The front yard, circa 2009-B.S. (Before Stacy)

Anyone who’s been to our house knows that we’ve put a little bit of work into it. We’ve floored, painted or tiled in just about every room of the place and we’re pretty happy with how the projects have turned out. One feature of the house, however, has managed to evade our renovating grasp: the yard.

There are a lot of reasons that it’s taken us so long to get around to doing anything with the front and/or back yards. The cost was too high. We didn’t have time. We didn’t have the tools. But the main reason was that we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Nothing. We didn’t know a perennial from an annual or fern from a fungus.

Enter: Stacy Archer. Stacy is our sister-in-law, and despite her questionable taste in men, she’s an adept gardener and is quite handy with a [Insert gardening tool name here. Cut me some slack! I’m still learning what they’re called.] Stacy and her husband Tony, my wife’s brother, and her other husband John came to Austin to help us with some yard work as a Christmas/housewarming gift to us. It was a wonderful gesture that I just assumed would turn into a weekend of drinking and tex-mex.

The Yard Tards

To my surprise, the Archers and John, dubbed by cousin John as “The Yard Tards,” actually came to do some work. On Friday night, after a masterfully crafted dinner of pulled-pork tacos and corn on the cob, Stacy and Laura hashed out a plan for the next day’s projects over a bottle of wine. Here’s a photo run-down of our work:

First, we dug up, and pulled out the half-dead bushes along the front walkway, while the girls made the trip to Lowe’s for, among other things, my new red wheelbarrow.

The rocks outlining the gravel bed were dug up to make room for a flower bed.

Tony and a ho…and some sort of garden tool as well (ZING!)

We outlined the bed in edging stones and planted, zinnias, petunias, lantana rosemary and some plant that looks like fireworks.

We used the rocks we dug up earlier to encircle the mailbox and planted petunias and gerbera daisies.

There’s a running joke in our house that, before we (and by “we” I mean Laura) get pregnant, we first have to prove to ourselves that we can handle the responsibilities of keeping other living things…well…alive. Plants first, then a fish, then a dog, then…and only then…a baby. Well, I’m happy to report that all of the plants are alive and well, and this summer we’ll be dog sitting for a friend for three months. All we need now is an aquarium…

Couple backyard improvements to come…