Landscaping 101

Well...this post is slightly overdue!  In fact, I started to write this post back in April and so many other fun things were happening that I put it on the back burner and then realized it's the middle of October and still hadn't gotten to it!  Oops!!!  But...better late than never I suppose!

So, let me tell you all about our fun landscaping project that we conquered back in April.  And of course when I say we, I really mean Cody!  I was good moral support through the process.  But, I didn't lay a finger on any of the digging, planting, etc. that goes into landscaping.  I did, however, put my two sense in on the plants and trees that we planted and how the design of the landscaping would be.  All the credit goes to Cody though!  He did an amazing job with the whole project.  And...what's so awesome about it is that he had never really done any kind of landscaping like this before.  So, I was extremely impressed with how good of a job he did and how he turned our backyard from blah into something that we enjoy looking at!

Our backyard was a blank slate.  There was nothing...and I mean NOTHING out there.  Except of course a few bare patches from where the dogs run and play!  The people that lived in our house before us had two kids and they had one of those ginormous playground/swing sets that every little kid dreams about having!  When they moved, they took it with them and we suddenly realized how bare our backyard was.  This was our third year to live in the house, so you can see how important getting to the backyard was.  Oh...and expensive!  Geez...who ever knew that plants could add up to cost so much!  Anyways, we thought that having a triangle shaped, bare backyard would work to our advantage.  But, what we began to realize is that it made it harder (and more expensive) because we had to start from scratch.  Like I said, neither one of us had ever done any landscaping.  And we certainly weren't going to pay a company to come in and do it for three times the cost of what we could do ourselves.  So, I started "Googling" landscaping ideas and buying magazines trying to find the best plan for our backyard.  We also had to be careful of the plants and trees that we bought because of the dogs.  Obviously we couldn't get anything that would harm them, or even entice them to go over and chew/dig it up.

In March, I found this program online that you could use to design any landscaping project.  It was free for the first three plans and then after that you had to pay.  We had talked about what we wanted to do for so long, that I wound up only using one of those free trial plans.  So, I added the plants, trees, flowerbeds, and two little areas to go on either side of our porch to the plan and showed Cody.  He liked it and so on we went to Lowe's.  We bought two trees, two rose bushes, 25 (yes 25!) shrubs, one giant decorative pot, one little bench for a sitting area, 95 (yes 95!) bags of lava rocks, some paver stones, sand, green edging, black tarp to keep the weeds out (yeah right!),a shovel, and some other tools that I have no idea what they are or if we will ever use again.  Yep...it was a lot of stuff!  We had to put this massive load of stuff onto the back of a trailer and drive about 25 miles an hour home from Lowe's.  Then, the process began.  Cody started working on the very next day by spray painting where the edging would go and then started digging.  After that, he sprayed weed and grass killer so that we wouldn't have any grass or weeds come up through the black tarp.  We were a little ignorant on this part.  Or...maybe we were just dreaming that once we sprayed the area, put the tarp down, and then the lava rocks over that we wouldn't have anything growing up through it all.  Sadly we were mistaken.  It's still a lot of work to de-weed that area!  I did it once...never again!  I'll clean a house, do laundry, and cook all day long, every day before I'll ever pull another weed!  I might not much of a yard work kinda girl.  Hints why I stood out in the middle of the back yard and talked to him or sat on the porch and played fetch with the dogs while he did all the work.  I was moral support...remember?!?!?  Anyways, the landscaping that he did looks amazing and we actually enjoy going out in the backyard and sitting on the porch with the dogs now.  It's also nice that we can open the blinds in our living room and kitchen that look out the the backyard and see pretty plants and trees instead of bare grass and a fence!  Cody did such a good job, I'm a pretty lucky girl to have him as my hubby!!!

BEFORE :-(

The pot in this picture is from Del Rio.  We got two of them and one other smaller one that lays on it's side.  Cody's sister's family lives there so we made a little shopping trip to get these for whenever we finally got around to landscaping the backyard.

All I have to say is yuck!!!  Oh...and we still need to stain the fence...oops!

The other side of the porch and the picture of the little pot that lays on it's side.  We still aren't sure what to do with this or where to put it...but it's cute!

We also bought a chiminea.  We haven't used that either...but we also haven't bought new patio furniture.  So, we don't have anything to sit on to enjoy the chiminea...maybe that will be something we get in the spring!

Plain Jane :-( 

Just another before picture...

You can really tell that the dogs run and play through here!

Some of this is what Cody did for the corners where we put the pots on either side of the porch.  The other part that is dug up was done by...you guessed it..the doggies!

The other side of the porch where we put one of those pots from Del Rio.  I don't think I actually took an after picture of these...but they sure do look good!

Last before picture!

AFTER!!!

This poor little tree in this picture actually died :-(  Trigger got a hold of it right after it was planted and chewed up the bark so bad that it didn't make it.  But...it will be replaced when spring rolls around!

Our little sitting area.  The plan was to use this to play fetch with the dogs.  I think we've used it a few times...but it makes the yard look pretty!

This tree actually looks AWESOME right now!  Both the trees we bought are Japanese Plum trees, they have beautiful purple leaves.  But this one has grown and developed and is full of pretty leaves!

I love this big decorative pot!  It's different and adds character to the backyard.  Most of the plants look really good and have grown a lot.  Some have died because of how hot it was this summer, but we'll replace those along with the one tree that died.  The rose bushes also have bloomed and are amazingly beautiful.  The color of the roses is this beautiful coral color.  Our backyard is so pretty now...and I think the babies like it too!