Man vs. Nature

Or, Woman vs. Nature

Or, Me vs. Nature

Or, Me vs. My Yard

Or, Me vs. The Rampant Unruly Growth That Has Overtaken My Neglected Yard

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my nemesis:

I liked it when we moved in years ago. Thought it was charming and provided a beautiful backdrop for family photos. I even think it looks pretty in this photo. So richly green and lush.

I'm over that now. I have grown weary of it taking over my trees and my fence and my lawn. I tire of the mosquitoes it harbors.

It's not its fault. But the reign of the ivy is over.







Who else am I warring with?
This guy. I especially like the name of this one - sticky willy. Really. There was an article in the paper on it. It has other names, but sticky willy is my favorite.

A little of this stuff pops up in the yard every year, but this spring it is out of hand. Again, my fault.

But it's easy to uproot and my daughter loves helping me with it.

Gotta use the gloves, though.




Also awaiting conquering:
The leaves. Piles of leaves. Lots and lots of leaves. You may be wondering why I didn't take care of these guys in the fall. Yeah. That would have been a good idea.

Even if I had, though, I'd still be dealing with the live oak leaves, since those lovely live oaks (ah-choo!) love to dump their small hard-to-rake leaves in one big -WHUMP- in the spring.

And finally, the bane of my existence:
The fruit of the chinaberry tree. I hate these things. We've got one chinaberry tree in our yard, and two others that may as well be.

The one redeeming quality of this tree is its blossoms. They are pretty and delicate and our neighborhood becomes heavily perfumed with their fragrance in early April. I love it.

But I'm not sure if a couple of weeks of pleasantness make up for the never ending multitude of gross berries all over my yard. How do I get rid of these things?

I am SO not a gardener. Outdoorsy? No way. But I have determined to reclaim my yard! My ultimate goal is to be able to start a garden of some sort (any sort!) with my darling daughter who dreams of having one. Wish me luck.