Let the planting begin!

Between monsoons this weekend, we managed to get some containers set up in the yard. Radish and lettuce seeds went into fresh dirt, strawberries were transplanted and decorative grasses... were decorative? But here's the best part - total amount spent so far: $0. Yep, that's right - our ridiculous plan of landscaping without spending any money actually seems to be working!

Reclaimed light fixture

Look out - I'm getting artsy. This usually doesn't work out well. But fingers crossed.

I got this idea from the latest issue of Sunset magazine, which had a feature on using recycled materials in the garden, including an old glass light fixture-turned-planter:

Low-impact landscaping

Now that we've (mostly) cleared out the garden, it's time to figure out what the hell we're gonna do with it. Luckily, my aunt just happens to be a landscaper (and a rad person to boot). She came by to help us come up with a plan that fits in with our goal of creating an awesome outdoor space - without buying a bunch of new stuff and creating a ton of waste in the process. Basically, we're aiming to:

- use second-hand material as much as we can (tools, plants, compost, containers, etc.)
- recycle all garden waste
- collect rainwater to use for watering
- plant and grow some veggies, reducing the amount we buy at the store

The battle begins, or, attack of the shears!

One of the main reasons I fell in love with our apartment the first time I saw it (in spite of its need for major renovations and horrendous paint colours) was the outdoor space. At close to 1200 square feet, it's like having another entire living space, outside. But like the apartment itself, the yard needed a lot of work - as in, it hadn't been touched in probably 20 years. Now that we've finished with the inside, we finally have time to concentrate on the outside. And just in time for spring!

So then came the shears. There's something amazingly cathartic about pruning. Especially aggressive pruning. Take that 1970s rhodo!

Before