the game. no matter how bad a goalie is, they’d rather shoot at a person than that leather “shooter-tutor” thing stretched across the net. apparently your experience(s) with the “sixty-ten”s is/are going borderline fabuloso ?
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I don’t know…you sorta spoke another language and I didn’t know what you were saying.
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ah, wuzz jes’ rambling … seems to be happ’nin’ more ‘n more …
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That’s okay…I like rambling I just got lost.
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My garden seems to be less work as it develops. I suppose I designed it that way. As things get planted, there is less to plant. I am so proficient with the fruit trees, and there are so many that they are all kept small individually. None get out of control. I am glad that I do not work in the garden like I used to.
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Good for you, Tony.
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I would look at getting some irrigation put in. I put a cheap system in my greenhouse last year and I did not have to water it by hand. I even went on holiday in a heat wave and everything survived. It was my step sons idea and it worked very well. Even a few of what we call seaper hoses, hose pipes designed to leak water, would lighten the load and they deliver the water where you need it, rather than sprinklers which in hot dry air do very little.
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Thank you, Charles. I do believe I need to start looking into all this!
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Best of luck Linda …never an easy choice! If hubby had his way we would have more beds … I love my garden but it is so time consuming! I won’t even launch into the work required in our orchard … 😃
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I grew up on an 160 acre orchard I so understand 😦
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Oh my our entire property is probably only about 10 acres! And here I am grumbling … 🙂
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But your 10 acres is lush and full, full, full!
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It sure is Linda … we have something ridiculous like 80 fruit trees! Must be why my larder is full. Hugs
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WOW! That is so cool!
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