Nap time yet?

I find that more often than not, my body wants to be sleeping. I tend to agree with that desire. I am always so tired! during the week it's easier to give in to the temptation. Waking up at 5 am warrants an afternoon nap before Josh comes home and I have to go to class. On the weekends we're usually too busy for naps or any rest, especially with the nice weather!

Over this past weekend, we went a little crazy getting our yard cleaned up. We started last week by doing some basics like raking and weeding. This weekend we went to a couple nurseries and bought lots of flowers and ground cover. The problem with our yard (besides it's size), is that there are HUGE flower beds. It's so frustrating! I'm trying to convince Josh to take out some, but it's hard because the previous owners put in curbing which means we would have to dispose of it AND probably replace portions of it. Which is just more time and $$$$. But all the flowers and plans and maintenance for the flower beds is time and $$$$. So far we're just doing the front flower bed and our garden. We have some potential plans for other areas, but nothing is really decided. One change so far, we have bought all perennials. Last year we bought a bunch of annuals, which I now realize, was a waste! Sure they were pretty but since they don't come back, they did me no good!

Josh built a garden box for me, it's amazing! Since we used pressure treated wood we still have to put in a layer of plastic on the inside (to prevent chemicals from getting in our soil) and get soil in there. I have all the sprouts for our vegetables starting in the house right now. They're all doing well except the peppers. And I had to replant tomato seeds, because our cat decided she wanted to eat the sprouts :(

Last weekend I sprayed a bug killer on the house/front yard that targets box elders. I've always hated those stupid bugs and they seem to love to be where I am! Seriously they'd always attack my home more than anyone elses! (yes I know I'm probably just imagining that...) I asked around a lot and everyone told me the same thing, "There's nothing you can do, there are no sprays or chemicals to get rid of box elders". UNTIL last summer I was complaining about these awful pests to my grandma (who lives in Wisconsin). She mentioned that she used to have lots of box elders too, until she used this spray she bought and hasn't seen once since! Well that sure got my attention! Something that got rid of the box elders? She told me the name of it and I went into a search, only to find out that it's only sold in certain stores. You see, the product was invented by some students at University of Minnesota, so it's sold in the Midwest, but hadn't made it to Utah! Blast! Luckily I'm smart and checked eBay! Bingo! I was a little pricey, but worth a shot. I bought a sprayer that goes on the hose. We had box elders EVERYWHERE on our house, driveway, cars, ev-er-y-where! I sprayed Saturday (over a week ago) and haven't seen one since! This stuff is fantastic. If you are curious, here's a link. BUGGSLAYER  It's liquid gold (as far as box elder control is concerned).

I am really looking forward to doing things in the yard this year. I have always wanted my own garden, and lots of pretty flowers. I just hope that the heat doesn't do me in and I give up!