We were SO excited to find a house that was not only close to easy travel routes, but had a great yard. Although we had hoped to get the house that was on the 21 acres of land, we were thrilled for this little half acre to call our own.
A little history we have learned from the former owner and the neighbors. The previous owners are the ones that built this house back in 1970, and the wife LOVED to “putter here and there in the yard”. The Mr. explained that the workshop was his space, the rest he did whatever needed to keep the mrs. happy. Well, the woman LOVED flowers. Flowering trees, flowering bushes, flower plants of all sorts. All sorts ALL over the yard.
Sadly, she passed away a few years ago, and since the Mr had already handed the family store down to the daughter, he felt it was time to go back to the family farm and “be useful” till he too “kicks it.” LOL.
Now, will ALL the wonderful plants and flowers, you might wonder as to my project that is growing along with all the stuff in my yard. Well, 2 years of a yard kept tidy for selling is NOT the same as one kept up with for maintenance. I’m talking weeding, THINNING OUT of ever multiplying flower bulbs, trimming or taming the over grown bushes, cleaning up pine needles that are FAR more abundant than can even be good for mulching.
Did you catch the first part??
This place was not lived in for TWO YEARS! While there was a great yard service that kept the yard mowed and cleaned, and branches that fell were always cleaned up, and the driveway blown free of debris, we saw the place in FULL BLOOM almost a year ago, and I was already certain the plants and I were going to be challenging towards one another.
I SO want to respect the hard work and memory of the Mrs. that blessed this house for the over 35 years, as I slowly make my own mark. I want to keep all the plants I can, because to just be in a hurry to tear anything out is serious cash down the drain. I was SO afraid to pull up anything that looked dead, unsure as to what would spring back to life. Thankfully, a couple of friends helped teach me a few things, and I was able to do some flower garden cleansing.
Here is the space by our driveway & back sidewalk.
Before the removal of unknown dead scraggly plants. This photo really doesn’t do justice to the amount of THORNY rose bush and whatever plant thingies I had to cut back and thin out. Needless to say, my work gloves were well loved, but the part only protected by my jeans and shirtsleeves, not so much.
After clean up . . .
and leaving the “green” behind, and discovering that under a lot of those leaves was a big pile of sand. Not anthill sand, but sandbox sand. I think my husband poured it there when we moved in, but no one really remembers. I did my best to spread it out in hopes it’ll soon become part of the soil, not just a topical eyesore).
Now we have had enough light rain the rose bushes are sprouting new leaves, and hopefully soon I’ll be able to post pictures with lots of flowers. Oh, and as if I need to add to my project list, all, I mean ALL of the bricks bordering the garden as well as creating the sidewalk NEED to be removed. They are crumbling and sinking in some areas at a rate that they will soon be of real concern as trip hazards. Not to mention, I need to sort out something so I can improve the drainage to move aWAY from the house. We get large, ankle deep puddles right there at the close sidewalk in the lower edge of the photo.
(here’s another shot I found)
Next:
The Side Yard along the most rear part of the driveway.
this 4 – 5 ft wide strip along the left side of our driveway extension and detached garage is pretty much over grown unknown. Time to tame the beast!
The Befores and The AFTERS
<-- I’m Still not really sure if this vine is alive, or even what kind of vine it is, but I trimmed it and kept it. Guess we’ll see.
Cutting this bush down to size was an absolute MUST. That sucker was wild in windstorms. Made us think of the Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter movies.
I forgot to get a before picture. 
See that tree in the middle, to the left of the white post with the mailbox.
Well, that tree drops these
evil little things all over the place.
After a lot of raking and sweeping, this is the end result of this end of our property. (from the street end of the driveway) It really is nice to come home to this. Now, if only I could find a way to NOT have to clean up and clear out those spikey balls on a regular basis? *sigh … oh well. At least they are OUR spikey balls in OUR driveway 
.
Zac is doing great. Energetic as always, and loving school. He just got over being sick and realized that YES it IS possible to miss being at school. Alot of his down time he likes to spend outside enjoying roaming around the back yard. Our next door neighbor had her HUGE pine tree cut down, and we let them drop it onto our yard so we could keep it for the wood. Well, we've gotten a pretty good chunk of it cut off and started to stack, but it's a slower project than I'd hoped for. Zacky is THRILLED to have all the huge chunks of tree as well as the long part still around the yard. He climbs and leaps and makes forts or hides from the dogs. If the warm weather comes back it's going to get harder and harder to get him back inside for bedtime. JUST the way childhood SHOULD be. :o) I do have to say, as much as the kids love living where we don't have to experience tons of snow, it's nice to get just a little once a year. We were teased with the possibility a few times, and when it actually happened, it was HUGE flakes and great packing snow. Zac wasn't about to pass up the chance to make a couple of snowmen. He actually said that the first was Dad, and the second was Mom. We just got a huge kick out of watching the "dad" melt over the next week of really warm weather. There were so many pine needles rolled into the snowballs, that it was insulated well enough to keep the 
