Ready for Everything to Die

Brian got 12 bags of recycled rubber "mulch" for the front landscaping last week, and we got another 8 bags today to try to round it out (in reality, we could probably use 4-6 more bags, but we will wait until spring for those).

Here's the final product:


Before and after pictures:


We'll have to replant most of it in the spring, and then move on to the other side of the steps (under the tree) and the back yard.

Landscaping Almost Done

We spent most of this morning making trips back and forth to Home Depot to get the landscaping done. First, we pulled the weeds and moved the irrigation out of the way, then headed to Home Depot for fill dirt.

I realize we could have gone to get fill dirt a million places, but it was cheap enough and convenient enough, so we just got bagged dirt (market topsoil replacement) at H.D.

First trip:

• 12 Bags of Generic "Topsoil Replacement" (1 cu.ft./bag)
  
• 6 Bags Miracle Grow Garden Soil (2 cu.ft./bag)
  

That barely put a dent in what we need.

Second trip:

• 12 Bags Miracle Grow Garden Soil

That did better and we got things leveled out, but still about 4" too shallow, so we needed more. We discussed the number to get - and since 12 bags fit nicely in the SUV we just settled on that.

Third trip:

• 12 Bags Miracle Grow Garden Soil
• Garden Rake
• Garden Weasel
• Ground Cover & Stakes
  

In all, that pretty much did it - we do realize we'll need to fill in more once things settle after winter, but overall, it looks pretty good. (We got a few compliments from the neighbors - even at this stage.)




Next up was to move all of the mums to one location - we'll fill in with something that blooms in Spring to ensure there's SOMETHING here.

Last, we went to City Floral and got a few things that should last the winter (we'll see - we're planting REALLY late) and a few sale items (the purple tall things in the back) that were $4.99 and will likely die in the next 6 weeks. But overall, it looks pretty good.


Only thing left to do is get the recycled rubber mulch replacement (instead of cedar or wood chips) and layer that in. That will have to wait until next weekend - unless Brian gets ambitious tomorrow while I'm traveling to Chi.

Project Update - Front Landscaping

We've been playing around with the front landscaping for a while now, but finally made some progress.  You can see the "before" pictures from a few weeks ago in this older post.

After a bit of scratching our heads, we read a few things online and then headed to Home Depot to get a few things.  We're not finished yet, but we have the new retaining wall up.

It's actually 3 stones high (18") but doesn't appear so due to the depth of the first stone behind the grass.  We're debating adding one more row to it for height, or waiting and putting in another row behind it (in the Spring, we're done for fall - or close to it) for a terraced effect - which might be kind of cool.  Then we can put our perrenials in the upper terrace and our annuals in the lower one - for a two-tiered effect.  Just have to make sure the irrigation works out.

We're having people over in a bit, so we're done for this weekend - but next weekend we have to back fill it with topsoil (which also helps us not have to worry as much about the horrible clay soil here in Colorado) and then move around the mums and yellow shrubs we have there now - no need for them to go to waste!  After that, we'll probably just plant some annuals so it looks nice until everything dies in the next month or two.

Flag irises blooming strong.

Looking good - will be great to spread them out before next season.

In the Garden

I'm told my life is like an HGTV show. Maybe we should have pitched it to them and gotten paid for all of this.

First update:
The flowers out front are Flag Irises. My aunt has them in her fish pond - they apparently love water. Once the fully bloom we should have a TON of them (judging from the dark purple peeking through the closed leaves). Mom says they bloom in the Spring and again in the Fall. And after that, we can cut them down with the weed whacker, dig them up, separate the bulbs and replant them over a greater surface area. Cool.

Second update:
We inherited a small strawberry patch in the back. After a few Miracle Gro applications, the things were standing straight up and had white flowers like CRAZY. The white flowers are disappearing and the strawberries are starting to form.



Will be a while before they're edible, but looks like we'll have a ton. This was one of the biggest ones.

The mystery flowers bloom.

Remember the mystery flowers I wrote about a couple of posts back?



Well, today when I got home from Charleston I noticed three of them bloomed! Here they are. They seem to be some kind of iris perhaps?

Landscape update.

The Gerbera daisies are dying. It just wasn't meant to be. On a positive note, these plants/flowers line the right side of our walk. Anyone know what they are? We'll likely have to thin them out at some point but they look kind of cool. Almost bird-of-paradise like.

More planting.

Another $240 at City Floral got us 3 new house plants, a hanging basket for the back yard and some tulips for the front. Not to mention a couple of really nice ceramic pots for the house plants.

We also took time today (it was 79º!) to plant the rest of the front yard and pot up some of the herbs in the back. Here's the updated photo of the front yard:



For a closer look:

The Gerber Daisies are in.


Ground cover is in (I'm told it will fill in like crazy) around the two trees and the border of the front landscaping.





And we've put two sets of tulips on each side of the steps.


We'll see how it all shapes up through the summer! And you can see for yourself if you come for a visit.

Shrubbery! (And more.)

One of our dissatisfactions has been the front of the house - whatever landscaping might have been there before was either dead - or had been abducted by aliens. And because the house is so tall and narrow, not having ANYTHING on the ground in front looks a bit weird.

So after we got the sprinkler system up and working (took a bit of trying, but it seems to be programmed right - we'll find out tomorrow night at 10pm when the front lawn is supposed to kick on) we went to City Floral and dropped $148 on some outside stuff.

Here's the progress so far:



To show you what we've done (it's not a lot yet) I'll break it down into 3 parts:

First, you'll notice 3 Emerald 'n Gold Euonymus bushes in front of the house. These will grow to no more than 3' wide x 4' tall and should fill out the background of the house well. The little purple flowers in the front were there already, as was any other miscellaneous foliage you see.


Second, we added two solar powered walkway lights (in brushed aluminum) to the front (there are 4 more in the back).


Last, we bought a lovely hanging plant - I don't recall what this is, but it smells wonderful. (You can also see our milk delivery cooler in the background).


We'll be planting the Gerber Daisy's and some ground cover out front next weekend - more pics to come, of course. We also have the makings of a nice herb garden for the back - just have to figure out what we're planting where (and how). It will probably be in pots for easy access from the kitchen.

Gas line installed.

The gas line was installed for the oven - though the oven isn't hooked up yet. They completed the line on Monday, the inspector came and gave us our permit (which means it's up to code) on Friday morning, and our plumber (who knew plumbers do gas lines!) will be back on Monday evening to hook up the oven.

Bird's Eye Views

These are from Microsoft live maps. I'm not usually one to push a product from MS, but hey - these are nice shots (and on Google Maps, the place is still dirt).


View from the East.


View from the North.


View from the South.


View from the West.