Deep Breaths

We just made the first (not insubstantial) payment on our bathroom remodel!!!!!! Freaking out just a little....We go on our "shopping" trip with the designer sometime soon (he is available tomorrow but we aren't, so probably next Saturday) and then the work can begin. Send calming thoughts our way!

This is how I feel right now!

The Liriope Massacre of 2011

Ding-dong the witch is dead! And by witch I mean liriope. And by dead I mean dug up. Out it went!

Sure it looks pretty, with its dainty purple flowers in the summer and deep blackish berries in the fall. It's even sold as "ornamental" grass at nurseries. But it apparently likes our yard a little too much and had taken over. It crowded out all our plants and spread well beyond its borders.

So we decided to take action! We started clearing it out every chance we could and then recruited my parents, who actually like gardening and know what to do, to spend a long weekend with us to revamp our front yard.

It came up  a little like sod, but heavy and deep-rooted.

In just a few hours, we created so much waste that the public works people who pick it up left us a note in our door yelling at us that we made the buckets too heavy!

So after that scolding, we decided to start piling it in our driveway and leave out more reasonable amounts every week. We also managed to pawn some off on our neighbors, who actually wanted to plant this evil, vile weed!

After three days of intense labor (plus a few days extra beforehand to start the clearing process), here's what we were left with. Prepare yourself--the change is pretty dramatic:

Here's the first before and after:

In addition to ridding ourselves of the liriope (I'm sure we'll have some poking up in the spring that we missed), we planted bulbs, mums, Magic Carpet Spirea, Red Weigela, May Night Salvia, edged the garden with hostas and an actual border. We pulled out an old azalea, replaced it with a camellia from another part of our yard, and pruned back and trimmed leaves where necessary. We shrank the garden edge a little (back to where it probably was pre-liriope) and planted grass seed.

On the other side of the house:

Again massive quantities of liriope removed. Then we completely reshaped the border, pulled out a lot of pathetic-looking azaleas, a shrub, and a camellia, and pruned up the rest. We added hostas and May Night Salvia along the edge. We left a space near our stoop for some spring planting, when our Spirea Vanhoutti arrives.

Moving on to the front beds now. We dug up yet more liriope, pruned our little "tree-shaped" shrub, cleaned out the random ivy and grass to the right of the tree and divided and spread out the hostas.

We put in mums, some bulbs, and Verbena, which should spread out and give us good ground cover (right now they look pretty pathetic):

On the other side of our walkway, we didn't have to remove grass but we did need to give it some nutrients (in the form of compost and a little rototilling) and a trim. We put some more Verbena, mums, and bulbs there as well.

More than three days and massive amounts of work, but the grass is gone and, with luck, some pretty (and non-invasive) plants should take its place. And we got a good workout in the bargain--all those calories burned just in time for the Halloween candy!

Top-Dressing and Over-seeding

Wow, doesn't that title make it sound like I actually know what I'm talking about?

If it's been a little quiet at Brave New Home lately, it's because it's been exactly the opposite in our lives. With the weather cool and fall landscaping season upon us, D and I have been spending every weekend outside working on some project or other.

Our first project was to try to make grass grow on our front lawn. I realized that I forgot to take a "before" picture but just imagine sparse skinny green grass with a lot of dead beige grass, moss, and bare patches. Not a pretty picture.

After reading that mid to late September is the best time to "top-dress" (i.e. treat) and "over-seed" (i.e. plant grass seed on top of an existing, if pathetic, lawn), we went to work. We thatched out the crud, just like we did back in March and aerated the lawn thanks to some hilarious spiky shoes and a super slow walk around the yard.

We knew thanks to our soil tests that no particular compound was really lacking (we need some nitrogen but it's bad to fertilize just before or during new seeding and the lack wasn't so bad as to need major treatment that would delay seeding). With the ground prepped, we took advantage of our local public works center, despite its limited operating hours, and went one day fill up our car with discounted compost. If we were 10 years old, this would probably have been the most awesome thing ever--a giant pile of dirt:

We filled the car with as many rubbermaid boxes as it would hold (thank goodness for hatchbacks!) and went on our way. It seemed like it would definitely be enough to spread but of course when we dumped it out, we realized we'd have to lay it more thinly than we would have liked. I think it will still have a positive effect on the soil, though.

After that, it was just a matter of putting down the seed and raking gently on top to cover it. Then lots of water (the weather obliged, fortunately, and we had to resort to the hose only occasionally). Here's the view of our strange-looking, dark, composted lawn:

Did it work? I think so. There's definitely some improvement, even if it's still not as dense as we'd like. Also the clover seems really happy and spread everywhere. It's not grass, but it's not that bad either. At least it has a root system that will absorb water and stop soil run-off. Weeds are better than nothing!

We've continued to over-seed when we see sparse patches and keep it mown and free of leaves to encourage growth. Hopefully this spring we'll see a nice, lush lawn...

Hey, a girl can dream!