Week Two

From the day we got our keys we were either at our new house, at work, or sleeping.  Most of our eating 

has been done standing in the kitchen of the new house because we have no chairs and we are still unable to walk on our hardwood floors.  We could go out the side door around the back and enter the lounge thru the French Doors but we would rather just eat in the kitchen.  Now that the hardwoods are done and the deck is complete we decided to

focus our attention on the yard.  We really wanted to start out on the right foot with our neighbors so we felt it was important to clean up the mess.  My parents and Vince and Joy accomplished that the first weekend by cleaning out all of the woody and overgrown plants.  Next we had to come up with a plan.

After talking to the neighbor we discovered that the original design of the yard was beautiful.  Apparently a landscaping company came in over one weekend and put in all of the plants, statues, and flagstone.   The owners kept it up for about 3  months and then just let it all go.  We found plants that go for around $50 a piece at the nursery tucked away between overgrown evergreens.  There is so much flagstone in the yard that I believe we will be digging pieces out for the next 30 years.  

My dad has been a HUGE help in the landscaping of the yard.  He spent Saturday and Sunday at the house helping us level the yard, trim trees, install the brick next to the sidewalk, transplant, and shop at the nursery. Steve spent most of the day working on the flagstone path that will be under the Pergola and lead to the side of the house.  By the end of Saturday we were ready to put down fertilizer and seed for the yard.  We thought about laying sod but realized that we were in prime grass growing season and it was a lot cheeper to put down seed.  

TIP:  If you buy plants in the fall ask if they are going to be having a big sale.  I went on Sunday and bought about $90 worth of shrubs and as we were walking out to the car the girl tells me that in 2 weeks everything will be half off.  Thanks for telling me now!  

We feel good having the front yard almost complete.  We have had so many neighbors come up and say what an improvement it is.  You can actually see the front of the house now!