Flower Power!

The next step in our effort to overhaul our yard was to plant some flowers to give us some more color. So one Sunday morning we went to Home Depot to buy a whole bunch of plants...

 

We ended up buying a lot of annuals, so that the colorful blooms would last all season.  From top to bottom in the picture below you can see we bought a skimmia (the only perennial), geraniums, begonias, petunias, gerbera daisies, a few different kinds of marigolds, snapdragons, and zinnia seeds. We also got tomatoes, hot peppers, mint, basil, and cucumber seeds.

 

Here are the before pictures...

 

 

Take a look at this close up. Our grass is growing!

For the hill in the backyard, we planted 15 groupings of plants. Look at how much more colorful it is!

 

We added a few pots at the corner of the patio with flowers and mint.

On top of the wall, put a box full of petunias. Hopefully as they grow bigger they will drape over the side of the wall.

On the other side of the patio (near the grill) is our vegetable corner. Each tomato plant got its own pot, and we bought a large galvanized tub for the peppers, cucumbers, and basil.

We also moved our little pine tree to a bigger pot and added some new plants to keep it company.

Here are the pictures of the front yard with new plants and fresh mulch.

Our yard looks better already!

Getting dirty!

Two Fridays ago, I came home to this in the driveway:

The plan was to fill in the low spots in the front yard with topsoil, because it was impossible to mow around the tree. We also decided to finally create a proper path from the driveway to the front walkway. When we moved in last year, we took the small pavers that were near the basement door to serve as a temporary path. It only took us one year to find a more permanent solution!

The forecast called for rain all weekend, so we decided to start moving the dirt on Friday evening after work.

In less than three hours, we had moved all the dirt!

 This past weekend, we went to a stone quarry on Saturday morning to pick out new stones for our walkway. We chose Pennsylvania flagstone in 2 foot squares. When we got home, we started to dig out the ground to set the stones. 

First Alan had to chop up a few roots that were in the way. He loved the opportunity to get out the ax!

It took most of the afternoon to get the stones leveled, but in the end we had a brand new path! 

On Sunday, we spread grass seed over the entire front yard and then put down straw on top. 

Hopefully soon we'll have a yard with actual grass!