We are renters, but we have a landlord that as long as I keep the house looking better than when he moved out... He is happy. So he always says, do it! Without a lot of thought, but not a lot of 
foresight we picked this house, with NO grass or flower beds. Just rock. Front and back. Great for the water bill... Sucky for playing. Anyhow... here is a picture from last summer. The little boy is my good friends son. As you can see in the background... nothing... If you look REAL close you can see a lonely little plant I tried to keep alive and failed miserably. The rocks extend all the way to the wall. Last Spring I spent all of my time clearing the back fence and 1/2 side wall (not seen) of rocks to make flower beds. That is where the turtle and dead plant are at back there. Last spring
I also spent the rest of the time clearing an area for my daughter to have to play in other than rock country that makes up our back yard. It's her sand box. What kid doesn't want a sand box? So we gave her the grand Pu-ba of sand boxes. As you can see here on the right, it extends from one side of the porch all the way to the other side. It goes out about 3' or so and is bordered by bricks to help keep the rocks out. IF she'd not put the rocks BACK in... She'd have a rock free area to play in because I worked my A*S off getting those rocks out of that entire area. It was hard back breaking work. And then to fill it with sand. Geezus. No wonder I didn't do any planting until summer that year... which was too late, so they all died in the Az heat before they could even get established.
foresight we picked this house, with NO grass or flower beds. Just rock. Front and back. Great for the water bill... Sucky for playing. Anyhow... here is a picture from last summer. The little boy is my good friends son. As you can see in the background... nothing... If you look REAL close you can see a lonely little plant I tried to keep alive and failed miserably. The rocks extend all the way to the wall. Last Spring I spent all of my time clearing the back fence and 1/2 side wall (not seen) of rocks to make flower beds. That is where the turtle and dead plant are at back there. Last spring
I also spent the rest of the time clearing an area for my daughter to have to play in other than rock country that makes up our back yard. It's her sand box. What kid doesn't want a sand box? So we gave her the grand Pu-ba of sand boxes. As you can see here on the right, it extends from one side of the porch all the way to the other side. It goes out about 3' or so and is bordered by bricks to help keep the rocks out. IF she'd not put the rocks BACK in... She'd have a rock free area to play in because I worked my A*S off getting those rocks out of that entire area. It was hard back breaking work. And then to fill it with sand. Geezus. No wonder I didn't do any planting until summer that year... which was too late, so they all died in the Az heat before they could even get established. Now jump forward to this Spring. I want plants. I want Green, and color... something other than rock country to enjoy. So... These last few days I've been working on re-clearing the flower beds (that are again full of rocks). :( Planting 7 plants; 1 of which was already planted but i took the gamble and up-rooted it and moved it into a better position. So once all 7 of those went in... i decided that i needed MORE plants and although i wanted perennials... i couldn't afford them. so i got some annuals and will hopefully pick up perennials at a later date.
I got 2 sections of new plants planted yesterday and today while out there enjoying their 
prettiness and getting ready to plant the others; I got a craw up my butt and decided the damn rocks were blocking their view from my house... So off I went to start moving yet again... MORE ROCKS! Why don't I just throw the damn things over the fence... or put them in the front... or wish them away. Oh yeah... i can't... 1. I'd hit a car on the main road behind my house 2. I'd track them all over the house 3. my fairy godmother is on a permanent vacation and 4. technically i don't own these stupid rocks. I am growing to hate rocks.
prettiness and getting ready to plant the others; I got a craw up my butt and decided the damn rocks were blocking their view from my house... So off I went to start moving yet again... MORE ROCKS! Why don't I just throw the damn things over the fence... or put them in the front... or wish them away. Oh yeah... i can't... 1. I'd hit a car on the main road behind my house 2. I'd track them all over the house 3. my fairy godmother is on a permanent vacation and 4. technically i don't own these stupid rocks. I am growing to hate rocks. So after all this hard work today. 1.5hrs of moving rocks, digging holes into dirt that is like clay and even after all the rain we've had AND my watering... still is so rock hard that i can't get down in there... After turning the dirt I did dig up over and over and over with soil and yucky dirt... I'm still not done. I still have 1 stubborn area that just will not budge in the digging area. I think it's going to take a whole new bag of planting soil and a few 1000 gallons of water to get it even manageable. That same area still needs rocks cleared and even out. When I finally finish I'll post pics of all my hard work :)
After 1.5hrs of back breaking work (did I mention i actually was moving rocks AND slinging mud across the yard?) I've given up. And I AM COUNTING THAT AS EXERCISE!!! If my back hurts, knees hurt, hands hurt, arms hurt and thighs hurt... I'd say that MUST be enough to constitute exercise. Yes, i know yard work is exercise, but I'm trying not to rely on JUST these types of activities as exercise. I got here by relying on these kinds of activities being my form of exercise for... i don't want to know how many years. But today... i will make it count, because I also need to remember that it does. :)
BTW.... Yes, all the while, all that work... is on a house we only rent, so some day (when the market is better and our credit will allow us to buy a house... which is never) we'll move and I'll probably have to start all over again... but for today. I'll enjoy it and keep improving on it.
Always,
Jules
Jules
P.S. Thank you for the suggestions earlier. I needed the boost to get me up and going.
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