Wish I'd taken a photo before we lit the bonfire that burned down "the tumbleweed patch" that, annually, surrounds the gate out of our back garden.  We usually save burning it down for spring in the hope that we can nip the coming year's growth in the bud (but it never does). This year, having been introduced to the wonders of sheet mulching, I'm going to sheet mulch the whole area and plant it to native grass. 

At any rate, this year we were in a bit of a hurry because we want to move two of our four horses here from the boarding stables, so that we can save the money we're spending there for a new fence around the side yard so that we can move all four out here.  Before we can bring them out, we'll have to finish pulling down the weeds that you can see still embedded to the left of the gate, and to the right on the fence line, plus try to finish burning the charred branches of the Desert Willows we trimmed just before we got started.  We'd have had this all done by now but we got a cold snap accompanied by steady drizzling rain these last days. Lucky we had our "bonfire" on Guy Fawkes Eve instead of Guy Fawkes Day.

Anyway, this gives you an idea of what we're starting from. The only significant growth in our back yard are the two big Desert Willows, a Texas Ranger (Purple Sage) at the double gate (you can't see it much in this photo), a baby Desert Willow growing through the chain link fence under the window on the left, and in that same area is a Blue Pagoda Penstemon and some Sideoats Grama. What's left of the lawn I planted about 13 years ago (Blue Grama and Buffalograss) are scattered patches that mostly got eaten by some prolific bug that likes to bury its victim organic matter in tunnels of dirt. A decade of neglect has meant many weeds have intruded into the space. However, with my teenage daughter Miri lighting a fire under *me* I hope we'll get the back yard turned into a little oasis from which we'll be able to enjoy the view of our modest herd of horses one day soon.