Landscaping ~ Spring 2017

May 12, 2017

Landscaping ~ Spring 2017

Last year was the first year that landscaping was mine and my fiancé’s responsibility. Everything was super overgrown when we moved into our house and we really had our work cut out for us. Although it’s completely different content than what I usually post, that blog went over really well and gained a ton of momentum on Pinterest. When you’re working on something that takes a few weeks to complete, it’s hard to notice a difference from where you started and I loved having those pictures to look back on and compare. As Spring rolled around this year, we had a lot to take care of and I documented the whole process again!

Before: We did a pretty good job of maintaining the yard throughout the year, but things definitely died over the winter. There are quite a few weeds growing out of the rocks that need to be pulled around the pool and plants that need to be trimmed. Thankfully, the ladder was fine and we didn’t have to replace it this year. The pool, on the other hand, was disgusting. We did decide to drain it over the winter, so it definitely needed to be scrubbed and vacuumed because we also never got around to covering it.

After: All of the weeds are pulled and the plants are trimmed back some. We got the pool completely scrubbed and filled back up, so now it’s ready to go. The water is still a little cold, though, so I won’t be getting in any time soon. I love waking up and looking out my window to see everything green and manicured again.

Before: There are no words to describe how much I can’t stand monkey grass. I think it looks nice and all...sometimes. But it is a lot of work to maintain. It grows extremely fast and I just don’t feel like dealing with that. We’ve been having a lot of warm weather, so the roses are already starting to come in. And obviously, I need to dig another hole for my hose stand that is currently just leaning against the house.

After: The biggest task that we went through with our yard this year was ripping up all the monkey grass and mulch, and replacing it with white marble chips. That is something we’ve been wanting to do, but had enough to take care of last year. I’m so over the mulch and all of its issues, so we took the time to replace it all this year. I’m loving it!!

Before: The hammock got taken down during the winter because it was just collecting dirt and leaves. This bush doesn’t look too bad, but it could use some trimming up. Along with the monkey grass. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with that rose bush, though, and why it’s leaning like it is. The lemongrass that I had in pots to the right of this section died during a random freeze one night, so I have those in a more lighted area of the yard for now hoping that they’ll come back.

After: The hammock is cleaned and put back up, all the monkey grass and mulch was ripped out of this section and replaced with the marble chips. One of my lemongrass plants has started to come back, so I put it back in its spot along with a few other potted plants at the moment. I have mint, cilantro, and an avocado tree. Hopefully the other lemongrass will perk back up, right now I still have it in the middle of the yard getting more sun.

Before: There’s the lemongrass! You can see which one has started coming back and which one just looks really sad. The two hanging flowers on the fence also died during that random freeze and I already replaced those about a month ago since the weather has been so nice. The Japanese Maple tree looks so cool when it comes in with its red leaves, although it’s completely opposite of every other tree.

After: The red flowers in the hanging planters are impatiens and I love how much they perk up. They’re probably my most favorite flower just because of how easy they are to maintain. They do require a lot of water, especially when placed in the sun. The one on the left doesn’t get as much sun as the one on the right and you can see how much bigger it’s gotten. And the Japanese Maple has started growing more green leaves.

Before: Woah, this one is super overgrown. This is the one Jacob least likes trimming up because the leaves are sharp and it’s hard for him to reach the back corner. Thankfully, it’s not as overgrown as it was last year, but it’s still a pretty big eyesore right now.

After: The bush is trimmed up as much as it can be. Like I said, that back corner is pretty difficult to reach but I don’t mind because I don’t think it’s really that noticeable. It’s much better than it was before and that’s what matters.

Before: This side of the house actually doesn’t look that bad! The bushes aren’t as overgrown as the others and for some weird reason, the mulch still looks pretty red. That was one very annoying thing after last year’s landscaping, the mulch had lost most of its color almost six months after replacing it. And that’s exactly why we switched it all out for rocks this year! Never again, mulch. Never again.

After: There wasn’t much to do on this side because there was no monkey grass and the bushes were only slightly overgrown. So we just picked up the mulch and replaced it all with the rocks. It looks so much brighter now! I can’t even begin to think about how many bags we went through of the Vigoro White Marble Chips or how many trips we made to Home Depot to get more. One bag weighed 50 pounds!

Before: The garden looked horrible about two months ago, let me tell you! We had somewhat good luck with what we planted last year, but we were a little too late in the year starting with seeds. So this year, we started a little earlier and bought plants that were already established. We got a lot of different kinds of lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, onions, broccoli, green onions, cilantro, parsley, and mint.

After: We don’t have any sprinklers in our yard and because it rains so much, we usually don’t have a problem. But lately the grass has been needing a little more love, so we’ve been watering it with a cheap sprinkler we found at Walmart. It’s starting to grow back and get a better color to it. The vegetables in the garden are growing bigger and we replaced our two hibiscus plants that both died over the winter. This year we got peach hibiscus and they are gorgeous!!

Before: There’s not much in this section, but I can definitely tell that things are overgrown. Still not as bad as other areas in the yard, though. Just a few things to take care of here and we should be fine.

After: Monkey grass is gone, mulch is thrown away, and the rocks are in. This is the very first section we did with the rocks and I can see that we do have a few blackberry vines growing through the rocks already, so we’ll need to spray those.

Before: Compared to last year, it actually doesn’t look that bad. But when I know how good it can look, it’s pretty desperate for some help. First things first, look at all that disgusting monkey grass. Ugh!! I could not wait for this to be gone! You can’t even see that there’s anything else there because the monkey grass just covers everything. Not to mention that all my flowers from last year got burned by the sun in the front triangle section, so now it’s just all dirt minus the seasonal lilies that are growing in again.

After: So much better!! I cannot even begin to explain how nice it has been not having that monkey grass and mulch anymore. I can finally walk out of my front door without being slapped in the face by a million mosquitos or having to worry about stepping on palmetto bugs. Thank goodness! And because there’s no monkey grass, it looks so much bigger too. In the front triangle section, I decided to go with succulents this year. I know they can take the heat and sun better, and I thought it’d look perfect with the marble chips. Those lilies are still working their way through!

Before: The bushes by that window have been dead since we moved in and as much as I would like to replace it with something else, that’s going to be a lot of work. Those roots are thick! There’s a few leaves here and there on the bush, but most of the green you see on it is annoying blackberry vines that will not go away. That sounds nice to have at first, until you realize that the vine is prickly and it grows faster than the monkey grass does. So many weeds, you can’t even see the mulch!

After: Aside from the dead bushes that still drive me nuts, it looks totally different. Again, without the monkey grass it makes it look a lot bigger. The rocks will also make it really easy to spray for bugs and weeds. I’m so happy we took the time to upgrade, now we’ll never have to do it again. Well, maybe not “never” but it will be quite a while - unlike mulch.

Although I really loved how last year’s landscaping turned out, I’m so in love with what we did this year too. It will be much less maintenance and I’m obsessed with the way the white marble chips contrast against the dark red brick. Without the monkey grass and mulch housing all the bugs, I will definitely be spending more time outside enjoying all the hardwork Jacob did. ♥

I hope you enjoyed this post! Did you do any Spring landscaping this year? Let me know what your favorite flower is in the comments section below!