The Front Yard Needs to be DONE Already...

Unfortunatley, my plumbing disaster in January, followed by my truck disaster in March put the kybosh on landscaping the front yard all at once. Luckily (or perhaps, unluckily), I have a very determined boyfriend.... After mowing the lawn (finally- I thought we might have to bale it instead!), Matt decided that the bush in the corner of the yard HAD to come out. Behold the results: A great big hole in the corner of the yard! Here he is rototilling after he and Bob (my next door neighbor) pulled the stump out with a Jeep and a chain.

The stump!

As the boys worked, I saved as many muscari bulbs as I could find. They've naturalized in this corner of the yard and I'd like to keep some for my bulb spirals.

Here's what the front yard looks like now. A mowed lawn and a great empty spot, waiting to be filled.

I also got two half wine barrels from a very nice gentleman off of CraigsList. They worked beautifully for potatoes! I managed to get all my seed potatoes planted this weekend and I'm hoping for a better harvest from last year!

Here are the two containers I got free from work, full with Red Pontiac seed potatoes.

And since I didn't raise chicks this year, I could finally use this planter for it's original purpose- growing russets!

Some progress was also made in the back yard- mainly transplanting tomatoes into bigger pots, but my columnar apples are also flowering. I hope the bees find them...

Ever since I trasplanted it into a larger pot, the rhubarb has been much happier. These are the biggest leaves it's ever put out.

Mom and Dad bought these trellises at the Iron Works place and couldn't fit them in the car to take to LA. Darn. I'm testing them out with sweet peas...

And here are the tomatoes- in bigger pots and ever growing!

Sunday dinner was special this week. It was the first gathering of the Girls Cooking Club! I was the host for this first dinner and picked a French theme for the night. Of course, I decided to make Boeuf Borguignon. I started cooking at 11:30 and was finished just in time to eat at 5:30. My prep: Onions (pearl and regular), home grown carrots, and mushrooms (yuck).

Searing the stew meat...

As I coooked, the kitties napped...

And voila! The French dinner table!

We had Potatoes Anna,

Braised Leeks and Frisee salad,

My Boeuf Borguignon,

And Almond Cream with Strawberries for dessert! It was really, really good. It was so nice to only have to concentrate on making one dish, instead of a whole meal. Next month- Greek!