Landscaping Roundup

Hey, this blog is supposed to be about Fairfield County, right? What could be more apropos than pictures of a suburban yard?  So let's talk about landscaping, shall we?

"I don't want no hippie pad, I want a house, just like Mom & Dad!"

Since we're in the throes of raising a 2-almost-3 month old screaming infant, going to the Superbowl of Hardcore or Youth of Today reunion shows aren't on my radar.  But spending plenty of time at home is. So this is what I do now.  Courtesy of the internet, my mental unravelling is now a public spectacle.

Landscaping.  I've made it a point to get out every year around this time and take a picture from the same spot so I can see what kind of progress I've made.  This year, for example, I have been installing that plastic edging to separate the lawn from the mulch.

Not to drift off topic, but remember when things looked like this?

January 27th, 2011.  Holy crap, that's a lot of snow!

Wow, what a difference a few months makes.  I've got to be the biggest moron alive for living in Connecticut, because I can't stand the cold weather.  And every year all my hard work in the backyard gets destroyed by Mother Nature.  Let's get back to the nice weather, shall we?

We're in a particularly wonderful time of year here in the Northeast: Late May, early June. Everything, in my opinion, is "just right". Flowers have bloomed, ornamental grasses have grown nicely and the lawn is green.  And there's no stupid leaves on the ground.  Perfect!

But get ready:  A tipping point is upon us.  We're just weeks away from a major sh*tstorm, possibly fueled by global warming or climate change or whatever they're calling it this year.

The dog days of summer are gonna brown out that grass, unless you're one of those uber-rich Fairfield County types with the killer sprinkler system. Even then it's still a tough battle.  Uh oh, it's pretty hot out right now and more hot weather predicted for tomorrow.

Anyone got dogs?  My shrubs don't stand a snowballs chance in hell when Fido decides to urinate all over everything in site.  I've had to rip up and throw out countless boxwoods thanks to our canine pee-pee factory.

This lawn has been wacked with enough chemicals to give it that nice toxic green glow.

And those lovely grasses are going to get too big and flop over.  What do you do?  Cut them down a bit?  Then they look stupid.  Sometimes I take some twine and tie the bunches together.  These ones below are particularly difficult to deal with.  Like my kids.

I just picked up this bad boy this year.  

So that's it for my landscaping roundup.  I'll be in the backyard.  Stop by this summer, we'll have a beer.