After spending a lovely Easter weekend in NY with Ed's family, we decided to make the most of our Monday off and the sunny day by prepping our outdoor space. Since I'm a novice at this, Ed took the lead as Foreman on the job. We started our day with a trip to Home Depot to pick up the necessary tools for the job: Pitch Fork and Edger Shovel Thingy (yes, that is the official term). Of course while Ed was off in his man-aisle picking the tools, I was over in the garden center picking out a pretty pot and stand for our new indoor tree (thank you Sarah!). Leave it to me to find the girly stuff at Home Depot!
After stopping by Casa de Quartuccio to pick up our Lucy girl who spent the weekend while we were in NY, we headed home and got to work. We started by loading up the Scion with the paver bricks from both the front and back yards. We've decided that our landscape design will be 100% au na-tu-ral so the bricks had to go. Plus, Mow Cow will be by soon to place the sod in the backyard so it was time to get them out of there. After a quick trip to the recycling center to drop them off, we were off and running. Here is a look at our official "before".
We wanted to re-shape the flower bed so we used our hose to map out the new design. Ed then used the Edger Shovel Thingy to carve it out. It was hard work and the intense heat of the sun did not make it any better, but he did a great job! I played assistant by feeding him tons of water and keeping the cold, wet towel on his neck cold and wet.
While Ed was hard at work on the flower bed, I had the chance to prep my new pots for my herb garden. Lucy even shared in the fun and found herself the only shade available in the yard.
Once the flower bed was carved it out was time to turn the soil and that is where the Pitch Fork came in. We had to be careful of the newly buried drainage pipe, but all in all, it was a success. The area is now prepped for us to plant our pink azaleas, lily turf and lots of colorful annuals.
But the work didn't end there. You might remember that we have a miniature Dogwood tree in our front yard. In order to keep it alive for many more years, we needed to add more dirt and mulch to cover the roots. We also decided to attempt to carve out a perfect circle at it's base. This process included me, on my hands and knees in the dirt holding a tape measure as Ed made his way around the tree. It's not so perfect, but we are very happy with how it looks.
The day ended with a quick mow of the lawn and some watering. We are very proud of how it looks and we haven't even planted anything yet! We made a quick pit stop at Merrifield Garden Center after dinner last night to get an idea of what we want to plant (and how much it is going to cost!), and hope to get there tonight to make our purchases. The good news: Azaleas are on sale!! The bad news: We need a LOT more than just Azaleas! Stay tuned for the finished product!
No comments:
Post a Comment