Gardening not a project for the faint-hearted

As someone raised around parents whose thumbs and fingers had a definite greenish tinge, I pretty much took the home place vegetable and flower gardens for granted.
Trees grew abundantly, most of them having been planted and then nourished and skilfully cared for by the yard's owners. Lilac bushes were transplanted from a yard two houses away and even several decades later, still bloom despite not having been tended for more than 25 years.
Crabapples still persist on the old yard's tree, and the evergreens continue a death defying vigil on the once-lovingly tended yard.
Once prolific flower beds have been choked out by years of an advancing growth of weeds, but in my mind's eye, I still see the lilies, tulips, irises, bleeding hearts, daisies, and other flowers whose names I didn't and still don't know.
It didn't dawn on me while I lived there that my parents had a knack for growing food to eat and beauty to behold. Both were always present in abundance and so I took for granted what many others struggled to produce.
As housemate turns his retirement energies to backyard and sideyard improvements, as he researches which plants will grow best in sunny and shaded positions, and as he records his perennials' locations on a computer-generated record, I confess I am being left overwhelmingly behind in this gardening business.
His plans are nicely taking shape and if I do say so myself, my transplanted geraniums and pansies are bright with colour - not that I can take credit for anything but having them slip off the shopping cart in the middle of the garden centre and standing there feeling less than adequate as several other shoppers rushed to my aid.
Any notable improvements to the yard will be thanks to housemate's devotion to this project.
Not to be left out, I have been given a small space of hardpan dirt to look after. There is a peony in the corner, which just grows year after year without any kind of care.
The remainder is usually lush with weeds that refuse to be dug out or killed by any natural or unnatural means and it is on, not in, this space I will place my containers of transplanted blooms.
Container gardening is all the rage, so I've learned by listening and reading. Containers hide all sorts of gardening blemishes, and they are movable so as to create interest and confuse the passersby who think they saw geraniums where now some other flower blooms with abandon.
My vision for this spot this year included using some of the leftover patio blocks to create a tiered and layered look. I was advised that said patio blocks were already targeted for another backyard scheme but the owner "supposed" he could buy a few more if I really needed them.
It wasn't that I needed them so much as I figured having them would stop the growth of weeds between the containers. My reasoning was that surely a 40 pound patio block would deter the growth of any unwanted greenery. Now I'll never know.
My solution was to buy a few more planters so I have enough to scrunch them in so close together that the wiggle room for weeds will be lessened without having a struggle to move heavy stones.
After eyeballing the weed-infested lawn, I'm wondering if covering that whole area with patio stones wouldn't be a gesture of good neighborliness, and a saving on the water bill.
It surely would be a deterrent to owners whose dogs eye our weedy lawn with anticipation of pastoral softness.

Joyce Walter can be reached at 691-1259.