A Little Bit of Yard Work Does Wonders

I might actually enjoy yard work if it wasn’t for the weeds. The ones that you pull and they keep coming back. Except now they are larger and they grow faster and I’m pretty sure they are mocking me.

After a summer of battling the weeds in our front flowerbeds, I decided it was time to take more drastic measures.

And, no, that would not be hiring a landscape maintenance company. (Although, that would really, really, really make my day.)

I decided it was time to try laying down landscape fabric. (There is no “before” picture. It was too depressing.)

For those of you with a green thumb, avert your eyes.

I spent a fair amount of time procrastinating on pulling my ever-growing and out-of-hand weeds by researching the pros and cons of landscape fabric.

I determined it was worth a try for one major reason: I’m not planning on planting anything new in this area anytime in the near or distant future.

Remember, I’m the lady who can’t even handle the plants she does have.

I raked the old pine straw out of the beds and did a pretty thorough (for me) job of weeding before I laid down the landscape fabric. The hardest part of this whole project was actually just getting started. HA! How’s that for some irony?

Even with my not-so-great grass and my didn’t-quite-make-it-through-summer flower pots, it looks so much better.

Pretend I cleaned off my front porch for you too, okay?

I don’t know the name of these bushes growing in our flower beds, but they are all over our property and they are BEASTS with crazy tree-like roots. So, if the landscape fabric prevents the soil in this area from getting all of its nutrients, I’m okay with that because these plants need to slow down.

I went against southern tradition and did not reinstall pine straw as a flowerbed covering. I’m not a fan of the stuff. It looks nice and fluffy for about a week, but once it settles, it’s not so great. And forget about trying to rake leaves out of it.

I know pinestraw is plentiful in the South and therefore, more economical, but I’m still not convinced of its superiority.

I also put my children’s rock collection to good use near the down spouts. I think there might even be a rock in here from our cousins in Alaska.

While I was working on the front flower beds this weekend, Handy Hubby was clearing brush behind the house.

That semi-circle of dirt you see around the patch of ivy used to be filled with 8-foot high bushes that blocked our view. Slowly, but surely we are clearing this patch of land so we can see the lake better. (I was standing on our back patio area when I took this picture.)

We still have a solid 3 or more days of brush clearing left before we get to the wood chipping portion of this project. At least, right now, that’s how we plan to dispose of all of the brush. Oh, and by “we” I mean Handy Husband. Last weekend I helped out and my legs are still covered in bites, which grew into welts. Even the parts of my legs that were fully covered were not safe. I thought they were mosquito bites, but between me and Google, I’m pretty sure they are chigger bites. Not cool.

While mommy and daddy were working in the yard, our supervisors were watching from their play area which is just to the right of where we are clearing brush.

By the way, would somebody please come and adjust that red birdhouse? Quite a few birdhouses were here when we moved in and this one hasn’t bothered me until I snapped a picture and realized it was crooked. *twitch, twitch*

When the kids want to conduct a thorough quality inspection, they do a little tree climbing.

They can’t wait for the water level to come up again. As if climbing out over this portion of the water isn’t exciting enough!

I am so happy and thankful that we can put our stamp on this little piece of earth.

My realistic self is going to sit back now and enjoy the 5 minutes of weed-free flowerbeds that I’ll probably get before Mother Nature does her thing and drops some leaves or a weed finds it way through. It’s only a matter of time…

Gardening might not be my thing, but I do like to share my projects! Check these out:

DIY Geometric Mirror Using Children’s Blocks

IKEA Lamp Hack

Display Shelf From a Silverware Tray

Not Your Usual Lego Table