I've had a love/hate backyard. Mostly hate. It's unevenly shaded so grass grows in weird patterns; subdivision grading means one side of the yard gets more water than the other; and a massive, uninspiring gray brick wall spans the back.

In the spirit of change we recently redid the brick pavers and moved the rock, making room for more grass. We didn't want to pay for sod, so we've been waiting for it to pop up for free on Craigslist. By "recently" I mean like 4 months ago. We've had big mud patches since we moved the rock. So that's been fun with dogs.

In one corner I put a mini-garden (tomatoes, watermelon, and zucchini). I'm not incredibly optimistic, as I am notorious for killing live plants. Dogs that walk through said garden don't help my mood. I created an "Eff-you-dogs" wall with amazing Iceplant succulents. I picked those because the guy at Lowe's said they were hard to kill.

My favorites, though, are the vines I planted on the back walls. Two Bowers and a Snail Vine. The latter has these amazing blooms.

The previous post is brought to you by my impending middle age. Button-up shirts and Orthotic sandals to follow.