I canceled my lawn service this year and bought a mower. I needed to pinch back my budget and the price of a mower + paying my son was less than the service. Sometimes he has mowed for free too.


Why do people work so hard to have all their grass the same type of grass? Do you think it's worth all the chemicals and weeding? If my lawn was a church, it would be Unitarian: all species welcome. I kind of like all the variety.


I weed whacked for the first time of the season and was deaf and buzzing for an hour afterward. I'm sure I'm not very efficient at it yet. I went out and bought ear protection.

On Friday, I mowed my front and back yard for the first time in my life. It was much harder than I expected. I didn't realize how many things I have to mow around, including my new compost cage and little garden. I'm open for any advice for a novice mower.

Back by my new garden are thriving irises & peonies that the previous owner planted. Some of the irises were lying forward onto the grass. It was tricky trying to lift the irises without releasing the deadman's grip on the mower. The irises kept flopping back onto the ground. I though, "These are suicidal irises." Wouldn't that be a great name for a band? The Suicidal Irises.



So my first attempt at a garden is an ongoing experiment. The tomatoes I planted as seeds inside and then transferred all died, as did the zucchinis. The peas are doing pretty well, and I have two surviving bell peppers, but they are really small still. I replanted some tomatoes seedlings and they look promising - especially because of all the rain we've been having. I went ahead and put the cages around them so they know what high hopes I have for them. I have some cantaloupe sprouting in a pot I'll transfer into the garden where the zucchini's abandoned hope. I'm going to plant some pumpkins too.