ROWYCO!*

Last weekend Michael was away on his big vroom-vroom motorcycle trip. Lonely and seeking a purpose (besides lounging, unshowered and partially dressed, staring slack-jawed at hour upon hour of HGTV programming), I decided to order up two tons of basalt and work on the yard.

The front yard slopes and is dominated by a large cedar tree which blocks light and drops needles year-round. Hence, grass doesn't like to grow (and even if it did I sure as hell wouldn't want to mow it) and previous attempts at planting groundcover were, well, disappointing (see below). So last year, on a whim, I ordered three and a half tons of basalt for the south side of the front yard. Michael convinced me not to rock the whole thing, and leave some planting beds, which have worked out pretty well, I think:





Emboldened by my previous success and determined to repeat it, I've begun work on the north side of the yard. Here are the before pictures:





I've dug out most of the slope and probably gotten about a third of the rocks placed. I'm using less density this time, since the south side got some complaints before the plants grew in (you know who you are, Nosey Parkers) and the north side gets more direct light so there are more opportunities for new plants to play with (and, eventually, kill).

I'll be posting photos as the project progresses, but it's going to look pretty dismal until the plants go in.

* What can I say? K-Fed's the shizzle.