Black Thumb No More

So, remember the sticks in my office and how I said that I don't have a green thumb, but in fact have a black thumb (the death kind, not the racist kind)? Well, I've decided to try to do something about it.

When we bought our house (almost a year ago), the curb appeal was one of the clinchers of the deal for us. The previous owners had done a lot of really nice landscaping in the front yard, and I've had quite a few comments that we have one of the nicer lawns in the neighborhood - I take no credit, it's all the previous owners' talents here.

But after a winter of dormancy, the only thing of much predominance in our yard a couple months ago was weeds. We had weeds covering our grass, weeds that were so big that they flowered more than the plants I potted, weeds that had become bush-like and heinous along the side of our house, weeds that were verging on 6-feet tall intermingled with rose bushes. So, this weekend, we decided to end the curse, and make nice with the green.

Saturday, Joel mowed, pruned, and began weeding. I went to Lowe's and bought flowers, finished weeding, and planted. I have to say, I think it looks really nice. You know how I like before and after pics ... so here we go with the before:

This is the front - it's yellowed a little from the winter, and just over all kind of ... blah.

The planting bed beneath one of our palm trees actually became covered with these green weeds, and a couple days ago sprouted lovely lavendar blooms. It's a sad thing when the weeds are prettier than the plants you're trying to coax alive.

The side yard got taken over by these weeds by the time I got to them yesterday. Let's just say that there was no brown mulch to be seen. It was a weed-crazy jungle.

And the monkey grass was diseased, overgrown, and tamped down by one too many dogs using it as a toilet. I don't know what it is about monkey grass, but every time Finn sees some on our walk he has to get to it as fast as possible.

Here's our Afters.

We pruned the palms and the red trees on the left side of the house, as well as the bush half-way down the property line on the left. We did the weed/feed/ant killer thing with great results, and I think it already looks a lot better.

You can see off to the left of this picture that we cleaned off the planting beds under the palms and planted tiny little annuals. I like the cleaner look of them now - even though it was hard pulling out the one thing that did bloom like crazy.

I pulled out the weeds and planted an azalea bush - they're gorgeous down here, and I'm hoping that we'll have some of that beauty in our yard this time next year. The first time I found myself in an azalea garden in full bloom, I felt sure that this is what heaven will be like.
And, I planted geraniums along our front walk. I think it's a lot more cheerful and welcoming than the diseased monkey grass. And a little hanging basket tops it off as my favorite purchase of the day.
All in all, it was a very rewarding day. All we have to do now is upkeep and keep the beds weeded and the grass fed. I think we can do it! On to Operation Backyard! I'll keep you updated, if you care to follow the progress ...