Jake + Ashley = Landscapers!

We bought our house almost a year ago - crazy how time flies! When we were waiting to close on the house, it looked like this: 

This was taken from Jake's phone as a panoramic picture

It looked like this the day we got the keys, 2 days after closing:

Notice the lovely dead grass

By the end of fall, we were able to get the yard looking like this:

GORGEOUS green lawn - Jake worked wonders!! 

I have known, since we looked at the house, that I wanted to plant more shrubs/trees in the front yard, but the timing hasn't been right. Apparently, you should plant right around Mothers Day and since we bought the house at the end of July, we decided not to plant anything last year so it wouldn't die in the winter. Mothers Day is this Sunday and I couldn't wait any longer so I planted trees and bushes today! 

We figured out shrubs we wanted last Saturday and price matched between Home Depot and Cook's Landscaping, a nursery in Lindon by my work. Cook's has awesome stuff but Home Depot was cheaper so we ended up buying everything from there. I woke up this morning and got in the Chevy and drove to Home Depot to get my stuff. The cart thing I was pushing was so hard to steer by the end - I could barely see over it haha. I had someone help me load it into the truck, drove home slower than ever, and then unloaded it all and I was ready to be done haha. The trees are dang heavy, and there was 3 of them to unload out of the truck. 

Yes, I was doing this by myself ONLY BECAUSE I couldn't wait any longer to do it. If I had waited until Saturday, Jake would have got roped into helping me but I just decided to be tough and do it on my own. I am sure I will be feeling it tomorrow though - seriously my arms are stiff haha. 

Here are some pictures of the yard today, before I started: 

Pretty proud of how green the grass is - Jake is seriously a pro

Empty flower bed - the plants in there are our neighbors 

The bushes are dying

Another view of the flower bed - not a whole lot in it

I dug out the 4 bushes and threw those away, and dug 2 holes to move the dwarf Christmas trees. I don't know what kind they are, they just stay little and they were already here and they haven't died so we decided to keep them! Then I ripped out the old weed paper, which was SO hard because the dirt on top was really heavy and it made a huge mess and then I started digging new holes for the new stuff! 

A Weigela - pretty small right now but should get to be up to 2 feet, nice and small for this spot and when it blossoms its PINK!

Japenese Forest Grass - nice and small for this spot. It'll be green in spring and summer and bright red in the fall! Chose it for the nice pop of color!

So from right to left is a Weigela {very small at the moment}, one of the dwarf trees, Japenese Forest Grass, another dwarf tree,  another Weigela {same thing - very small at the moment} and an Emerald Green Arborvitae {it's an evergreen tree haha}

View from the other side - you can also see the bushes under the window!

I ended up needing to dig 2 holes for the Emerald Green Arborvitae because I didn't like where I put it originally. The red bush is a Crimson Pygmy Barberry, then the green bush next to it is a Winter Gem Boxwood, then another Crimson Pygmy Barberry, then another Emerald Green Arborvitae {tree}.

View of the Emerald Green Arborvitae {tree}, Crimson Pygmy Barberry {red bush} and Winter Gem Boxwood

Another view of the yard - left to right is Emerald Green Tree, Crimson bush, Boxwood, Crimson bush, Emerald Green Tree, Weigela and dwarf tree

After digging 11 holes {since I had to move one of the trees} I decided to stop and take a break. I cleaned everything up, swept up all the dirt and was about to go inside when Jake came out to see how it was coming so I solicited his help and we finished! 

A Flowering Pear Tree with 2 Japenese Forest Grass

The finished product: 

Sorry about the shadows - I will take one in the middle of the day soon! I just really wanted to post this today!

I LOVE how it turned out! I can't wait for the bushes to grow and for it to be a mature yard and for the tree to blossom next spring! We are going to wrap Christmas lights around the two Emerald Green Trees this winter! And seriously I love how green the lawn is. Jake is doing awesome at killing the dandelions too! Between the two of us, we are pretty good landscapers if I do say so myself! 

We finished the yard, cleaned up and then had Cafe Rio. I was going to make dinner and be super proud of myself for still cooking after being out in the dirt all the day but I failed there haha. Cafe Rio just always sounds good - I hope they never build one in Saratoga Springs! We will eat there EVERYDAY if it is that close to us! 

In hind sight, I really should have worn sunscreen on my arms. I had a hat on and sunglasses so my face was protected but my arms got burnt down to my wrists where my gloves where - attractive huh? 

Hopefully the red fades quick so I don't have a ridiculous farmer tan all summer long. Yay for having green thumbs, and for completing something on my New Years Resolutions list - I have now planted a tree!!