Happy Earth Day!

Today I decided to finally do some landscaping in the front of our house. The flower beds on either side of our steps (if you can call them flower beds) had only two oddly-placed evergreen bushes and nothing else when we moved in. We weeded it sometimes, but it mostly looked pretty pathetic.

The Spring bug bites me every year, and so I just couldn't take the bare ugliness of those beds anymore. So, my kids and I went to our local nursery and came home with 3 adopted small bushes (on clearance for $1!), some lavender plants, and a sweet-smelling flowering ground cover with white flowers. I budgeted $20 and came out really close, so I'm happy!

We also stopped at a Home and Farm store just to look around. It mostly had horse feed, bird seed and random odds and ends for gardening. Then I saw the chicken feeders. And the little chick feeders. Oh my goodness, I never wanted something more in my whole life than at that moment! I should say that sounds silly, but it's not really. Those little chicken feeders represented my desire to be self-sufficient, to live off the land and to work with my hands. Unfortunately, I had to sigh and walk away. We're renting a townhouse on a sliver of land with no fence and nasty little white dogs our neighbors let run around loose all day long.

Anyway, I digress. When we got home I tried to arrange my new plants around those darn evergreen plants, but it wasn't working. Those darn bushes! Then the obvious occurred to me: I didn't feel comfortable ripping them out and getting rid of them - our landlords probably put those in - but I could definitely move them. Woohoo! So I did. And am I the happiest little gardener on this side of the Mississippi? Yes I am! You'll agree with me when you see the before and after shots.

I also got clever with a half-bag of river rocks I had sitting in our shed. When I was done, it was a huge relief. I've been telling myself not to bother since we're only renting, but I finally just couldn't ignore that itch anymore. And now the front of our house looks right pretty!

Before - in the winter.
I know there's not much there, but that's really the way it was even in the summer.
Those darn bushes are so annoying there!

AFTER:

See, I moved the bushes back, and that one is now over in front of all that ugly wiring.
Whew! I feel better just looking at it.

The gap below the bushes is where I'm planning on a couple potato plants.

Space for another potato plant?

Happy Earth Day!