I've mentioned the yard work we have been doing in the past few posts. As our neighbors grass turned green after the winter our yard continued to look dormant....or just plain dead in spots. In March, we begin discussing our options and researching what would work best for us. The next few postings will go through our decisions. Chad and I have both been too busy to put much effort into caring for our yard but that has changed. We've put LOTS of energy into making our yard an area we can be proud of...before you know it, we'll be out there digging and planting just for fun! Here is a look at a few of the things we have done. The before and after transformation are pretty impressive! Enjoy! (Compliments are welcome!)
Where we started......
1 year ago:
Last Mother's Day, the view of our front yard looked like this:
Flat and green
With 3 trees - 2 pine trees and 1 gum ball tree, 2 pink rose bushes, and 1 blue hydrangea.
As this May approached, we were making some BIG changes. Our grass has never looked great - and we live in a neighborhood of nicely manicured lawns - so, looking bad surrounded by neighbors with green thumbs is even worse! We had some trouble with moles in the fall. This spring, as our neighbors grass starting turning green, our grass stayed brown.....aka: dead! We did lots of research. Talked to LOTS of people. Had a soil sample. We came up with this plan - we would place new sod in our front yard and we would re-seed the side and back yards. With those decisions, came the following tasks:
In mid-April, we started to prepare for the sod placement. We were getting sod in the front area of the yard. Before it could be installed, we had to spray round-up on the entire area - and kill all the current grass and weeds. We did this in mid-April....we waited an entire month before the new sod was installed...our neighbors loved us!
In late April, we had a well placed. The well water will be used for irrigation. Previously, we had to rely on city water.....and our water bills were sky high. The well was an investment, but I think we've probably already paid for it in the money we have saved by not using city water to water our lawn over the past few weeks.
We decided to have the 3 trees cut down from our front yard - for a few reasons - we just didn't like them, the pine needles are a pain, they would have been a huge problem had a hurricane hit our area. So, it made for a quick decision....bye, bye trees!
Early May 2011
Three trees come down in the front, 2 trees come down in the back.
My Mother's Day Present:
A dump truck full of mushroom compost!
My parents came down for Mother's Day weekend. Mom helped watch the boys. We used my dad for manual labor. Luckily, we all survived....but, my back is still paying the price for my hard work! On Saturday, we raked the thatch out of the sides and back of the yard. We used the mushroom compost to fill in these areas. We then spread grass seed all over the yard. The compost is used as a "fertilizer" to aide in the growth of the new grass seed and to help runners from our current grass grow together.
Payton was well prepared with his new wheelbarrow from Grandma and Grandpa. This little guy, and his new "toy," worked very hard....helping clean up the dead grass and put it into bags all day long. He was a very hard worker!
After a day FULL of raking, this is the pile of yard waste we were left with. I think the final count was 17 bags of thatch!
A few before pictures:
Left side of the house.
Close up of our dead/newly seeded grass in a large spot in the side yard.
My azalea plants.....we planted 2 new plants in this bed. We said prayers over the others.....praying they will somehow survive. They just weren't looking too great!
The back yard (with lots of room for improvement!)
New hydrangea plants.
1 hydrangea was moved from the front yard (we had to save it when they came to cut the trees down). I added two new hydrangea plants to make a bed of 3 in the back yard.
Against the foundation of the house, in the back yard, I added 3 additional hydrangeas and 2 additional azalea plants.
My container garden continues to grow!
We had to transplant to rose bushes - from the front yard to a bed in the side yard. They aren't looking too good right now, but I'm hopeful they will survive!
The grassy areas and existing landscaping....before:
Chad and Owen....after a hard day of work in the yard!
No comments:
Post a Comment