Saturday, August 16, 2014

Side yard redo...

Whenever we move, we tend to redo the yard....or at least spruce it up.   This house was no different.  In the 7 years we've been here, we have added foundation plantings and several beds along with cutting a veggie gardens.   But there was one thing we put off until this month.  The side yard.

Our side yard is a weird shape and skinny and flat out ugly.  At the gate, it is 7 feet wide but by the backyard it is 5 feet wide.    I've always wanted to do something with it, so for my birthday, Dean got it started with the help of a sod cutter.   
Our neighbors love us...they got to re-sod part of their front yard for free!


Here is it in it's almost naked glory.  


We went and bought lots of mulch and have begun reworking this little space.  Dean did some shovel work to form a curved bed and we put in the deer grass from the front yard.  It needed more sun that it was getting.  I have to do a stepping stone by the hose but it already looks much more inviting.  The butterfly bush will get large too and is already attracting lots of butterflies.


The yellow plant is butterfly vine and that will grow over the lattice by summer's end.  The birdbath was being thrown away by an elderly lady.  Her handyman was taking it to the curb as I drove by.  I backed up and I asked for it and he put it right into my car!  I intend on mosaic-ing it one day this winter...
BTW, if you don't know what deer grass looks like in bloom, click here.  It is gorgeous and blooms in the fall.

close up of the butterfly bush...I love this stuff!




looking much more inviting than before...still a bit of clean up to do..


The area ties into the backyard better now...needs a gate or arch....Dean?


The basil was basically added to give this spot a bit of green.  If it does well, I'll leave it but if not, I'll move it to the veggie garden.


I whacked it down and made 2 pounds of basil butter (27 sheets) with it right after taking this photo!






We still have much to do but by next year, this should be a really nice space.  Now, if I can just talk Dean into building me an arbor......

3 comments:

Tammy@T's Daily Treasures said...

Wow! That's a lot of basil. I don't do butter but very cool how you've made it up for storing. The side yard is looking much better. We have something like deer grass at the walking path here -- I always thought of it as beach grass. Don't know why. Didn't know there were so many different colored blooming varieties. Pretty! How awesome that you got that bird bath for free. I know you will turn it into a work of art. :) Have a great weekend. Tammy

Kerry said...

It looks lovely .... you've been busy :-)
Christmas is coming ...... Arbors make lovely Christmas presents I've been told :-p

A Little Creation said...

It so pretty. Hopefully you can see it from a window or two. Kerry is right, arbors are wonderful Christmas presents... ;)
Chris

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