I Filled A Bucket

Friday I was off so I decided to brave the Walmarts in search of lawn bags, kidlet shoes and other offerings. Now, I typically avoid Walmart like the plague, but I was motivated by some gift cards leftover from Christmas. When I got there I was wondering if maybe they weren't open yet because the parking lot was dead. I parked near the lawn and garden center and was pleasantly surprised to find the store open and desolate (yay me!).

I took a leisurely stroll around and saw mostly stockers while I searched for shoes (I found 3 pair for David and 4 each for the girls). Then I spent way too much time looking for a power cord for my work speakers and then I moved on to look for bike helmets. After I found a helmet for each kiddo, I was temporarily distracted by the clearance aisle (and now I currently have Buyer's Remorse for the long last lipsticks that I bought) before I went in search of lawn bags.

That's when the quick trip began to spiral out of control. I grabbed a couple of cool "buckets" in the garden area (they just happened to be my color) and started filling them with bulbs!

Other goodies not pictured: Veggie Tales Giant Watermelon kit and Strawberry Planter

I got 2 of these flexible tubs and I'm thinking I may go back for more for Easter "baskets". They'd be more useful for the kiddos for their outside toys and gear than a traditional basket, that's for sure.

I got out of the garden center with some pink Bleeding Hearts, Hollyhocks, pink fragrant Begonias (already in planters on the porch), 'Bowl of Beauty' peonies, 'Black Out' Asiatic Lilies, Peruvian Daffodils, 'Red Sentinel' Astilbe, and 'Kelvin Floodlight' dahlia. I was looking for some pops of color for the yard for this spring and summer (and with some of the bulbs I should get those pops of color for years to come).

On top of all the yard goodies I got (and now have to plant after I get the raking, weeding and pruning done) my mom sent me 3 kiwi plants to replace the 2 that died last summer. [Note: I got those suckers in the ground earlier today.]

I got the front yard almost weed-free (I would be done if I didn't also have to tend to the neighbors' weeds which were growing into my yard) and Scott spread the natural lawn food for me. I am hoping for a glorious green weed-free lawn in 1-3 weeks. Of course I still have clumps of some undesirable "grass" that I have to eradicate, but the yard looks well on its way. I also trimmed down all of the Monkey Grass in the front and side yards and planted the hollyhocks outside my bedroom window.

Sure the yard looks pretty thrashed right now, but in a few weeks when the Monkey Grass grows out and the Japanese Maple and Gingko leaves emerge and the tulips bloom, things will look nice(r).

Getting there...

I'm thinking that I might remove the paint on the porch (finally) and stain it on my next day off. It can't be that hard, right? I'm not looking for perfection, but the flaking gray paint looks so pitiful. I think a crimson stain might be neutral enough to work...we'll see...

Hope you are having a great weekend and are taking advantage of the nice weather to get your yard into shape as well...