Working on the Outside

We moved in to this house a year ago, February. The house had been empty for over a year before we moved in and the outside had not been maintained. Last year, we basically did major leaf clean-up and mowed. In the fall, we added gutter guards on the back of the house (which were a life saver). This spring, is the first time we have tried to tackle the bushes, trees, weeds, etc.

We tackled this hedge first. You can see from the arrows how the cut vs. un-cut looks. I didn’t realize how crazy the hedge had become. The hedge is probably about thirty feet long and the trimming took about half an hour. Not bad for some major results.

Next on the list, was more leaf cleaning. I counted the other day and we have over twenty trees in our yard alone and that doesn’t count any of the neighbor’s that hang over in our yard. To say that the leaves are out of control is a major understatement. When we were cleaning the leaves out last week, we found some large, rock stepping stones that lead to the back yard. I guess we never cleaned the leaves good enough last summer to find them. They were a nice surprise.

I mentioned a few weeks’ ago that Luke was on a business trip. Well, I surprised him with having three truck loads of rock shoveled along the front of our yard.

Here is the before:

My Grandpa took me to get the rock loads. I shoveled and he raked them in to place. What a huge difference it made.

After:

Our list for the outside is as never-ending as the inside.

This year we hope to accomplish:

– Getting our fountain on the back porch to work (need a solar pump?)

– Adding mulch to our flower beds

– Continue to take out dead branches and plants (I think we have about 8 dead bushes to go)

– Beautify the front door area (or start on it) (DIY Topiary?)

– Make our back patio more inviting

– Finish with the gutter guards before Fall

– Make the playset safer by adding dirt/grass to level

I’ll keep you updated as we go along!