I believe it’s officially Fall this week right? I wish we would have done a teeny bit more outside this year (ahem shed), but when I look back at the photos from my summer outdoor plans list – I am actually amazed because we have come so far! (And considering we had a baby and pretty much did nothing outside for the entire month of June – that’s pretty impressive). Today I’m doing a recap on our big list of outdoor summer projects and hopefully we can get to them next year!
This past weekend I left the Husband (and Tootsie) alone while I was in Toronto for Blog Podium. I had left instructions to remove all the extra trees/weeds/plants that had sprouted throughout our yard… but they have not been tackled yet. I’m hoping to get to them in the next little while before the snow hits.
I mentioned that we hadn’t gotten around to properly cleaning in and around the shed this summer, and the plants back there are a little bit wild!
I’m pretty sure this is a dandelion plant. Which would mean it’s probably the world’s biggest one since it’s over SIX FEET TALL!
There are also some trees (along with Tootsie’s beach ball) and I think I remember back in the day when we could still ride the lawnmower behind the shed.
We actually DID manage to get in the shed one day and re-organize everything (see those cute gravestones all willy-nilly?). We had a trampoline with a net that took up so much space, but we managed to sell it and have more floor space. So even the “after” picture above is different now.
The Husband did finally cut the grass this weekend though, so at least it’s no longer a Serengeti. It had needed to get done for probably over a month (talk about letting it go right?) and I even have some photos of how long it was when I updated our firepit. So just imagine a few more weeks of growth on top of that!
Looking at the outdoor list (it’s included below) I see that one of the tasks was to rake the leaves. Now that we have 2 less trees, we won’t have nearly as many leaves as we did last fall… so that’s a bonus right? There is a tree growing along our property line, and it’s another one that I want to remove soon.
Without further ado, here is the same list that I posted at the start of summer, but what we have completed is now scratched out.
Updated Outdoor Summer Projects List
All garbage to the dumpRemove Christmaslights (we decided to leave them up)- Cleaning out the gutters (will hopefully clean this month)
Rake the leaves(now there’s a bunch of grass to rake!)Plant veggies earlierGet rid of the old gardenPlant grass seed where neededGet rid of weeds in the gardens and stonesTidying up the porch stones from the front- Front Walkway
Landscaping/Planting along the front walkwayRepairing concrete walkway- Paint concrete walkway?
- Side Yard
Landscaping/Planting in the side yardFinishing homemade gate on side yard- Fixing chimney brick area?
Main gate fix- Sealing the grout and fixing the tiled patio table
Connecting two “sideyard” areas somehowBuilding the trellis mini-fences in the front walkway- Fix the back deck trellis (where Tootsie made a hole)
Seal the driveway- Shed Project
Clean/Organize shed interior- Replace shed door
- Clean out the area behind the shed
- Add siding to the back of the shed
- Fancy-up the patio chairs/lounger
- Paint the interior of the garage
Flatten the hills + bumps in our yard(did this, but still bumpy)- Get rid of weeds in the lawn (only did the front)
- Stain the fence
- Stain the raised gardens
- Do some landscaping (patio stones) around the back deck
- Re-stain the deck (will do early next year)
- Level our entrance porch concrete slab
- Clean exterior of house + windows
I’ll of course be referring to it again at the start of the summer next year, and we may just be adding a few more things… who knows! Not on the original list (but that was done) was removing the clothing line pole and making a bbq pegboard station.
My original goal was to get 70% of our outdoor summer projects finished – and if I count what we did do, it’s just over 50% (which is what I estimated halfway through the season).
There is also a plant I want to move in our front yard, but not sure if I’ll get to it now, or next spring.
Our garden was more successful this year, and HOLY tomatoes and zucchini! I made a bunch of spaghetti sauce one week, and then a batch of chili a few weeks later. I keep trying to give zucchini to people, and have made a bunch of muffins and frozen some too.
We did lose one tomato plant and one cucumber plant in the last few weeks (both on the east side), but we should have veggies growing for a while longer. Next year should be better in terms of what I actually grow (two zucchini plants are way too many), and I’m looking forward to more things I actually eat.
I’m such a list person, and if I didn’t write things down – I would probably not get anything accomplished! Thank goodness I have this blog, because it allows me to share (and refer back to) all the things I want to do, and that I have to remember too :)
Do you make lists for the outdoor summer projects you want to get done? We also have some for the inside of the house, but of course we have a much larger timeframe to get those completed compared to the few measly months of nice weather we get around here!
2 Comments
Louise aka Mommy
September 20, 2016 at 9:46 pmI am sure we did something in June when we visited!
Nicole
September 23, 2016 at 2:27 pmYes, the starting of the sideyard planting