Landscaping

We've spent many hours this week beautifying the front yard. I was getting tired of having a dirt pit and what an eyesore it was. And I'm getting seriously tired of dirt in the house. By the end of the day the bottom of Ruby's little feet are black and I'm sick of sweeping and mopping nearly every day to get rid of it.

So we ordered some sod and compost and had it delivered on Wednesday. Then we went to the nursery and bought some shrubs and plants. Bobby and I laid out and planted our flower beds Wednesday evening. A lot of work, but already the yard was looking a thousand times better.

As for the sod, we had kind of thought we'd be doing the labor ourselves (and dreaded it) but Wednesday afternoon our doorbell rang and I answered it and there stood a teenage kid. "We noticed that you had some sod in your front yard and wondered if my brothers and I could help you lay it?" Ummm...yeah! So said kid and his younger brothers came over on Thursday and spent 7 hours in the hot hot sun making a lawn for us. They were really good kids and did a great job.

So by the end of the day on Thursday, we had a front yard (and part of a back yard...the rest will come in the fall). Can I tell you how happy it makes me? We still have to finish mulching since Walmart didn't have enough, but that's easy-peasy. I can't wait to see how it grows!

A reminder of what we started with:


And the almost-finished product:



We've got a bunch of things in there that are new to me, so we'll see how it goes. We put in a few native shrubs, some ornamental grasses as well as a grapefruit tree. We're hoping it does well and we don't kill it! The bare spot is being reserved for daylilies I plan to order in the fall. I can't wait for those, they're some of my favorites!