The past few weeks the hubs and I have been rollin’ up our sleeves and doing some dirty work.  We have just hit our 4 year anniversary in this house and we have tackled every project accept the yard.  Here is what our house looks like from the front.  We have done some basic clean-up. But its pretty much plain jane on the outside.

Out yard is comprised of mowed weeds.  Its bad.  For the last few weeks we have been spraying weed killer on our yard.  They are dying and we are just gaining strength for the day we have to till them all up and plant new seed.  I might seriously fake sick that day.  I really wont but lawn rehab is not my cup of tea.  Give me a power tool and let me rehab a room…the lawn intimidates me.  Here is what the side of our house looked like two weeks ago.

Here is what it looks like this afternoon.  I must admit, I had a lot to do with cleaning out the beds last week, but I had nothing to do with the planting.  The hubs and his mom did the picking and planting this weekend while I was at work.

On this side we picked a Wintergreen Boxwood from Lowes.

Of course we still need to edge and mulch the bed but Monday arrived and we couldn’t get it done.  The other side of the house the Hubs picked a Golden Euonymus.

While I was taking my sunday cat nap he actually edged this one out.  We used plastic lock together edging at Lowes.  We will use the same on the other side.  Once the mulch is in and the grass is grown they will hardly be noticeable.

These shrubs  grow a little higher so that is why we chose a different kind on this side of the house.  Our house is on a hill and the right side of the house (if you are facing it) has the biggest part of the crawl space underneath it.  I am not sure what the plant on the corner is but I do know its supposed to be tall and full of pretty blooms when it grows up.  I pick the furniture and decor for the inside, the hubs picks the landscaping for the outside.

I did help plant a few yesterday.  Here is how we planted our shrubs for the side of the house:

1. Clear out the beds of weeds. (We did this by picking and spraying.)
2. Till up the soil.
3. Grade out the beds, sloping away from the house.
4. Lay down the landscape fabric
5. Go and purchase your Shrubs.
6. Figure out where your shrubs should go
7. Dig a hole deep enough so when your shrub is in the hole the soil is ground level
8. Fill the bottom of the hole with  a little bit Miracle Grow Soil.  Mix it in.
9. Pick out any massive rocks.  (The state of Missouri is full of rocks in the ground)
10. Wet the hole with miracle grow plant and shrub food.
11. Gently take the shrub out of the plastic planter it came it
12. Set it in the hole.
13. Fill the hole with a mixture of miracle grow soil and the soil from the hole
14. Water the plant with plant food
15. Tamp down the soil around the plant and move onto the next.

We have a lot left to do outside.  Here is the list:

• Add siding to the side beds
• soil and plant the front bed
• Pave a walk-way (we did this and I will blog about it soon)
• Build a new step
• Build planters for the old concrete walkway
• Jazz up the front porch
• Add window boxes to the front and sides of the house
• tear up the yard and seed it.  This might be a fall project because seeded grass grows better here in the fall.  We might choose buffalo grass which could be planted now.  Buffalo grass only grows 3-5 inches tall and needs 75% less water to maintain.  Its a very energy efficient lawn choice so we are reading up on it right now.
• Fix the cracked driveway.
• Install a micro irrigation system in our beds.  (Less work for us in watering!)
• Install a rain barrels for eco watering!

In other words…we have a ton to do.

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer

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