(Note: this was what the front looked like in September when we moved in.)

a) Tame our unruly front patch of land by trimming the trees and cutting down/digging up rouge saplings, then planting bulbs and laying down mulch and

b) Prep the back yard for our garden beds, to be installed next weekend, by digging up more root balls and tearing out all of the old bulbs.

Midway through my work on the backyard, I realized that there were way more flower bulbs than I had initially thought. The more I looked and dug, the more I found- irises, crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and tiger lilies. It would have been a crime to dispose of most of them, so instead I gathered them all up and then replanted them in the front. I hope that they will survive the move.

Next week I hope to tackle the other piece of our front, right outside the house. Um, this is what it looked like last fall:

The goal is to basically rip everything out except for the forsythia tree (which I've already trimmed down). There are a lot of lilies of the valley in there somewhere whose bulbs I will dig up and replant as a border around the bed. Then I'd like to snag a dwarf weeping cherry tree to go in the center- it would be nice to see pink or white sprays of flowers from our living room window.

But for now...I just need to make it through the day. I had no idea that gardening would make me so incredibly tired, nor that a 2 mile run would kick my ass so much. It's weird how much such a tiny being can take out of you on a daily basis...but then again, that being is growing in there!