Saturday morning we made our weekly (at least) trip to Lowe's after breakfast. We bought (10) landscape timbers and (20 bags) topsoil, white spray paint and a fabric covered box. Interesting combination, no? It was HOT already at 9:00 as Ornery was loading things up, and it didn't cool off any throughout the day.
The landscaping in the front yard has been an eyesore ever since we moved in. The designer put metal edging next to the flowerbed and cut stone on the outside of that, but not close enough to keep the grass from encroaching. We took out the creeping juniper last summer, and a few months ago removed a couple of the dwarf nandina bushes, but the whole thing is so full of Bermuda grass that it is beyond hope of ever cleaning it out. With that in mind, we decided to start over with a raised bed keeping only the two crape myrtle bushes on either side of the big window.
The existing plants include overgrown boxwood hedge right next to the house, creeping phlox, and five dwarf nandinas in addition to some daylilies, iris, and a couple perennial plants I bought last fall on clearance.
First, we decided to use the rock from the outside of the front bed to make a small circular bed where the holly by the drive is/was. That means removing the holly, moving the stone to the other side of the driveway and setting it, filling the area with topsoil and planting. We plan to use one of the nandinas and the three perennial plants in this new bed.
The other four bushes will go in a new bed in the back corner which Ornery built on Saturday with some landscape timbers. There is a bit of a problem with a sprinkler head smack dab in the corner that will need to be dealt with, but the bed will do a great job of covering over what is left of the other holly that we took out last fall and help control a little bit of the bunny traffic through the yard. The bushes will be joined with some iris and mums at some point, making an easy to maintain little area. By raising it we won't have to worry about all the cables and wires that run right through there. Win-win.
In addition to building the corner bed on Saturday, Ornery moved several decorative stones and did some other outside work. We needed to spray the grass with round-up before we could do more, and the heat pretty well did us both in.
While he was working on all that, I used white spray paint on a little vanity stool and painted a bookcase white for my studio. I also watered, did some laundry, dishes and cooking. The main thing I concentrated on was helping to keep Ornery from getting dehydrated. I was successful in this endeavor.
Sunday we decided to go a bit easier on ourselves as my back was really screaming and he was just worn out from the heat Saturday. After I fixed a big breakfast, we returned the 20 bags of topsoil to Lowe's. It smelled strongly of crude oil, and since we didn't know the cause of that, we decided to use a different product. Since we weren't really ready for the dirt yet anyway, we will get it at a later date. Ornery also sprayed the new bed with Round-up to get the grass under control. I assembled the newly covered and painted stool and moved the rest of my things into the freshly painted bookcase. And that was it for Sunday's activity. (I posted pictures of the new studio here.)
Ornery decided that the chairs he made for Micah and Makayla weren't nice enough so he is going to remake them using some different methods. They are rather "industrial" looking, and I am glad he is going to do them over. He had used some scrap materials and rather than attempt to hide the fasteners he had a lot of screws showing. They are well made, just not very pretty. He was not happy with them, but he learned a lot while making them, so the effort was not altogether wasted. I think I will slap some paint on them and use them to hold a potted plant on the patio.
While he was working on all that, I used white spray paint on a little vanity stool and painted a bookcase white for my studio. I also watered, did some laundry, dishes and cooking. The main thing I concentrated on was helping to keep Ornery from getting dehydrated. I was successful in this endeavor.
Sunday we decided to go a bit easier on ourselves as my back was really screaming and he was just worn out from the heat Saturday. After I fixed a big breakfast, we returned the 20 bags of topsoil to Lowe's. It smelled strongly of crude oil, and since we didn't know the cause of that, we decided to use a different product. Since we weren't really ready for the dirt yet anyway, we will get it at a later date. Ornery also sprayed the new bed with Round-up to get the grass under control. I assembled the newly covered and painted stool and moved the rest of my things into the freshly painted bookcase. And that was it for Sunday's activity. (I posted pictures of the new studio here.)
Ornery decided that the chairs he made for Micah and Makayla weren't nice enough so he is going to remake them using some different methods. They are rather "industrial" looking, and I am glad he is going to do them over. He had used some scrap materials and rather than attempt to hide the fasteners he had a lot of screws showing. They are well made, just not very pretty. He was not happy with them, but he learned a lot while making them, so the effort was not altogether wasted. I think I will slap some paint on them and use them to hold a potted plant on the patio.
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