Landscaping - 2009

This is the year for getting a lot of the big landscaping projects completed. We've been lucky that February & early March have been so dry (yes, dry-dry-dry...) because I can get out & do short bursts & build up a bit of stamina for the busy-ness of the upcoming summer....

A friend had a really good suggestion for me back in January while we were contemplating my huge list of outdoor projects. Work from the house outwards to the edges of the property. Get the house finished, planted & growing so that in a few years it will be further along & more enticing to visitors. I had it all backwards! I kept hacking away at the property perimeter - which is never ending - & becoming disheartened by the barren look around the house. I honestly doubt we'll ever have lush grass all around the house - not really what I want - but the clumps of rock & debris left-over from construction was driving me insane.

A good starting point for me was right outside the back door - my dad was out for a visit this past week, so he helped me with this bed. I started chucking all the rocks that were here under the deck to build up the back of the bed & we had this log that we hauled out of the front ditch - cut to fit & it's perfect! Just to the left of the photo is the hillside with lots of great top soil - so we just started to carve the hillside down to fill the bed. This photo is taken early in the day, but gets wonderful afternoon sun - the time of day in which we were working on it, but by 4 p.m. it does get rather chilly still. I just kept at it & planted it with a white hydrangea, an African fuschia (or sp: fuchsia), lavendar, gladiola & some other mystery bulbs that will identify themselves later this spring.

The next HUGE project - which has me grumbling lots - is the front flower bed under the deck. As you can see in this photo, I want to use the left-over log pieces of yellow cedar for the front support of the bed (our loft stairs are made with the rest of this wood). I need to tilt them on their edges - round side facing out - but need to get some rebar (metal rods) cut to pound into the ground to keep them in place. The slope needs to be cut with the dirt to be thrown back into the bed. The sides need to be shored up with some type of rock wall - no shortage of rocks here....

Well, one step at a time....

We ordered in some square lattice (the usual is a diamond shape) & yesterday Phil & I cut it to fit & stained it with Cheerful Morn - the same colour we used on the outdoor cedar trim & pine soffit. Now all the junk is hidden under the deck & it looks a bit more complete.

One step at a time.....