When we first moved into our home nearly five years ago suffice it to say that the yard was not the thing that attracted us to the house. The main "garden spot" at the front walkway was a mass of over-grown fitzer bushes that may have been pretty at some time (the house was built in 1959), but had long-since lost their appeal and were nothing but a sprawling mass of spider-infested prickles.
With so much work to do on the inside of the house the outside landscaping lived on in continued neglect, brightened only by an occasional seasonal display on the front door. My attempt at gardening was confined to a pot on my porch which was home to a few lonely petunias and geraniums each summer.
Mark finally tired of my incessant complaining about the horrid bushes and pulled them out at the beginning of last summer. Ah--progress! It was like having a rotten tooth pulled. Finally, a clean slate--or so I thought. Oh. Roots. Lots of twisted, deep roots. Roots that must be dealt with before any planting could take place. Alas, another summer passed--this time with a lovely patch of root-filled dirt as our front-yard decoration--which was, believe it or not, better than the bushes.
Fast forward to Mother's Day 2009 (which of course I have not yet blogged about). Mark surprised me with this beautiful rose bush and a gift certificate to a nice local nursery. I know very little about growing rose bushes, but do know that my favorite color of rose is the one he bought:
We had so much fun going to O'Toole's nursery to select our plants. We chose these two bushes, which I liked for their bright green color, two flats of Vinca in shades of vibrant pink and white, and a flat of a cute creeping perennial with little white flowers. Looks like we'll need a few more gift certificates to complete the project.
Next, it was time to involve the whole family. We spent the rest of that day pulling up weeds and digging out the remaining root stumps. (Yes, we use latex dental gloves for gardening and cooking.)
My parents dropped by at one point and my darling almost-ninety-year-old father helped show John an effective method for manual stump/root removal.
(By the way, my dad still mows his own lawn--how great is that?!)
Ta-Dum! Behold--a root eventually wrangled out by Mark:
The next Saturday I went to buy compost and Mark did the honor of first breaking up the existing clay-filled soil, and then working in the compost. Oh, and did I mention the nasty 40+ year old plastic liner we had to dig out, as well?
Finally it was time for planting! Sarah helped me with this.
Mark dug the holes and planted the bushes, as I'm not so handy with a shovel.
I even re-potted a basil plant I bought for summer cooking.
While the finished product may not look like much yet from the street, and we've already started a list for our next trip to O'Toole's, it looks a heck of a lot better than it did before we started!
Best of all is the morale boost this project has given me. I'm no longer embarrassed to tell people which house is mine, or feel the need to make disclaimers about its outward appearance.
How can you not smile when you have rows of pink flowers outside your front door?
8 comments:
Projects like this are HUGE morale boosters for me too. I get overwhelmed with the flower beds (weed beds really) in front of my house and feel like my lack of skills, budget and experience are all working against me. But I think any positive changes are good ones, so I can definitely appreciate your happiness over this project, woohoo!
Morale boost indeed! What an achievement! How you must LOVE all your helpers. My Birthday Help this year filled up a 20' dumpster :) Useful, but not as fun as flower beds.
Morale boost, I'd say so! Your new flowerbed looks great!
I love working in the yard and find it very relaxing. I could pull weeds for hours. It's always so rewarding to see the fruit of your labor isn't it!? Just wait until all of the flowers start to fill out, it will be such a beautiful, welcoming sight!
Yea! Congratulations!! I think the impatiens grow and spread fast...is that what those are? They will be plentiful in no time with a little water and weeding!
I'm glad to hear of your moral boost, I was beginning to wonder "where ar-r-r-r-r-e you?!"
And, I love your new profile photo!
I worked the late shift again tonight and actually feel the same boost of moral upon completion!
I'll keep watching. Good family participation, I might add!
Hey don't knock your gardening abilities, you have to start somewhere. It looks great. Good for you Denise.
Lee
You are an inspiration! We have so much juniper around this house it makes me blue! What a cheerful site to have greet you! BTW, those are my favorite roses, too. Great minds and all.
"a sprawling mass of spider-infested prickles" -- ew! That would lower anyone's morale!
I'm glad you were able to get rid of them, and the awful roots (I hate digging out roots), and could plant some bushes and flowers of your own choosing!
Gardening is definitely a morale boost. I find it to be very rewarding, but I have to work hard at reminding myself of that when the summer heat arrives. I am dying that you used latex gloves for your weeding and planting!
For your next nursery visit, I would suggest getting 2-3 perennials that you like, as they will just keep coming back year after year with no effort on your part! My favorite.
Impressive indeed in the photos and in real life! Way to go. I remember planting and weeding the flowerbeds that the YW planted around the church. That was one of my favorite service projects and it didn't even feel like work all summer. That was such a great idea that you had. :)
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