Flower Bed Finale

Sorry to keep you in suspense about the flower beds, but I have been discouraged by weeds popping up and haven't done as much work as I could have.   That and I've been busy with end of the school year activities at my kids' schools.

I can't believe the nerve of those weeds.  I tried so hard to prevent them.  First I sprayed weed and grass killer down, then a couple of weeks later I weeded the flower beds.  After the beds were weed free (or so I thought), I sprinkled on some Preen.  Then mulched them and added more Preen.  So I was a bit peeved when I saw weeds poking their nasty little heads through my freshly mulched flower beds.  But since I spent a lot of time, not to mention money, on getting these flower beds into shape, I am determined to keep them weed free.  Here is my plan:  the kids play outside everyday in the summer anyway, so I'll just take a stroll around the flower beds to check for and eliminate any weeds I see.  I'll pluck them out or spray them with more weed killer depending on my mood and the severity of the weeds. 

OK, so it's taken me just over a month to get my flower beds weeded, pruned and mulched but I did, I really did it!  I was actually finished with the flower beds on Wednesday but then a downpour hit so I didn't get to take the final pictures.  So without further ado, here are the 11 flower bed before and after shots.  Prepare for picture overload.

1.  West side of driveway
I neglected to take pictures when I started this project so I don't have a before shot.
Here is what it looks like now from the top of the driveway looking down.

And from the bottom of the driveway looking up.

2.  East side of driveway

Didn't take a before picture of this either, but just imagine that large bush being twice as big.  Kevin did a lot of pruning to that one.

And here it is from our mailbox's point of view:

3.  Tree out front
In this before shot you can see the driveway flower beds, but not close enough to notice all the weeds.  Pretty much anything that looks brown, is a weed.  And not all of the green stuff in the flower beds are flowers, some of those are weeds too.

In a couple more days the lilies will be blooming but I didn't want to keep you in suspense any longer with my final flower bed pictures, so just imagine how pretty it will look with orange day lily blooms surrounding this tree.

4.  West front flower bed
This picture below is after pruning but before weeding and mulching.

In the after shots you can see that the bushes have really grown since I started this project.  It looks like they need to be pruned again.

 And from the opposite point of view.

5.East front flower bed
before:

 after

The after shot below was taken a couple of weeks after the above shots.  You can see how the flowers are really filling out. 

6.  East side flower bed
 Before view looking from front yard to back yard.

 after

Before view looking from back yard to front yard.

 after

Thought I had my drainage problem solved, even added more rocks, but after Wednesday's rainstorm I found mulch in the vent.  I'll probably just keep adding more rocks, maybe some bigger ones closer to the vent to prevent mulch from getting in there. 

7.  Patio flower bed
Before:

After:

Cleaning up the patio flower bed has made the patio seems larger.  I'll also be less embarrassed to entertain out there this summer.  Thinking about doing something with some potted plants around the base of my cantilever umbrella.  Whenever I get that done, I'll be sure to share it.

 Before

The dramatic after:

I even added a little table and chairs to cozy things up a bit.

8.  Little flower bed in back yard next to the patio

9.  Rear east side flower bed

10.  West back flower bed

 

 11.  Back driveway flower bed

 

In case you wanted to see all the posts about how I finally got my flower beds under control, here they are starting from the beginning:
Getting my flower beds under control
Side flower beds
Front porch flower pots
Patio flower beds part 1
Front flower beds
Patio flower beds part 2
Patio flower beds part 3
Patio flower beds part 4
Patio flower beds update
Another flower bed done
Yard work attire, a tire, I'm tired
The last of the flower beds

Phew!  I am so glad that project is done.  Well, it needs to be maintained so I can't totally put it behind me, but at least my yard is looking nice.  I've been putting off this project for years.  In fact, the last time we mulched the flower beds was in 2009.  I've done a little weeding and pruning since then, but not much.  Breaking the project down into smaller parts and doing a little bit each day (well, not every day but most weekdays) really helped me to get the job done, even if it did take me a month to do it.  At least now our yard looks great.

Except for this spot:

We used to have two trees in our front yard but two years ago one of them died and last year we finally ripped it out of the ground leaving behind this weedy area.  I need to work on this and try to get it to blend in with the rest of the yard.  I have to level it out and yes, do more weeding, then put down some grass seed.  Hopefully by next summer, you won't even be able to tell a tree had died there.






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