Flower bed project update

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know we recently purchased a house that needs some TLC. I have already shown some photos of upcoming yard projects.  Here is an update on one that is nearly completed--the flower bed between the front porch steps and the house.

Before--just a slope of hard packed dirt

In progress--I dug out rocks from another part of the yard that were inexplicably just left in the grass to mow around for the last 17 years

In progress--my son enjoyed this project because I unearthed a lot of worms.  He's 9.

After--a retaining wall I made with the rocks to keep the whole thing from washing away. I added a lot of compost to improve the soil. I hauled the extra dirt away to fill washed out trenches in another part of the yard.

After--one little lonely dwarf Alberta spruce planted for now.  I have another to put on the other side of the steps when I get that dug up. I will plant some flowers next spring--or possibly put in some pansies soon.

A few things to do . . .

We recently purchased a new house with .4 acres in what I describe as a somewhat "jungly" condition. One of our neighbors mentioned that the previous owner rarely ever mowed.  We have our work cut out for us, but we are looking forward to making improvements. We've been living either in the desert or in an apartment for the last 7 years and haven't even owned a mower in that time, so this is a big change for us.

Here are some "before" photos of upcoming projects:

This is what I call  "the scary slope"  in front of the house. It's got various types of trees, a lot of crown vetch, an assortment of weeds, some junipers and who knows what else is hidden in there? The neighborhood cats enjoy stalking prey here and I'm scared to know what exactly lives in the mess a few yards from my front door. This photo was taken after my husband went after it with a machete. It was spilling out over the concrete making the sidewalk impassable.

This is the official garden area. This is after I spent an hour or more digging out buried tomato cages and pruning back some blackberry canes.  It's still a tangled mess that needs many more hours of work.  I plan to make a compost bin in one corner and a small salad/herb garden and flower cutting garden in the rest--nothing too ambitious.

I call this one the "hidden spruce."  Our yard slopes up in back so that this beautiful blue spruce could be seen from the back of the house nearly at eye level if the scrub oak wasn't in the way. It will be trimmed back a little. My husband already trimmed back some of the small branches.

And this is the front door with a patch of eroding dirt between the sidewalk and the garage and a patch of weeds on the other side. I'm thinking that a smallish conical tree with blue-green foliage on either side would be nice to set off the entrance. I also want to improve the curb appeal by sinking flagstones into the sod in front of the picture window to make a patio seating area to take advantage of the splendid mountain views from there.

The view.  No need to improve that.

Sue

Rose of Sharon

 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Song of Solomon 2:1

As I have mentioned before, we have a new house with a big yard. We have an entire hedge of Rose of Sharon and a few others scattered around. They grow tall and make a nice visual barrier between us and the street. Rose of Sharon are a type of hibiscus. The ones we have are a pink doubled flower variety that looks much more like a rose flower than the single flowered type. They are blooming right now in August and should continue through September.

This bee was very busily wedging himself between the petals.

Just can't get enough.

I love the mountain view.

Sue