Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Landscaping update

I'm pretty sure I start each summer with the same post (I know it's mid-July, sorry!), it goes something like 'once the garden centers open for the season, I feel the itch to landscape!' This year was no exception.  We had a few things die over the winter and cold spring (my roses, a maiden grass, a tall daisy) but other than that, things are looking good.  We got our annual pile of triple ground mulch from the Mulch Center, it's so damn beautiful when it first gets dropped off.
The kids 'helped' me spread it around, it was worth the mess to see them covered in mulch and laughing.
I love the look of new mulch! 
I wanted to spruce up a couple areas I thought were lacking, so I searched for a planter that would fit this weird ledge near our garage.  I found the perfect one on Wayfair, it is like it was made for this spot. 
I planted some annual grasses in there.  The planter is lined with styrofoam too, so they will stay alive longer in the fall. 
Another new addition to this area is the little Ikea table and chair set that we bought in Minnesota.  We found it in the garage, and decided to just set it up on the drive as a makeshift patio while the kids ride and play on the sidewalk.  We don't park in the left side, so this works for us - and I think it looks cute!
 Rules, there are no rules here!
I also wanted to add a planter in the back by our deck.  Found this modern concrete-look composite one at Home Depot, love it!  I'm considering adding a couple more along the deck, electrical is buried there, so we can't plant in the ground. 
You might notice a hot mess to the right of this planter.  Yeah, that is a dumb ass project that I'm not sure what I was thinking when I did it.  We basically had a mud pit at the bottom of the deck, it made a huge mess on the wood and got walked into our house. 
We thought it would be cost-efficient to just remove the grass and some soil, and put in a little patch of paver base as a 'patio' until we did an actual patio.  I got to work on this silly plan. 
It went surprisingly fast, I got all this done in a few hours.  I planted some Stepables plants on the sides, but it turns out that paver base is very painful to walk on.  Duh! 
We made it work with an old door mat until I picked up some (but not enough) rubber pavers for the top at Menards.  It looks awful, that's for sure!  We intend to add a large paver patio next year, so this will hold us over until then. 
Other additions to the yard include a sweet raised garden bed that we made out of cedar.  I can't wait to share how we did it, it's been amazing to have endless amounts of cucumbers, and our corn is so majestic! 
We got a random apple tree from a friend who saw it posted for free online.  We aren't sure what kind it is, but we think it is an upright variety because of how the branches are pointed up.  We will see what happens!
So, things are doing well around the house and we've been lovingly watering the crap out of everything since we haven't had any significant rain for a long time.  Here are some yard shots, it's pretty fun to see how things are filling out. 
A close up of this year's planter in the front...I like it, but it's a little high maintenance and you can't see the Cordeline in the back anymore.  One day I'll get it perfect!
We found a new hibiscus that we couldn't pass up this year, so there will be another large plant taking up room in our house this winter.  Ugh, I just can't help myself!
We have a fun project happening soon, hopefully I can share it before another two months goes by!  Happy July!

10 comments:

  1. I remember when you wrote about the porch you were worried about the different tones of the wood, but you can't even tell, in the pictures anyway! How do you feel about it now that its weathered a bit?

    I was thinking the patio in the driveway was cute, but it could benefit from an outdoor rug to ground it a little better in the space. Just a thought :)
    I love people's garden photos. That planter is majestic!!

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    1. I don't know why it's saying I'm unknown... Its linked to my email address as usual, the name usually say Whitney Kerr! :)

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    2. Ha! I really need to get away from Blogger, but I've got enough website headache with my photo business site! That's a great idea about a rug under the little patio set, I'll give that a try. I do not mind the pine/cedar combo on the deck at ALL now, I just love it. It's adds depth and different texture in my opinion! Now I just have to keep it sealed each year. Boo!!

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  2. I think everything looks great!

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  3. Your garden is really filling in and maturing. Looks great.
    Sharon

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    1. Thanks, Sharon! I love watching everything fill in, I'm especially pleased with the daisies and coneflowers. My evergreen shrubs are being VERY pokey!

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  4. Your yard looks great. So jealous!

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara