Last fall, when we moved in, we just barely made the outside
of the house presentable. We cleared out the overgrown umbrella tree, put down
some mulch, and planted some fall mums. But that was it.
It needed a lot more. And since I am on spring break, it seemed
like the perfect time to start. If fact, I have been itching to get out there,
but it's been too cold or rainy or snowy. So yesterday and today we worked.
Hard. Ugh, I'm actually sore from it.
We started by moving both front flower beds back about three
feet. Essentially, this eliminated the left flower bed, because a cement slab
for a front patio (I guess you would call it) is on the left. So we just
stacked the retaining wall blocks in front of the concrete. This was a major
improvement, because the concrete in is bad repair and was an eyesore. At least
moving the stones back covered the front of the crumbling concrete. We do need
to actually do something with that side, but that remains for a later date (and
a higher tax return). Moving all those paving stones is a decent amount of
work, though it sounds small in writing!
On the right side, moving the stones back three feet made
the flower bed smaller, and in line with the patio. Now there is less to
landscape, which is a good thing to me! We planted three Winter Gem Boxwood
plants in front of the window for some color and height. Of course, they still
need to grow, but they are easy to take care of. I still have some room in
front of them to plant small flowers as the seasons change. Then Justin planted
grass seed where the flower beds used to be, and we just have to wait for it to
grow!
Along the side of the house, by the driveway, the flower
beds were a mess... lots of trash, uneven ground, untrimmed bushes, uneven
spacing all hurt the appearance. We straightened up the AC unit, raked up all
the junk, and evened out the ground. Trying to get all the blue stones from
what I guess was a fish tank wasn't Justin's favorite part of the afternoon. I had a
fun time digging up weeds and perennials that were growing up from previous
years too. Trying to get all the way down to the bulb was quite trying at
times. Some I replanted, but a few I had to just toss. Finally, we put down red
mulch and two more bushes to even out the foliage. At least now, I'm not embarrassed
about the side of the house. We still want to put in edging stones (we have
some leftover from the front) to hold the dirt back off the driveway. That will
entail a decent amount of digging, so it's for another day.
I also worked on the small 4x4 flowerbed by the back stairs,
and Justin ripped out a heck of a lot of ivy from under the deck. He planted
grass seed in the sparse areas in the back too. Now hopefully it grows in soon!
