Front Yard Remodel, 2003

I've been spending many a weekend this spring & summer removing the grass from most of my front yard, and replacing it with plants. Unfortunately, I forgot to take "before" and "during" pictures (and I really should have gotten a photo when I was using the rototiller my mom and I rented!). But here are a couple of old pics that will have to serve as "befores", and a few "afters."

At first, I tried digging up the sod by hand (and used some of it to fill in bare spots in the back yard), but that was just a nightmare. We did dig some holes through the sod and planted in those holes. Then we rented a rototiller and tilled under the rest of the grass. You're really supposed to kill it first, but I won't use chemicals, and I never got around to spraying it with vinegar before the weekend when we were able to rent the tiller.

The tiller works pretty well, even if you don't do it properly. What grass does come up after tilling is easily pulled later. Using it was definitely tricky, though, especially on the non-flat parts (which is most of the area, since part of the reason I replaced the grass was my hatred of trying to mow on the hillside). It seems to work best to till uphill, and, in my yard, I really had to watch out for tree roots. I was quite sore after a day of tilling, but it was still fun.

After tilling, I covered every spot where I didn't want a plant with newspaper (at least 8 sheets, and overlapping by several inches). Over the newspaper, I put down "soil-building" mulch. I've finally finished that (I had to buy the mulch by bags, a few bags at a time), although I'll buy another bag or two to cover over thin spots, or places where the birds have dug around looking for bugs.

Before The grassy bits to Shrimpy's left are the parts I've removed. The Japanese Maple in front of them was in a pot for years (much longer than recommended). It has been planted and relocated up to the top of the yard, near the sidewalk.
Before The first year I moved in, I sprinkled one of those cans of wildflower seeds along the bare front of the house, so that's what you see between the lawn and the house in this photo.
After Early fall, 2003 (the first year). The silvery stuff in the foreground are lamb's ears, with my Japanese Maple to the right. The thing in the bottom left corner isn't photographing well, but is a very cool plant called "Indian Feather."
After The birds really seem to love the new arrangement: they are having a great time playing in the birdbath, and eating nyger seed from the feeder. I've even spotted a hummingbird, so I moved my never-used feeder from the back yard to the front in hopes of encouraging them. That's a Mexican orange in the foreground, with lavender and purple sage just behind it. You can sort of see the birdbath in the background.
After Obviously, there are a lot of bare spots still in the yard, but that's because I planted perennials almost exclusively, and I needed to leave room for them to spread. There are several blueberries and huckleberries in there, and you can see an azalea to the left of that bunny statue in the foreground, wtih some chartruse groundcover (that grows purple flowers) doing quite well in to the right.
After Cassidy likes the birdbath and bird feeder a little too much, I think. I trimmed away a bunch of underbrush that she and a neighborhood cat were using to stake out the birdbath, and the whole time I was clipping, Cassidy talked at me. I couldn't believe it, but she knew exactly what I was doing! Now, she crouches behind a tiny shrub in the yard. Here's Cassidy, noticing that I have a camera, and pretending she wasn't trying to catch a bird. She squats down behind those tiny shrubs behind her. She has bells on her collar, so at least the birds have a good chance at seeing or hearing her if she charges the birdbath.

Back to Megan's Stuff on Dobbin.com
last modified: October 7, 2003