Yard Beautification Continues - Weekend in Review Part 2

After our uber-fun previous day with Marybeth, Tony, Samantha and Little Tony, we were pretty wiped out and slept in late Sunday morning.  We're not used to turning into pumpkins with late nights anymore, so there wasn't much movement for a good part of the morning.  DH watched Saturday's stage of Le Tour and I read in bed for a while.

Then we finally got a little motivated and geared up for yardwork.  While he mowed and edged the lawn, I got the laundry going and tidied up the house a bit.  Then we pulled out the truck of beauty bark obtained the prior morning and got busy beautifying the front arbor bed.  I'd spent a good chunk of last weekend cleaning out old bark to make room for the new stuff, and it really paid off, cuz MAN does it look better out there now!  Only one more bed to do in the front  and the front yard will be done for this summer.

After barking, DH headed in to spend some time in the (bike) saddle on his windtraininer, and I pulled out the shears and started attacking ivy threatening to take over a couple beds in the garden patio.  And it wasn't long before I was sneezing up a storm - had no idea ivy was so sneeze-inducing!

I knew I had wall art buried under all that ivy - here is my rediscovery after clearing out most of this bed:

Here is what I will tackle next weekend.  This area should be ivy-free by Sunday evening:

Made a good dent in the battle and finished up around 4:30 with a long hot shower to clear my sinuses, then we fired up the grill.

My friend Corrine stopped by around 6:30 with a bag of broccoli from her garden!  YUM!  Steamed fresh broccoli is on the menu this week!  Had watermelon for dessert, sat outside and read until it got too chilly (the heatwave cometh to an end), and we hit the sack at 9pm - what a fun and productive weekend!

Here's a shot of what the front garden is doing right now -- EXPLODING.  The raspberries on the right are simply out of control, but are heavily producing, so no complaints - and the bed on the left has been giving us yummy carrots for a couple weeks, with tomatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts and potatoes forthcoming.  I hope!

Angel and Tyke enjoying the breeze through the window last night, and yes, that's a tomato in my flower box...no idea how it got there, but I'm leaving it be to see if we get any fruit :)

And here's what the backyard looked like when I left for work this morning...yes, this is really where I'd rather be today, with a tall glass of iced tea and a good book!!