So this spring when all the grass started to turn green again and everyone's houses around me had pretty flowers popping up, I started to really look at my yard and realized how sad it looked. It was just so plain and neglected. At least all my grass was there, in past homes we've looked at the yard was so gone that we would have had to have laid all new grass down. Thank goodness that wasn't the case. It just needed a little weed and feed and it started looking much better. My flower beds on the other hand looked awful. Weeds and grass everywhere, not to mention weird bush things and random bulbs starting to come up, but they were coming up sideways and just looked terrible. My front yard had absolutely NOTHING. Whoever designed the yard made it very simple and somewhat tacky. I forgot to take a before picture of all of this, but maybe you can see a little of the very first picture of the house I took.
Anyway, I started with the back yard and ripped pretty much everything out of the flower bed back there. It took forever because the grass roots were so deep that me and Jordan had to get out there with shovels and a garbage can. I ripped out most of the wild bush thing that was growing, but I found it in the flower section at Home Depot so I know it's not just a wild flower bush, it's an actual plant that's a perennial so I decided to keep some of it so that I'd have something original from the house. I also took a portion of it and planted in on the opposite side of the planter to kind of give it an even look. Right now it doesn't look so even because one side is smaller than the other, but my hope is by next spring, both sides will be full and pretty. It's actually a pretty cute bush when it's trimmed. Until the end of June it had these cute little white blossoms on them. It's sad they're all gone now and I missed getting a picture of them while they were still in bloom but oh well. I added a bunch of other perennials to the bed like dianthis and day/afternoon lilies (which are my favorite) and also a few annual flowers as well like petunias and miniature daisies which are so cute. I also got some mums and phlox from my mom's friend's yard too, so they don't look perfect right now because of the shock of the transfer, but next year they should look much better. Right now it doesn't look as full as I would like it to, but that's because everything's still so small...my mom says by next year it will look full and mature like I want it too! Can't wait! I will take more pictures next year so you can see the improvement once more!
Then in the front yard, we have this little patio made of round stone things and it used to be lined with grey bricks. (Who thought of that I have no idea...) So me and Jordan couldn't stand it any longer once the weather was good enough to get out there and work on it. So we ripped up all the bricks and the first row of stones and replaced any of the broken stones with ones from the first row that we had taken out. Then I planted flowers where that first row of stones used to be. This year, I just wanted to throw something in their quickly so it had to be cheap annual flowers. Next year though I will be planting a bunch of perennials so that I don't have to do it anymore, my yard will just be pretty every year with little work! yay! Anyway, it looks 120% better than it did before because none of the stones are broken or chipped anymore, the awful bricks are gone, and now there's color and life out there with bright colored flowers! I LOVE them. Flowers cheer me up so much. Sadie loves coming outside with me to water them.
(The Before/During the project pictures):
And after:
I also have this cute little pot by my front door that I absolutely LOVE. It's all shade plants so I call it my shade pot. That's why I have it tucked up in the corner by my house, but it's gorgeous and it's still growing and getting fuller and fuller. Don't you LOVE that red flower too? Love it! And the drapey ones are getting so pretty too. I thought I'd post of picture of that too because it's my favorite pot I have right now. :)
Anyway, there's still lots more we want to do with our house and yard, but it takes a lot of time and money so it will be one thing at a time for now. :) So this is my first major project on the house and that's my flowers and improvement to the front patio thing! :) It probably doesn't seem like much of a difference, but it does to me and Jordan. It was hours and hours of work too, if you can believe it. We love driving up to our house now (not that we didn't before, but now it just looks that much nicer and like someone actually lives there).
I also planted a few vegetables as an experiment this year. I've never done a garden by myself before, so I wanted to start simple. I planted one of each: cuccumber, squash and zucchini (they are my favs). My veggie garden area still needs a lot of work and there are a lot of weeds in there, so I didn't take any pictures of that, but once my garden actually starts producing (if it ever does, I planted them a little late randomly and I'm not giving them any special care other than water), I'll be taking pictures of the produce! I've noticed two of the three plants are really starting to grow so I'm hoping to see some veggies in the next month! Wahoo!
