Before & After

Today’s post is all about the befores and the afters…enjoy!

This before is a year ago, Spring showers and all that jazz, flooding our front walk.  We’ve had drainage issues for a long time and they’ve only gotten worse over the years.  Having to take your dogs out through the garage every single time it rains because the pond stays for a day or so after and the mud lasts longer than that, well it was time to fix it, plus it was UG-LY!  The constant ponding of water and flooding have destroyed the front area, you can still see the mud spot right at the front edge of the walk.  Oh and the poor grass, doesn’t stand a chance.  It’s also not a secret that I HATE those landscape timbers!

Ready for the after?

How’s that for a improvement! I wish I could say that we did this on our own, but the only credit I can take is for the paver choice, the wall choice and the landscaper choice!  Acer Landscaping & Nursery did all the hard manual labor and I love them!  Nick is the best ever and he will be coming back in the fall to do some more work for us and if I have my way even before that!!

In addition to the pavers, they did some grading to help direct any water and seeded this area for grass. It looks so much better already!
Before my flower bed with those heinous landscape timbers. (No they didn’t change the beds any, we cut those hollies down due to deer damage)


After with this beautiful fieldstone wall!  This new wall just fits me and my style so much better.  I want every bed that is next to the house to have this as it’s edge!  I just LOVE it!!!
Before (and this isn’t the most recent look!) this was a bushy mess of stinky boxwoods and an over grown Japanese holly.  I love evergreens, but this thing had made it’s way into the drive and had gotten so woody that there wasn’t much evergreen to it!

I know this ‘after’ doesn’t look like much, but here’s the kicker, they moved MY plants for me!  The twiggy shrub to the back is a Kousa Dogwood that grew on it’s own far to close to my deck and it needed a new home.  The arching shrub is a poorly pruned (last years fiasco in gardening help) Spirea that needed a new home with more sun.  The little shrub there is a lily of the valley shrub (pieris japonica) that will grow up and be a medium size evergreen.  I’ll be adding mulch, spring bulbs and some other perennials.

Before the poor lopsided Christmas tree that Randy’s parents planted.  It wasn’t their fault that it grew lopsided, the trees behind it blocked all the sun and so it never filled out on the back.  As it got taller it looked worse and worse.  Randy cut it down a while ago and we had a big bare patch there.


The after shows Randy’s rock.  Another lily of the valley shrub (pieris japonica), and 3 shrubs of mine that they moved.  A French lilac and 2 Crepe Myrtles.  I’ll do the same here with spring bulbs, perennials and mulch.  Our poor dogwood is struggling, so I’m thinking of getting a pink one to plant near it to take ever when it finally succumbs.  Anything that gets planted in the two new spots is going to be deer PROOF!

I don’t like plastic edging, this has been here since we moved in.  It was time for it to go and since I had some leftover from the projects that were just completed, I went to work so this is the before.
Here’s the after.

I like this so much better, I love rocks, boulders, fieldstone as edging and accents!
So there you have it!  Things they are improving around here and I’m really excited about that!!!

Turning dreams into reality..

It’s been a long time getting to this point.  The deer fence is making it’s way around the yard slowly.  We’ve completed two sides that run in the woods, we’ve got the main stretch along the back and the two pieces that go to the house left.

As you can see, it’s virtually invisible, the poles stand out and if you look closely you can see the white warning flags tied to the fence, they almost look like they are floating.
I can’t begin to explain my excitement, maybe it’s a gardeners thing I don’t know, but for me it’s like I’m starting all over again.  No more worrying about the deer eating something, no more not planting flowers because the deer will just eat them.  No more worrying that every step I take is going to land my foot in a pile of deer poop!  No more stinky sprays, hanging garlic clips or bars of soap dangling about in bags and maybe just maybe, no more deer ticks frolicking about in my flower beds, waiting for me to stop and pull weeds.  I got so excited at the prospect of being able to plant tulips, funny to some, but I’ve not had them since we moved here, munch, munch, munch.
The planning is nonstop in my flower loving brain, visions of lush border gardens, with dappled sunlight and a gentle breeze dance about.  I see azaleas in bloom, hollies loaded with bright red berries for the birds and lush full hosta illuminating a shady corner.  A meandering path that flows through the secret side of the garden, a quiet spot full of flowers reminds me of my long lost pets, St Francis stands watch here, he’s been waiting for a while now.
Next to a log a grove of native ferns and wild flowers delight in the early spring.  Birds nest in the trees, bees feast on the blooms of various flowers, chipmunks scurry about in the leaf mulch gathering acorns…..

To get to this place, it’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of planning and a lot of little steps.  Some have already been taken, the deer fencing, the constant pulling of honeysuckle and wineberry vines.  Others are in the near future, a chipper to shred leaves and sticks into a beautiful, nutrient rich mulch.  A pullbear to rip the weed trees and Japanese barberry from the ground.  The plotting of the paths and the careful transplanting of dozens of plants to the right locations.  All within reach, one step at a time, my dreams are becoming reality and I couldn’t be more excited!

Evergreens make good neighbors..

There was a time when we couldn’t see our neighbors houses.  It was a good time.  It gave us a sense of privacy and made us feel like we were far, far away without being far, far away.  Recently one of our neighbors cut down all the evergreens that shielded our view of her house.  It was a shocking site and while we welcomed the additional sunlight it brought into our yard, we weren’t thrilled with the loss of the ‘screen’.  So after talking about options and deciding that moving wasn’t one of them, we set out to find someone that could build us a new ‘screen’ of evergreens.
If you know me, you know that I am picky and you know that as a gardener I’m not going to plant something invasive, something that doesn’t offer shelter and or food to wildlife, something that is just all wrong for the landscape and of course something that the deer won’t eat.  Two separate ‘landscapers’ (there should be a legal definition of that word!) suggested arborvitae.  Um.. really?  Next.  That is where Nick with Acer Landscaping & Nursery came in. After walking and talking with him I KNEW without a doubt he was the ONE.  He knew his plants and he understood what I was about and what I wanted, he wasn’t trying to sell me anything that I didn’t need which was very refreshing.
We developed a plan and started the process and in addition to our screen signed him on for a long term relationship!

He brought us 5 Blue spruce from his Christmas tree farm!  I’m not sure I could be happier.  He was going to get us some hollies as well but he didn’t have any that were tall enough.  We found someone to get the hollies from and he had his crew dig the holes for us.  Our screen is on its way now and we are very happy with the end result.  Between these evergreens and the deer fence which will allow for other shrubs to be planted, we are that much closer to reclaiming our private sanctuary once again!

Weekend Happenings..

While it wasn’t a balmy 70 or 80 out this weekend (thankfully!) we did spend it working on two of our current projects.
Randy worked himself sore hammering in sleeves, hauling gravel and concrete and setting the post for the deer fence in place.


What you don’t see very well is that the top and bottom monofilament lines are in place as well.  We are getting there, it’s a slow process but it’s coming together.  While meandering around helping with little things I discovered a few wildflowers coming up on their own in the woods, lucky for me they are on the right side of the fence!


While he worked on things I couldn’t help with (even though I did try my hand at pounding in the sleeves with the sledge hammer!) I worked on finishing up some mulching in the bee area and the transplanting of some Spring flowers to their new home under the maple tree.

I also finished cleaning out the rest of the garden beds, spent some time cutting down briars, honeysuckle and dog rose. 

A gardeners weeding is never done…


Happy Easter!

Deery Me…

We did not get as far as I wanted, but in all honesty I want it all installed in a day.  So Randy getting as far as he did is a blessing and a start!

This is a gate opening, it’s not set yet, just standing in the holes Randy dug, by hand, by the way.  That gate will give us access to the woods for whatever reason we may need it. 

Randy put the sleeves down every 12’ they will be driven into the ground and a post will go in them.  It doesn’t look like a lot but this is the longest span of fencing.  He also wanted to start with this section so we could get the hang of installation.
While he was doing that I was cleaning up around various plants.

I removed the leaves from the struggling yellow bush (struggling because the deer keep eating it!). 

I pulled all the honeysuckle and weeds off the berm for years I’ve admired the ferns on it, I want to give them a chance to really shine and since this will be in the fenced area I also see some potential for using it!

I found some native ferns buried under the leaves close to the fence line, native is also a great find!

I did a major rake and rip out all along this edge.  All the suckers from the Carolina Allspice, the dog rose and wine berries were removed.

The reason is that from here to the bee area is going to become part of my planting area.  I hope!

April First…

I went out to let Cooper gallivant for a while in the sun.  It was so pretty out I came back in and got my camera to take a few pictures of some of my Spring flowers in bloom.

Of course I had to get a couple of pictures of Cooper!

I was walking around the yard when I noticed something interesting, a lot of activity at the beehives. In case anyone ever wanted to know, this is what it looks like when an empty hive is being robbed out.

Not too much different from what a happy hive looks like right?  Well here let me show you something else;

See those specks all over the front, that the stolen goods being brought out.  It’s my own fault for not having closed it off before now.  The last time I checked it was when I realized my colony was gone and I haven’t been back since.  Now that it’s warm, these bees that are looking for food wherever they can find it, found basically fast food and are tearing the comb apart to get to it.  So tonight I’ll be closing that up for sure! 
Happy April 1st…no fooling!

Think warm thoughts…

What do you get with a bored man, snow and artic cold air?

Randy got a Big Green Egg (for those that don’t know what that it, it’s a big green ceramic cooker) for his birthday last year and I will be the first to admit that food cooked on the BGE is the juiciest, most flavor packed food I’ve ever had from a grill! 

The research began and Randy decided to build an outdoor ‘kitchen’ area for two BGE’s.  He will have the large for cooking turkey or other large items or amounts of food and a medium to use when it’s just us.

So here are the bones, the two sections on either end are for the eggs.

The middle piece gets this cabinet and drawer.

When it gets warmer, these frames will get concrete backer board on them, then a counter top of something like granite or soapstone.  We will cover the backer board with stone or tiles.

So as we sit watching it snow, we can’t help but think warm thoughts…