In The Beginning, Part II… The Garden

Upon first glance, the yard looked like a little slice of heaven - fruit trees, chicken coop, pagoda, pool, raised garden beds, a great covered patio and lots of space. What we didn't realize is that what we thought was clover was actually a very nasty weed known as 'bindi' that turns into horrible, brown ground cover full of hard spiky balls, and what we thought was grass was predominantly weeds… We also discovered that 2 out of the 3 potted ficus trees around the pool were dying and/or infested with ants, that the chicken coop had been defunct for years and weeds had grown up thick and waist high, that every tree and vine desperately needed pruning.

View from the back door out to the shed/yard/pool.

Dying ficus tree, overgrown lemon tree and bougainvillea next to the chicken coop.

Dilapidated chicken coop, overgrown peach tree, crazy huge weeds, and volunteer tomato plants! (hidden under the weeds)

The bougainvillea attempting to eat the pagoda, and the 'lawn' that turned out to be nothing but weeds :( Our friend Brad decided to give me a heart attack by informing me that, 'one year of seeding leads to seven years of weeding'. Thanks Brad. Nice pool though!

The view of the front yard from the master bedroom - the garden bed erupted in weeds shortly after this photo was taken…

And the huge neglected grape vines in their bed of weeds.