Yard Work!

My goal for the summer was to get the front yard cleaned up. We have made great progress (this project was bigger than I dreamed and became a bonding experience for James and I!).

The huge overgrown front bush is cut down. I am not sure where the neighborhood teenagers make out now but it is not by our mailbox!

The bushes along the sidewalk have been trimmed. Did you know that two people can actually walk down our portion of the sidewalk side by side??? WOW! Maybe this is where the neighborhood teenagers make out now...

The butterfly bush has been trimmed. Sadly it is still dead and is coming down soon :( But we will have more grass to play chase in.

Two of the four flower beds have been transformed into GRASS!

And we have a great anonymous neighbor who very kindly edges the sidewalk for us every couple weeks. Hurray!!!!!!!!! I am not 100% sure which neighbor is doing this for us and since it is always done we are out of the house I think the neighbor wants to be anonymous (but my scouts have told me who it is!). And I edge the rest of the yard when I get time... Kinda nice to be outside alone - Lydia is scared of the weed eater.

So this fall, the butterfly bush is coming down :( The small, overlooked, and dead tree in the yard is coming down. And a rock path/garden down to the backyard (because eventually we do have to do something with that jungle!). And we really are going to tackle the last two of the flower beds. And sadly we can not make every flower bed in our yard grass. But the next best thing is a ROCK GARDEN!!!!!!! We decided that we should not be totally anti-flowers and we are going to plant 2 or 3 small, impossible to kill, slow to grow bushes. Hmmmmm, wonder if I can plant a rubber bush????

The progress from this week...

My Helper Learning Her Boundaries (no, you may not go play in the street!)

The weeds are gone... 

The Old Mulch is Raked Up

The view before the weed barrier goes down...