Backyard Changes - Part Two

The moment you have all been waiting for.... part two of our backyard changes!! This portion of our backyard update all started with us feeling bad for Crosby, the cutest and most awesome pooch in the entire world. Crosby is a MAN dog and MAN dogs should have things to pee on! Poor sweet Crosby only had grass, an entire backyard of grass. He literally raised his leg on nothing. So we decided we needed to make our yard look pretty plant some stuff for our dog to pee on.

Here is the final result:

Here's how it happened:

We started by making a digital plan. Normally, I'm not this organized, but in our neighborhood you have to get new plant beds approved by the Home Owners Association. Having an HOA is very bittersweet. Our neighbors can't get away with letting their houses "go", but getting every little home improvement approvement is really just a pain in the arse.

This is what we sent to the HOA. Doesn't my husband have some major Paint skillz......

We felt our plan was more likely to get approved if we left the (cutey cute cute) dog in the picture. It obviously worked. When we actually got outside and started laying out the "frame" for the plant bed, we realized we estimated each little scallop to be too small. Our Leyland Cypresses and Red October Glory Maple trees would need more room, which is why we ended up going with only three scallops instead of four.

How did we make the "frame?" Well, we started with a string tied around a can of  cheapo spray paint.....

Be sure to choose a spray paint that will show up on your grass. We then cut our string to the length we needed from the fence to the farthest point on our first scallop. Remember those compasses you used to use in middle and high school math? That's what we made. Gregg stood at the fence, holding the string, while I followed the arc lightly spraying our grass. This was the result.....

We did the same thing with a slightly longer string in the very corner of the fence, where the October Glory would go. The Mister then used a shovel to dig out the plant bed, making sure to cut outside of the spray paint......

Now, this is when a power tiller comes in handy. We borrowed one from a friend.... and it ended up not working. Find a tiller. Use a tiller. Please, for the love of God, use a tiller. We did not. We used a shovel. And that's a very royal "we".....

We then took a trip (with our sweet little goddaughter) to our local garden centers, to pick up our plants. We got our Leylands and Maple from Pikes for a steal. Our Gardenias, Nandinas, and Rhododendrons all came from Lowes.....

After planting our trees and shrubs, we laid down yard fabric. Yes, it's really called yard fabric and you used "yard pins" to hold it down! This acts as a weed preventative (without having to spray a bunch of chemicals- yay!) and also helps to hold in moisture....

I don't know why it looks so wrinkly in that picture. It was really windy that day, but it actually did lay pretty flat after I pulled everything fairly tight. The last step was laying down the mulch. We go with the nicest (and most expensive) brand that Lowes sells, but it is totally worth it. We used it in the front plant beds and it has kept its color for over a year now. It also comes with Preen Plus weed control. The color we use is called Chestnut Brown......

That picture only shows 20 bags of mulch. We used 36. Did you hear me? 36 bags of mulch, people!! At $4.70 a bag, it's fairly expensive. But isn't it so pretty? Sigh....

Aren't those Nandinas just adorable? They will be red throughout the fall and winter (along with the October Glory, until it sheds its leaves), and then green during the late spring and summer. The Gardenias will bloom white frangrant flowers in the next couple of weeks and the Rhododendrons will bloom bright red flowers. Can't wait. The Mister and I are notorious for killing plants, so we made sure to go with very resilient evergreens. I'm pretty sure one of our Nandinas already needs to be replaced, but it started off looking pretty sad. Thank goodness for plant warranties! Here are some more "After" pictures! Enjoy....

 

And then we had a photoshoot in front of our hard work.... hehe...

By the way, Crosby is totally happy about having things to pee on ;)

***So what do you think? Have you tackled any yard projects yet this spring??***

I linked up over at Thrifty Decor Chick!