The beginning of getting a yard in shape!
by
Wendy B
When we moved into our house 3 years ago the banks were caving in because the seller had sprayed everything, leaving nothing but death...we started by planting forsythia, then I kept buying what ever looked good and popping it into the ground. Now what I have is overgrowth and weeds, no grass...but my hubby did build a lovely gazebo. My daughter is wanting to have a wedding in our yard in October...so THIS is the rush to create something worthy for her wedding! All suggestions and idea are wanted!
more hill...more plants mixed with weeds...more mulch needed I can't quite tell from this tiny picture but I think some of this area is where the dry rock bed will start...
a pond, a bridge...that will take care of some this view...I'd LOVE to be able to have pretty grass before the wedding but that is just not a reality. I have to focus on the gardens and the pathways...NEXT year we will have prettier grass.
as I think I've finally almost weeded most areas and am ready for mulch I uncover a hosta garden, begging me to remove weeds and ...ummm...yeah, add mulch!
more views of the steep hill we are working with...trying to figure out how to stop the mulch from washing down...
some of the plants are just so pretty that I can't bring myself to terrace and watch them die...so we are putting in some cut up railway ties to just sort of help stop the mulch from racing down the hillside!
The mess my yard is now, water draining from off the top of the mountan and taking out our drive way and one side of the circular bank
Friends question to me when looking at my yard... "How do you eat an elephant?"......."One bit at a time!" .....yep now my yard has been compared to eating an elephant.....hahahahahaha I LOVE it!
more mess...as my friend just pointed out I need to just pick one area and focus! I keep floating like a butterfly...to this flower then that one...it's rather exhausting. I must admit that I never felt sorry for a butterfly before...
tiny little hydrangea...how long do these take to grow?
I really hope and pray we can find order in this chaos!
This shot is to show how steep and where the water races downward...
The forsythia growing thicker around the side of the circle that has full sun...spreading like mad! I think I will have to remove other plants by Fall to just allow the forsythia to own the hill...
coming around the back of the gazebo I planted phlox and lavendar...there are elephant ears off to one side and whatever that tall grass is called...
I've started digging out a path around the gazebo so you can see the roses planted up against it...a LOT more path to dig out! My hands are blistered already, haha!
Coming lower into the yard, where the water from above has raced through. We are about to dig out and put in a small pond that the dry rock bed we will be adding from the top will drain into...then we will build a bridge over that.
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Oh how I'd love to do that! We will add a pathway and some steps coming down...but I highly doubt we can afford the flagstone...thinking for now it will just be wood and mulch. This is going to be a process over time though. I will have paths and ponds and lots of mulch this year...maybe next year we will get to add things like flagstone pathways!
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I can't quite tell when the hills and valleys are on your property. One thing that might help would be for you to figure out the way the water runs across the property and make swells so the water is controled. you can choose a fast growing grass that is tough, like rye grass. this will give you a green look. Rye grass grows pretty well from seed and doesn't need to be mowed often. Once toy have this established you can work of a larger plan for the garden. I think the gazebo is very lovely.
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