Imagine how excited we were to tackle the front landscaping.
It went something like this…
pssss….blppp.
say that outloud. It makes more sense.
Forewarnment – I don’t actually accomplish anything in this post. Don’t expect a final photo. This is more of an introduction. The landscaping before. On either side of our driveway, we have these pillars. One is a true light pillar and the other is a mailbox. For the first part of last year, both sides looked like a weed farm…and not the HEYMANWASSUPIFEELGOOOOOD kinda weed…
On the pillar side, there is our water meter box, a faucet, and a rotten palm tree stump.
This is how it looked when the grass greened up. Excuse the arrow. This is a recycled photo. Waste not want not.
The other side is an even bigger mess. Behind the mailbox is a drain. This is a very important drain. Since we are in a culdesac, all the water runs down the street and finds its way to the lowest point….the ditch between our mailbox and our neighbor’s yard…so our neighbor put in the drain box…but he and Napolean (our home’s previous owner) never finished the drainage pipes…
Behind all that drainage stuff, and some serious weed (again – not smokable – I don’t want anyone thinking I’m wasteful), behind all that is a hydrant.
I have a love and hate relationship with the hydrant. I love that we have one so close to the house – you know, in case I decide to cook – but I also hate the way it looks. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
And here it is during the summer months…
So right before ‘the-wedding-of-our-decade’ we decided to tackle the area…you know…to impress all our friends and family that might be attending.
We started digging out all rocks and removed all the growth.
On the other side, we talked our neighbor into pulling out his big equipment and installing the rest of the drainage pipes into the ditch…
I don’t have any during photos (the ole Canon isn’t a friend when digging) but here’s shortly after – it got evened out – and we marked where the drainage area was for future pavers.
We also took some rocks to hold the dirt while we figured out the paver situation. The great part is that the drain was fully functional now…not washing the dirt into a random ditch.
So that is part one….there’s definitely more to show ya…so you’ll just have to stay tuned…
In the mean time, let’s talk landscaping. Have you been heading outside for planting projects lately? We’ve had 80 degree weather here lately and it’s just been begging us to come outside.
Landscaping is one of my least favorite things to tackle. The garden in our back-backyard is a hot mess right now so I’ve been trying to muster up the motivation to save it.
nice! it was so warm here (toronto) all weekend, we got our patio furniture out! next on too landscaping!
Yes the weather here in Wisconsin is amazing too (80’s too……unheard of for around here during this time. We are usually gettin a few more inches of snow in March!!) . But now I’m scared to death because now it means starting landscape work in front of our new house I don’t even know where to start or what to plant. Anything you recommend for beginners like moi??? Seriously no joke I suck at it!!
So weird how your driveway goes from pavers to concrete. I think Napolean got lazy there. Do you plan on ever carrying pavers all the way through your driveway in the future? Or does it only bother OCD me over here that its 2 materials?
I always recommend looking at native plants to your area – like here in the Georgia, we get loads of dogwoods and azaleas – because usually it means that those plants will be easier to keep alive – for black thumbs like me, that means I don’t have to keep replacing the plants when they die.
xo – kb
Haha-is that a french drain Napoleon put in?? 😉 Landscaping is very difficult, especially if you are trying to save money doing it yourself. It’s hard with little ones and then hard later when your backs are old.
We also just purchased a foreclosed home and the yard is TERRIBLE! We cannot wait to get our hands on it! We are waiting for some fill for the hole in our yard (aka where a former above ground pool once stood). Can’t wait to start planting and hacking up some overgrown mess!!!! Good luck!
We’re in the process of building a veggie garden in the backyard – I’ve got my seedlings germinating in the window, and this weekend we finish building our raised bed! This is our first house, and I’ve been dreaming of doing this for years!
Although I’m pregnant, and my husband points out that I’m going to be 7, 8, 9 months preggo while weeding and harvesting said veggies. In muggy, hot, NC summer weather (I’m sure GA has similarly rough summers). 🙂
We’re planning on tackling some weeding and trimming in our yard this afternoon. Our house sat vacant for a while before we bought it, and everything is overgrown and awful looking. We need to do some serious landscaping!
Your yard has come such a long way! I can’t wait to see what else y’all do. As a Georgia native (grew up in Snellville!) your yard reminds me so much of the yard I had growing up. Now that I live in New Orleans, I’ve had to learn what and what not to plant here. I planted some petunias and begonias in our flower beds this weekend and tried my hand at some hanging baskets. They are gorgeous right now so we’ll see if I can keep them alive! I didn’t water my petunias enough last year.
Ooooh I can’t wait to see what you all do with this space! We’ve just been getting outside tackling some pruning! One bush in our backyard was actually a very small bush instead of the monstrosity it appeared….it just had a lot of sticks and random chunks of wood shoved into it, can you say odd?
I count on our weekly HOA landscaping crew to take care of our 5 square inch piece of land. It’s awesome. And when I need my landscaping fix, I help my Momma out with their glorious acre and a half of land.
I’m also in WI and I love the weather we are having too, but have the same problem as Joanna:( we built a house in 2009, waited until last year to finally put the yard in and this spring we plan to plant some things.) I’m planning to start by calling the company that installed the yard and a few other landscapers to have them come out and give us ideas of what to plant and where. Even if, in the end, we don’t have them do the work to save money, we will have some knowledge of what to do and learn a bit in the process. I’m thinking bushes, those seem hard to kill! Lol
I wish I could get outside! We have lots of projects we’re trying to finish inside that outside is being pushed to the backburner. About all I get to do out there is mulch and pull weeds. Definitely not the most fun part of working in the yard but gosh it looks good afterwards. Can’t wait to see where this one is going! :p
Emily
That drainage area looks so nice now! We need to do some serious work on our front yard. We realized last week that one of the bushes out there has fallen over. Seems like all the wind and rain we’ve had uprooted it enough to cause it to topple over. Landscaping is my least favorite thing about owning a home. Well, besides paying the bills. 🙂
Congratulations! Our oldest son (first of FOUR boys!) was the product of a “Valentine’s Day romp” and was born smack dab on November 5, 14 years ago. It was a fantastic day and I’m sure yours will be too! 🙂
Oh, sorry Katie – I responded to the wrong post! Congrats anyway. 🙂
I’ve got two bits of landscaping on the mind this spring. The first is a continuation of our one-rock-at-a-time stone wall (http://www.thebookofjimmy.com/?p=288) and the other is about getting ready to plant our herb gardens (http://www.thebookofjimmy.com/?p=736). Otherwise, I plan on letting nature take its course (we have a house in the woods – the manicured look doesn’t really fit for us (nor could we achieve it if we tried).
I used to hate landscaping (despite doing that professionally in college – or maybe because of it). It was never instant enough gratification (since you have to let it grow before it really starts to look good). I think the change happened when I had my first baby. Suddenly I was a lot better at looking at things over the long-haul. Also, time flies so fast now that a year of progress seems to happen over night. I’m still a total brown-thumb, but I’m at least more interested in it.
I feel you on the whole “previous owner neglected landscaping” thing. We moved into our home last summer and the home and landscaping had been really neglected, which we wanted a fixer upper, but with so much to do on the inside, we totally did nothing on the outside. Now that the snow has stopped falling and the temperatures are warming up, we are beginning to work on taming the jungle out there. This past weekend involved lots of weeding. Can’t wait to follow along with your progress as we work on ours!
I just had to tell you after todays post I has to watch your announcement video again! I just love the look on your mans face and your family is just so cute. You are so lucky to have a family like that! Congrats!
we are starting yard work tonight! SO excited!!!! Our yard is hideous (and that’s a nice way to put). Some prior owners placed random “gardens” everywhere and the last ones didn’t take care of it at all. Well, hello weed killer and shovel!
RE: the fire hydrant… you could ask your local department if you could paint it something fun! A lot of people here in KY have done it, and I imagine that as long as it isn’t completely obscured so that they don’t see it, they wouldn’t have a problem. This way, it becomes more of a lawn ornament than a big blob. Just a thought that might help 🙂
No yardwork here! I’m in Alaska, and we are still buried under four feet of snow. Bletch.
Although I live in Florida and it has felt like Spring weather for about a month now, there will be no planting for me. Mainly because I live in a 2nd floor apartment, but also because I seem to have a black thumb too. Even potted plants die (might have something to do with the fact that I forget to water them…) on me. But the azalea bushes at my mom’s house bloomed sometime last week – that burst of pink always lets me know when its officially spring in Florida (despite what the calendar & weathermen say). Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
p.s. I don’t know if I’m late on this or not, but I just noticed your new header, and I wanted to say that I love it! Very simple, but still cute. 🙂
Katie your entrance way is BEAUTIFUL! I can’t wait to see the end of the updates!
We are also experiencing wonderfully warm weather and I cannot wait to get out in our brand new yard! I can’t wait to rip everything out and start with a clean slate. Any suggestions for getting out Ivy? 🙂
http://www.awifeandhercarpenter.blogspot.com
Our weather has been crazy warm out as well, and it has me mentally planning our flowerbeds and veggie garden. I try to buy a lot of perennials since they come back every year, but sometimes I give in for annuals. Geraniums are my favorite, especially the bright red ones, they really pop out on a front porch.
I am getting ready to sand down our metal porch railing and repaint it on our front porch. Our whole front porch needs a makeover (new door, light, house numbers, etc..) It needs a good pimping.
Can’t wait to see how your garden turns out!
We haven’t done much so far – but I’m excited to get the ball rolling this spring! We’ve also had some unseasonably warm days here, so I expect to have some new beds dug, shrubs in, etc. within the next month!
We did some work in the yard today and our dogwood tree has blossomed! It looks so gorgeous!
I LOVE working in the yard. I live in Michigan and I mowed the lawn on Saturday! (If you know anything about MI weather – this is huge! We’ve had high 70s/low 80s for the last week and it’s still going strong! It should be cold and raining/sleety right now! YES!) Anyways, this will be our second summer in our house and we’re ready to tackle the outside since last year was spent inside. Current project – researching native plants that will succeed without my having to know much about them…the best kind! Can’t wait to see what it ends up looking like at your house – it’s a beautiful house and the new-and-improved landscaping will only enhance it even more!
Oh how I wish I had a garden to landscape…
The rock wall is so cool. It brings back memories of Jer building one at our old house (*tears) and I love how you are letting the nature take it’s course 🙂
xo – kb
haha..five square inch 🙂
xo – kb
Just make sure you’re barefoot too 🙂
xo – kb
Actually it’s all concrete…it’s just ‘printed’ to make it look like pavers and then dyed to make it look more red. Weird huh?!
xo – kb
This warm weather we have been having here in Georgia has me all motivated to get out and do yard work. Costco has some amazing plants for great prices if your in need of anything. I just loaded up on on 3 gallon azalias for $13 each, much cheaper then the big box stores. Can’t wait to see what else you have been up to. Also, congrats on being pregnant!
Landscaping is exactly what we worked on this weekend! We took inventory of plants we needed, spent hours at the nursery, arranged them and re-arranged them til they were placed the way we liked, and……a huge storm hit so we haven’t been able to actually plant them yet. But I’m really excited about the way it will look when we do!
I actually spent some time pulling weeds after work yesterday. And boy am I paying for it today. My poor allergies. I really should just live in a bubble up here inRichmond VA. My thumb is also black when it comes to real plants. Weeds thrive, plants – not so much. I managed to kill an azalea, a hydrangea & a japanese maple all last year. Partially due to the really hot temps we were getting & partially due to me forgetting to water as often as I should have. OOPS! 🙂
I can’t believe no one has commented on your shoes in the picture. Too cute!
I cant believe people ask you about letting Will help. That’s half the fun of parenting! My daughter (now 7) has always loved helping me garden… and cook and clean! It may mean dinner is on the table 10 minutes later but the memories and joy of doing it together, or watching her face light up because she gets to stir something makes it worth it. I use to try and control everything but once I sat back and relaxed and let her plant the flowers her way, we have way more fun. It looks like Will had a great time – he’s so adorable! The flowers and bushes look great, in a few years they will look amazing!
Oh no!!! I had to dig out rocks from our very rocky yard every summer growing up … reading this post will probably give me hives! Best of luck.
And cute shoes!
except that there aren’t any pictures of shoes in this post …
I read the comment above, and was reminded of them too, now I’ll have to go looking for which post it was :(. how embarrassing!
Ok, I’m not seeing them anywhere here on the front page. Sometime, somewhere, you had cute shoes :).