Today was a semi-busy day chez Howard as we had quite a bit to do on the yard work. Jason had to do his annual first mowing, which takes quite a bit of work with a push mower (our lawn tractor is not currently working, so he cut 1/2 acre of very sloping hill today!).
As for me, I took to clearing the grass and weeds from around our two slow-growing trees to help encourage them to grow more. The weeds were wrapped around the bottom of the trunk and keeping them from hitting even their regular growth rate, so this had made them ultra-slow-growing and they look a lot younger than they actually are. I always wondered why people chose to mulch around trees in circles, and now I know. I set off to make some of these mulch circles myself, using an aerator to help me dig up the deep-rooted grass and weeds. Then I mixed Miracle Grow with water and gave our little trees a little extra boost š To those of you worried about gardening and pregnancy, don’t worry – I took all the proper precautions and wore gloves the entire time. Then, I hit up Home Depot for some black satin mulch. Following a tip from HGTV, I used an entire bag of mulch around the tree and made it about four inches deep (to help keep the weeds from growing underneath). Jason also found some weed barrier, so that was laid underneath the mulch. They turned out pretty well for my first try! This is a picture from the front porch (the house in the background is across the street).
Next, I turned my attention to the front porch. I didn’t want to add anything major since we are hoping to add a deck this summer (which will change the whole look of the front of the house!) but I wanted something pretty to add. I found a cute little metal bird at Dollar General, and I grabbed a cute pot from Home Depot along with a perennial. Add some potting mix, and voila!Ā A cute little table arrangement š
I love the color of that planter and would like to paint the shutters a darker shade.
Do you guys have any interesting yard stories to tell? I’d love to see some pictures!
Two Blue Pillars 
i had no idea what the mulch did (except give roaches a place to hide!) either. very informative!!
i LOVE your planter and little birdie ornament. they’re so cute!!
one of these days i’ll have to remember to take pictures of our yard. the backyard is sort of empty since katrina took out a couple of our giant old-growth pine trees (the ones we lost were over 30 ft tall; when they fell on the house they were in the corner of the 1/2 acre yard and you could walk across the trunk all the way to the roof). we can’t grow anything delicate back there because it faces due west and gets a LOT of scorching sun in the summer time. also, our doggies are busybodies and enjoy digging when they get tired of chasing squirrels on the fence.
the front yard is sort of weird too. we had a silver maple that was planted a little too closely to the house and started to grow into the sewer line to find water (causing my parents YEARS of plumbing nightmares). we also had a window garden with pink and red encore azaleas and a couple other shrubs. for some reason one quit flowering after the storm and the other quit growing leaves altogether… so recently we dug them up, and now it’s just a plain patch out front. one of my friends, who has a mini-farm on his parents’ property (complete with chickens, ducks, bunnies, 2 vegetable patches, a catfish pond and a greenhouse!!) gave us a few varieties of coleus to plant. he also gave us a green tomato plant but we’ll probably give that one back–mom doesn’t think it will look right in the front yard and the dogs would eat it out back.
I can’t pretend to be a plant expert because I usually kill everything we have, but I’m sure that there is something you could plant. Also, there are certain plants that make dogs sick (without hurting them) so you could try some of those in the back yard.