Last year, I focused most of my gardening on the backyard, specifically the area surrounding the pool.  We were in the process of having the pool restored and I wanted the area to feel tidy at the very least.  I didn’t want to be floating in our pool, trying to soak up the slower summer days only to be tormented by the view of garden beds filled with weeds.  So, I worked a little bit most days to clean weeds out of the beds, dig out rock, mulch, and plant.  I’ll share an update on those areas in another post.  This year, I’m still working on the back (specifically the area along the back fence), but I’m focusing more attention on the front and garage side of the house.  These are the two sides that are most visible from the street.  I wanted to work on them more last year, but we needed to powerwash and paint before it made sense to do any planting.  So, last year was about getting those areas cleaned up and removing any unwanted or overgrown bushes and trees.

Here’s how the garage side of the house looked when we moved in…

We pulled the leggy bushes, and installed new light fixtures (you can get sources and read about those HERE)

We also cleaned the brick and the trim to prepare for painting in the fall…

We enlarged the kitchen window and I painted the side door and shutters.  In addition, I spent some time manually digging out a larger garden bed and planted some Japanese Holly bushes and liriope.

Later in the fall, I painted the garage and basement doors Card Room Green to match the shutters and exterior doors.  (You can read about that HERE.)  Jeff also helped me sand, prime, and paint the trim to finish off this side of the house.

This spring, I’ve worked on edging the sidewalk adding perennials to the garden beds, and cleaning up and planting in the bed by the chimney.  I’m also working on the grass and seeding areas that were damaged during the kitchen and pool renovations.

As I’ve shared before, we’re planning on enlarging the stoop and building a portico over the side door to provide some shelter and add architectural charm.  In the short term, we are looking into building and installing a new rail since that metal one is rickety and doesn’t add a lot.  In addition, we have a quote to replace the sunken section of the sidewalk in front of the stoop.  It’s not a fun place to spend renovation dollars, but it’s made the step a little high, especially for our parents, so it is a safety concern.

The bed to the left of the door just needed a typical seasonal cleaning and I added some lavender and candytuft to fill out the space a bit more as the bushes take their time to grow, but the right side of the door needed a lot more attention.  I cleaned up the weeds and planted a Japanese holly there last fall, but I hadn’t planted anything else or weeded to the right of the basement doors.  I planted a row of lavender by the basement doors and some candytuft and liriope on the other side to balance out the bed to the left.

The right of the basement doors was overrun with weeds, so I pulled them, smothered what remained with a layer of cardboard, and then mulched the area generously.  I’d like to plant some perennials there eventually, but I wanted to focus on smothering the area for a season or two to see if that takes care of the bulk of the weeds.  (In case you missed it, I’m dealing with some particularly aggressive, invasive weeds that are not simply hand-pulled.  You can read about that HERE.)

I planted a fragrant viburnum bush in front of the fireplace.  That will grow to the height of the house (and even taller if we let it) and will fill in that area nicely.  I think we’ll eventually have to remove the old Japanese holly since it’s getting pretty leggy, but I want to keep it as long as we can.  I put some fertilizer on it and I hope it’ll fill out a bit more.  The viburnum can easily fill out that area as it matures, though, and then removing the holly won’t feel so traumatic for me!

My mom and I also picked out two 24″ ceramic “blue stone” pavers to put in front of the gate as well as the electric meter and oil pipe.  Workers need to get to the meter and oil pipe monthly, so I wanted to make it easy for them.  Having one large paver in front of the gate looks much nicer than the three smaller pavers I scrounged from around the yard!  It’s a small update that looks neater, cleaner, and more finished.

So far, the smothering is going pretty well, but I check it daily and pull any shoots that are popping up around the edges.  I’m taking the “death by a thousand cuts” approach in addition to smothering.  If the bulk of the root system is smothered and I don’t let the stray shoots grow and photosynthesize, the weeds should theoretically grow weaker and, with persistence, eventually die.  At the very least, the weeding will be more manageable.

I did add about 2′ of black plastic in front of the bed to smother shoots that are creeping under the cardboard and to try to get ahead of the creeping roots.  I wasn’t quite aggressive enough with how far I went with the smothering, but I warned Jeff that I was going to tarp any areas where Bishop’s Weed was popping up so I could hopefully contain and control it.  It’ll kill some of the grass along with it, but we can always seed it again down the road.  Many blog readers and social media followers were interested in my weed-smothering journey, so I’ll share an update as we get further into the season.  I am a novice, but I am reading a lot and putting the knowledge of more experienced gardeners into practice.  My goal this year isn’t eradication (which sounds like a foolhardy quest, anyway), but it’s to get things under control after weeds have gone unchecked for several seasons.

I had never heard of candytuft before, but I noticed it popping up in neighborhood gardens when I was walking.  I finally saw one of the homeowners sitting outside and asked if I could take a picture to identify the plant.  I was then able to find it at a local nursery.  Candytuft is a mounding perennial that blooms with pretty white flowers in early spring.  It is right up my alley and I can’t wait to see how it spreads over the years.

To flank the garage, I bought a couple of rosemary topiaries.  In addition to adding plants that look pretty around the house, I want to add plants and bushes with cuttings in mind.  I use rosemary a lot for winter and Christmas photo shoots, so it will be handy to have some in my own yard.  The rosemary looks a little redundant on the right side of the garage because it’s next to a similarly-shaped Japanese holly, but that will eventually grow larger while the rosemary stays trimmed.

I found some pretty rocks while cleaning out the beds, so I added them around the rosemary along with a glass fishing float I bought a couple of years ago.

Oh, and after stressing about it since we moved in, we finally had termite treatment put around the house.  This house has had a run-in with termites in the past (prior to our ownership and it was treated) and we really don’t want a repeat infestation in another location.  You can see one of the stations in the ground in front of the rosemary.  Again, it’s not fun money to spend, but it is a smart investment when living in an older home.

It’s coming along!  It makes me so happy to see the improvements we’ve made and the work we’ve done so far.  There is still a lot to do, but I like acknowledging the work that’s been checked off the list in addition to looking ahead to work that will be done.

When the former owner’s daughter came to pick up the butterfly bush last week, she noticed all of the work we’ve done.  “Oh, you’ve added shutters to the garage window again and you painted the siding!”  She looked around and pointed out more new things and then paid us the best compliment ever.  “It’s looking just like it did when the house was new.  My mom would love it.”  While we are renovating the house for ourselves, I love the idea that the former owners would appreciate how we’re caring for their dream home.

We also learned there used to be a copula on top of the garage roof.  Oh, how I wish it were still there!  I’ve noticed some around the neighborhood and always thought one would look fitting on our house.  With a brand new roof, I doubt we’ll add one, but it’s fun to think about.  Maybe we’ll put one on the shed we hope to add down the road.

Next up for this side yard is to get an old metal basketball hoop pole removed.  I had a hard time finding a picture of it because I always try to crop it out of photos, but you can see it peeking out of the bushes next to the driveway.  (The picture below is from when we had our roof redone and you can read about that HERE.)  We looked into adding a backboard and net, but it’s a style of pole that hasn’t been made for a long time, so a backboard would have to be altered or custom-made.  No one in our family cares enough about having a basketball net to go through that, so we’re just going to remove it.  That is the site of my future potager garden and a basketball pole doesn’t work with the aesthetic I’m going for!

Our contractor will remove and scrap the pole in a few weeks and Jeff and I are going to work on replacing the fence.  In the meantime, I’ll be doing more pulling, smothering, mulching, and planting…