Weekend Weeding

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, you can read here, we did a lot of cleaning up the front flower beds.  Here’s the thing, I actually enjoy working in the yard and it’s not as bad as some people think it is.  The problem is when you combine it with 95 degree full sun working conditions = no fun.  I suppose we slacked on keeping up with the weeds because we’d both rather be spending time with Addie.  When Addie’s awake, one of us has to keep her occupied and that leaves the other person to do the work and neither one of us really wants to be the one out there working by ourselves.  So we realized we had to do something when it got to this point.

So, the game plan began:

-          Remove all weeds and plants that have gotten out of control

-          Remove any plants that we now hate. (Example, we have yarrow which is actually pretty with the red color, however, it attracts flies for some reason)

-          Purchase flowers at local nursery

-          Arrange plants in bed, step back and make changes as necessary

-          Plant in placed spots within flower bed

-          Mulch

-          Water, water, water

The one plus about purchasing plants mid season is we were able to get 50% off all plants we purchased. We ended up buying approximately 20 plants to include rose bush, hostas, hibiscus bushes, red coneflowers, lilies, etc.   We then purchased absolute black mulch in bags.  We love the look of absolute black up against our tan house.  We did bags this year which are easier and faster to spread, however they’re more expensive.  More than likely, next year we’ll go back to the local mulch company and purchase a truckload of mulch.  After we were finished we were both exhausted but so happy it was done.  Now we just need to keep up with the weeds and do some preventive pulling.  I can’t wait to see what the beds look like next year.  The beds still look a little scarce in areas but we’re anticipating the plants to grow quite a bit.

Without further adieu, here is the before and after side shot

Next year my plan is to build window boxes to place under each of our front windows.  We can add annuals to give the front of the house a splash of color!