Fixin' Up Friday: The Front Flowerbed

Is "flowerbed" a word? I guess so, there isn't a squigly red line showing up underneath it. Kinda funny though....

Anywho, it's Friday, Friday, (haha - just got that song stuck in your head didn't I?) and I'm in a funny mood if you haven't noticed. :) Maybe because my dishwasher is unloaded, or my bed is made, or because Lucy is taking a nap, or perhaps it's because I have a pretty flowerbed out front now! Any or all of the above may be contributing to my good (although a bit goofy) mood. :)

Here is what our flowerbed looked like a few weeks ago:

 AUGH!!! Yucky. 

I've been thinking - if someone could find or invent, if need be, a type of weed that looks like grass - that would be awesome. I'd plant weeds on purpose in my lawn. 

 Something had to be done - so we borrowed a rototiller from a friend and after I had pulled the big weeds out, Brad loosened the soil with the amazing power tool. This action alone helped a lot! But there was more to be done.  

We had received a gift certificate to a local green house from some friends (thanks Read/Topper/Downs Family!!!) and so we went and got a bunch of flowers and some mulch to freshen up our front space. 

Here is the after:

Whoot whoot! So much better! 

 This little space needed some TLC, and because of the new plants in the flowerbed I was able to move my hanging plant to this little patch of earth (the hanging plant was to the left of the front "porch" initially). My mom always told me to water hanging plants until the water starts to come out the bottom, that way you can ensure you gave the roots a good drink. So that's what I do and the grass under the plant has been saying "Thank you!" - Seriously, look at how much it has grown and greened up! Wow. Now it needs to be mowed! 

 Moving to the opposite end of the yard, starting at the left side of the flowerbed. We planted six begonias (to the right in the picture) - which haven't been doing so well. I think it is our extreme heat - these plants get sun half the day around 2pm the shade from the house covers them, but even so the begonia's are not thriving. Oh well, live and learn - we know better for next year. :) The other bushes were already established, so we decided to leave them alone this year - the watering is helping them a lot too!

 In the middle of our flowerbed we have an array of flowers in patriotic colors. :) To be honest, I threw away the tag thingies for these before I read the names (stink!), but the front flowers are petunias. I will remember what the nameless flowers look like because they have done great! They love the sun and are taking the heat really well so we will definitely be getting them again!

That black hose in the picture above is our "weeping hose" we turn it on for about 10-15 minutes a day and it waters the plants really well! We have learned our lesson and set a timer the moment we come in the house to remind us to turn it off. Let's just say that it has stayed on overnight once or twice. The hose works efficiently because it waters under the mulch, meaning Mr. Sun can't evaporate the water away! Plus it has been keeping the soil nice and moist - the perfect growing environment for our plants (and the grass! Check out the picture below - second one to the end - the grass three feet out from the flowerbed is GREEN!)

 Meet Mrs. Hibiscus (hahaha - I just named her!), our one perennial flowering plant that we splurged on. :) Apparently, she will get really tall and (hopefully) cover up that unsightly vent in the brick. If we are remembering correctly, she will produce pink flowers - but we may be wrong. There are about 5 buds on the top, so I'll keep you updated on her coloring. :) 

 There used to be 5 rock circles in this area, we took out the two that were broken apart and crumbly and left three of them (there is one more to the left of this picture) - I am liking the less-is-more look, plus it only takes three small steps to get to the hose, not five! Oh and see that stump? That stump is the vain of our existence. We have tried cutting it out with three different saws and it is not moving. So Brad had the idea to buy ivy - the goal is that the ivy will cover the stump in a year or two, or we will build a wooden porch over it and forget it ever existed. Problem solved. :)

 So there is our newly improved flowerbed! We love it and since we don't park our car in the garage right now (details on why next week) we use the front door for all our coming and going we get to enjoy our new flowerbed more than our guests do! :) 

****Happy 4th of July!****

Have a wonderful holiday weekend celebrating freedom with family and friends! Please enjoy fireworks for us, because we won't be seeing any this year because we haven't had enough rain - they aren't even selling them in our area! We are having our small group over for a BBQ on Monday so our day is not void of fun - plus I bought Lucy the cutest headband ever for the 4th. 

I'll share pictures next week. :)

Fixin' Up Friday: Shearing Shrubbery

Like I said about a week ago, when my mom was here she showed me how to prune the bushes and rose bushes we have in our yard. We didn't have a ton of time (and I didn't have the proper tools), so she showed me where to cut and explained the process to me so I could do it when she was gone. Well, I have started working on taming our shrubbery - and boy, did it need taming.  From what we can tell, investing time, energy and $$ into the yard and landscaping wasn't something that the previous owners were interested in.  So we have a big job on our hands - the yard needs some weed-be-gone and grass seed and the landscaping needs some pruning and tlc. I am pretty sure this year will be full of learning, taming and maintaining what we already have in the yard (we are hoping to plant some Gladiola bulbs this weekend) there are too many projects to work on INSIDE for us to spend our resources ($, time and energy) OUTSIDE. So other than some mulch, a hanging plant and maybe a potted plant. I don't think we will be doing too much outside. :) (Well, mowing goes unsaid right? :) we do need a lawnmower! A not-so-fun purchase in my book.)

BUT giving the shrubbery some tlc was something that we figured would give us a lot of bang-for-our-buck! All we had to purchase was a pair of $10 loppers (or branch cutters - there is a debate in our family as to what this tool is called. :) ). And then all I needed was nice weather and some time and I was able to make a BIG difference to the south side of our front yard (all our projects happening on the south side of our house.... what's up with that? I need to start working on other sides. :) )

 

The supplies I used: Gloves (which didn't end up being thick enough - I bought some leather ones - the bushes had thorns like roses), loppers/branch cutters and an old trash can to put the debris in (I learned that it was better to use an old blanket to put the branches on and then ask for Brad's help to carry them to the back yard).

 

The bushes BEFORE....

 My cutie patootie helper.... :) 

 Luce has been putting her arms "Up" and "Down" lately, I can't believe all the things she is learning - more every day. :)

 

 The bushes after! Hey look! There is a window there! I have a bit more raking to do over here, there is a ton of trash hiding under leaves. But things are looking much better!

 I don't know if you can see it here... but we found a trellis in one of the bushes - I need Brad's help taking out. It is good. and. stuck. But i am thinking we can paint it a crazy color (Pink maybe? Will Brad allow it?) and put it against the fence in the back yard - free yard ornaments? Yes please!

And here are both the before and after pictures for you to compare:

A good change? I think so. Have you been able to do Spring Clean-Up in your yard yet? It is going to be a bit of a process here, but I am happy with the progress so far! :)