Yard Work

Remember when our backyard looked like this?

Well, Patrick has been super busy!  As mentioned before, he started by weed-eating the entire lawn.  Then he put out some weed & feed.  Since then, he's been watering daily & has put out more weed & feed.  And the lawn began improving!

I cleared out the back corner where vines had taken over the irises & rose bush.  We're trying to decide whether to keep the back corner bed or just let the lawn take it over.

Patrick even surprised me on a Friday afternoon by clearing out one of the two back beds!

Remember that the front yard looked like this?

We spent an evening chopping down shrubs & digging up the front beds.

The shrub roots proved a little stronger/deeper than expected, so we had to enlist a little help from a friend with a truck.

And now the front bed is completely cleared out & ready for planting!!!

Now that the beds are clear out, we can finish up the to-do list:
            1.  Till up beds
            2.  Put out edging
            3.  Fill in with compost dirt
            4.  Plant!

Cleaning Up Outside

We've done some major work on the yard & exterior in the last few weeks.  It's amazing what a difference a little yard work can make!

Patrick used Jomax House Cleaner & Mildew Killer to clean the siding.  Here's the before & after shots.

Jomax is super easy to use.  He just mixed up the solution of Jomax & water in a sprayer.  It was applied to the siding, then rinsed off.  Presto!  Mildew was gone & the siding looked like new!

He also got after the yard itself... Remember this?

The whole yard & flower beds were covered in several inches of weeds.  You couldn't even see the grass.  It was awful!!!  Patrick spent hours weed-eating the whole yard & into the beds.  He even found a golf club buried under all the weeds!

Now the yard is cleared out & the grass is beginning to come in.  Patrick put out some Weed & Feed to help it along.

Cassie & Cat are loving the yard!  Cat has even figure out how to get onto the fence.  It took him a little while to figure out how to get down, but he managed.

As for me, I planted some tomatoes & rosemary.  I also got some potted geraniums & dianthus, just to add a little color.  Once the beds are completely cleared out of bushes we'll start planting some azaleas.