When we moved to this house, I knew it needed a lot of work. Labour is cheap, and the garden needed attention! With more time than money, we donned work gloves, graciously accepted the help from others in the family willing to bring a chainsaw and a truck for hauling, and got busy.
One thing I really hated was that the front of the home was really blocked by shrubs that had not been placed well. The feeling I got looking at the property from the curb is that it looked overgrown. I wanted to at least be able to see the front door when I drove up.
Here is the first picture, taken before we moved in. I gave away the Rhodo in the center of the front garden, a teardrop shaped garden against the carport. We dug out the shrubs to the left of it, and removed the tree to the right of it. We kept the umbrella birch tree.
Against the house, we removed the evergreen bushes growing over the window in the left of the picture.
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That would be my brother-in-law, lol. I agree, most people could really use one like him! He's a very accomplished do-it-yourselfer, and we really appreciate all the help he has given us.
looks like a huge project, you did a great job.
By the way, I'm new at this, "what" is a BIL? I could use one of those, hehe
My BIL is really nice and was most helpful. He's the one in the family who has a truck, and it took a number of trips to haul branches and roots away. He even pulled a MacGyver move with a huge, heavy stump (from the back yard) that had to be loaded. He roped the stump, anchored the rope to inside the truck's bed, and placed a metal framework thing in the shape of a cube between the stump and truck. Then he drove the truck forward, causing the "cube" to roll, and somehow the stump was on top of the cube and then in the truck. (Amazing but true)
My BIL is also the best candidate to handle the chainsaw and power blade, as DH is a little accident prone. He missed a week of work because of a scratched cornea. The powerblade had some kickback with the woody branches of the low-growing evergreens next to the Rhododendron, so after what was only 30 seconds of work I was off to the hospital with him. Now he ALWAYS wears eye protection when he is working in the garden. That same year, he stepped on a nail when clearing overgrown weeds on the side of the house, and he had to have a tetanus shot. You know, as badly as my house needs paint, there's no way I want my husband out there on a ladder! That will have to wait until we can afford to hire a professional painter.
My FIL was amazing as well, helping with all the large jobs. Additionally, he built a large standing screen and screened all the soil in the front gardens for me. That screen is in the back now, and I used it for dealing with the old weed-filled veggie garden in the back yard. That was my work-out last summer while the kids were playing. It was actually fun to hurl the weed-filled dirt clumps at that thing. Of course, DH came home one day to say that his friend at work suggested he rent a rototiller for the area. My response was "I don't think so". (LOL!)
oh my goodness what a difference!!! Job well done...dont u often wonder why people let things grow so wild??
You've done a very good job! What a difference, well worth the hard work. Thank-you for the advice.
Amy
It was quite a chore, but I have finally cleaned up the palette so I have room to create new gardens. I don't have any more current pictures, but the ones here illustrate the journey we had in making the front yard look much better. We've added lots of plants, but it's an ongoing process and there is plenty more room to fill this year.
This year we are focussing more on the back yard. My kids have gotten used to playing around in all the open dirt. I don't know how they will manage once plants and shrubs are all in place, when I won't want them in the dirt anymore!
This shot shows the nice bit of planting space I now have at the foot of the driveway.
Much better now. You can actually see the doorway more clearly from the street, and the rosebushes beneath the window on the left are much better than the evergreens. The umbrella shaped birch tree is in view, as is the Magnolia Stellata beside it that was not even noticeable in other pictures. I kept both teardrop shaped gardens, the one in front of the carport and the one on the right hand side of the driveway. There is a tall bare tree stump in view between the houses-I dug the roots of it loose last year before the family came over and took it out with my husband.
This picture shows a very large pink-blossoming tree that is beautiful in Spring, and I had to keep it. Still, you can really see how blocked off the house looks in this shot.
In this shot you can get another view of the evergreens we removed from that blocked window. Also in the background on the left is a tall evergreen tree between our house and the neighbour's, which we removed as well. In the foreground there is a large evergreen tree that we removed in the second year we were here, as I was not sure if it had to go the first year.