Gardening

Last May I wrote about how I was excited to get into gardening even though I didn't really know what I was doing. Even though our gardening efforts were pretty minimal last year (just a few flowers and shrubs around the perimeter of the house), I've been pleased with what I learned. (For example, growing rhododendrons in Utah is possible but requires a lot of effort - effort that I'm far too lazy to bother with. We will be digging up the rhododendrons in the next little while.)

So far, I've learned:

• Roses are easy, at least in Utah. We really haven't done anything, and they've bloomed wonderfully. Eric did prune a couple of the bushes a few months ago, but most of our bushes are of the Knockout variety, and thus do not need pruning.
• The Asiatic lilies multiplied. This was awesome and unexpected, and we'll probably be planting more of those.
• I quite enjoy weeding. Not enough to come do your garden, but enough to spend a few minutes every day plucking weeds out of the grass and gardens, while Ike runs around in the yard like a crazy person excitedly shouting about all the cars. The weeds in my yard have significantly diminished, thanks mainly to my sitting in the sun and laboriously plucking those monstrous spread-out-everywhere-ground-cover-type weeds by their roots. I have been less diligent with the side-yard on the north side of the house, (which also happens to be where the failed rhododendrons are.) That's for this week.
• Applying weed and feed to the yard is not particularly exciting. I do not know why I thought it looked like some kind of fun. It wasn't. (But it is something I'm fully capable of doing and removes one thing off Eric's to-do list.)
• I do like mowing the lawn with our old-school reel lawn mower. We decided we'd buy one last year, but we never got around to it. Instead we (read: Eric) borrowed the lawn mowers of our various (and very kind) neighbors. Usually it took Eric about 20 minutes to mow our lawn. We have a lawn the size of a postage stamp and no need of mowing in the back. (Nor will we.) Finally this year we bought one of those reel mowers. Eric used it a couple of times, and then last weekend asked me if I wanted to try it. I was hesitant because I don't even like to mow lawns with a gas-powered mower. (I know because I did it once when I was 14 and from then on determined that mowing the lawn was most definitely a Man Job.) Anyway, Eric was busy with the deck and the hill, so I figured I'd attempt to help him out by mowing our lawn. And it was not hard. It took me about 35 minutes, and it would have been faster if I had been more accustomed to using the device. I fully plan to keep mowing the lawn, at least for this summer. (Again, because Eric has this monumental task of terracing the back yard and building rock walls. Mowing the lawn once a week is the least I can do to help maintain our property.) Plus, mowing the lawn with the reel mower was a perfect workout. I'm, for now, geekily excited to do it again (Saturday morning, after I pick up the co-op food.) Also, mowing the lawn gives me an odd sense of feminist machismo; I may not evereverevereverever have a baby without an epidural, but I can mow our lawn.
• I will definitely be consulting with Eric's aunts about what plants to be putting in our terraced back yard. I have a few in mind, and then I'll need guidance about locations, space, complimentary plants, which plants to plant to make sure something is blooming all the time. A few plants I know for sure I want: forsythia bushes, lavender bushes (are they technically bushes?), lilacs, tulips, probably some more roses.