Landscaping

Landscaping is not my forte. And what we are doing really isn’t landscaping – it’s yard work, plain and simple. I just think it sounds less depressing when I call it landscaping. Luckily we have a lot of people helping out so we have made a lot of progress.

My parents, Kathy and Tootsie have been so helpful in the yard. This past weekend we did some damage on the to-do list. We have torn out eight trees and bushes in the front yard alone – not an easy task. The stump removal company is coming over to make sure we have all the roots out of the ground so these suckers won’t grow back. We transplanted two peony bushes from the backyard to the front – I hope they survive! – and added some yellow mums for color. It will take some time for these to grow in and look nice, so I’m trying to be patient.

We have one large pine tree in the front yard that we are keeping. A neighbor came over to introduce himself on Sunday morning and, while my mom and I exchanged niceties with his wife, he marched back over to his house to get some tools and come help out. How nice! He was extremely helpful and we are greatly appreciative that he spent his Sunday morning in our yard. With my permission, he ended up pruning the pine tree that we are keeping. He was a little aggressive and removed more of the branches that we anticipated, but I guess the tree will be healthier in the long term. Looks a little bare at this point! He also had some handy tips – he introduced us to these ­­­­­fertilizing sticks to plant at the perimeter of the branches (that’s where the roots are, not directly underneath the tree stump - news to me) that will make the tree shoot up in no time, as well as this solution to apply to the bare tree where the branches were removed that will help the bark grow back. Can’t wait to see how it looks covered in Christmas lights!

Now we just need to add some grass seed and try to get the lawn to look presentable. Other than that, the front yard is about done until spring comes and we can do some more planting.

The backyard is a different story! There was a lot of overgrowth, plus we have the ravine to worry about. Wanting to reclaim some of our yard, we started pulling, pruning and trimming. I didn’t even keep count of all the bushes and trees that we removed. My dad and I will be back at the house this week to keep the momentum going. Unfortunately my mom has to start coaching swim team this week, so she won’t be over as much from this point on. We’re getting there!