Our Yard and My Purple Thumb

 I've never really been good with plants, but I keep trying! I enjoy having something living in my home and yard. When we first moved to Pacifica, our duplex yard was in need of a bit of help. 

After clearing out the weeds and lawn, I planted a few friendly-looking samples that were recommended to me by the hardware store florist. 

These turned out to be a banquet for gophers. Every plant - except for the rosemary - was considered haute cuisine by the local ground critters. 

After I posted a photo of our yard on Facebook, we were advised by our landscaper friend to put down mulch. There are many good reasons to cover the ground with mulch, so I took it from there. I had fun buying new plants and positioning pavers and stones. I painted boards white to use as planter set-ups. Looks nice, huh?

Within a month, all of the plants (except for the rosemary) were demolished by gophers. Those plants were replaced by weeds, which grow very nicely in our yard - I don't have to do anything - the weeds thrive.  In time, the yard, again overgrown with weeds, needed help. The fence also needed painting. It took me a week to clear out the weeds.  After painting and clearing the ground, I put down mulch. Mike helped a great deal by hauling the old dirt away.   It looked pretty good...until.....

Another problem arose: fleas. My legs were covered in fleas! The fleas eventually made it into the house. NOTE: we don't have pets. In my naivete', I thought one had to have pets to have fles. Not true, I found out. So, I cleared out the mulch and dirt - 

and used a combination of remedies to eradicate the fleas: flea spray, cedar wood chips and spray, diatomaceous earth, and for indoors, lots of vacuuming, flea carpet powder flea spray, and flea traps. I also dug up the dirt (again) and hired a company to haul away the bags of dirt I had dug up (shout out to Nico's hauling)!

 

Finally, the fleas were gone, and I re-did the mulch. I only plant what gophers won't eat, now - that includes succulents, rosemary, bee balm and lavender. The rest of the plants are in pots. It still needs a little work. Maybe some more plants....what do you think?