Who Says Print Media is Dying? Just Use it For This:

I just wanted to let you know that I took this photo today, a month and a half after my last post about using newspaper as a week block. I have not pulled a single weed out of the newspapered bed in that time and...

Look! One of the Hostas is blooming! (The darker green one toward the left.) So exciting!

The newspaper is working beautifully to block weeds! There were a few random ones that popped up in more open spaces, but for the most part the only places with weeds in the entire bed were right next to the hostas and agapanthus we planted. So, do I recommend using newspaper instead of buying weed block sheets? Absolutely! Just be sure to put it ALL the way against the plants you just planted. For comparison, I also haven't pulled any weeds out of the rest of the landscaping. You know, the part we didn't newspaper, and it looks like this:

Yikes.

Our Saturday Project

Surprise! We aren't dead or anything. Wow, it's been nine months since I wrote a post for this blog. My apologies. So what have we done around the house since then? Well, not much which is why I haven't posted. We started a few projects but didn't finish any of them yet. The reason I'm writing today is that we spent the day freshening up our landscaping and I've got some delectable before and after shots for you, as well as gratuitous chicken glamour shots because you know you want them. Here are the three flower beds we worked on before (Well, kind of before. I did not take photos of the horrible amount of weeds that were in here before I pulled them this morning. Some of them were almost as tall as me. Yikes.)

We went to a local nursery called Harb's Oasis because I had a coupon and because I like that place even though it's a bit of a drive. We came home with a Jeep full of plants.

These lucky guys got to ride up front with me. 

We got Coleus for the two beds around the Crepe Myrtles, and Coleus, Hostas, and Agapanthus for the big bed in front of our dining room window on the side of the house. We also picked up two kinds of basil and two kinds of mint to plant in the planters that sit on our patio railing.

 These are the planters I'm talking about.

 Planting the Basil.

Mint.

Basil.

Of course, while we were on the patio working on the planters/taking pictures, the chickens came over to see what we were doing.

First, we placed the pots where we wanted the plants to go. I couldn't really place the coleus because it came in six packs.

Harley is convinced there are squirrels in this tree whether there are or not.

We've been saving up newspapers and sales ads for a while to use as a weed blocker in the landscaping beds. 

 We didn't put cat litter in the flowerbed. We were just using that container for mulch.

Close up of the newspapery goodness.

Are you ready for the final results? Okay, drumroll please...ta da!

There wasn't quite enough mulch to completely cover the newspapers.

 We didn't do newspaper in the smaller beds because the plants were closer together.

So there you have it. I think that's a pretty good day's work, don't you?

Update: I woke up Sunday with the backs of my thighs just KILLING ME. I realized that spending the day in the garden basically means you are doing squats all day long. Owww.

Low Maintenance Landscaping

    I've discovered that as much as I really love a good garden, I'm not so great at keeping plants alive. This realization is pretty disheartening for me because I would love to be able to plant all kinds of wonderful things and have them flourish around me, but that is not going to happen - at least not until I take some sort of gardening class or something. Everything I've tried so far has failed pretty hard, so I decided to try a new approach.
    Our backyard has two flowerbeds outlined with pavers right next to the patio. This area was overgrown with grass and ferns when we moved in, so we removed those and just had empty flowerbeds until about a week ago. I knew I needed to plant something that required little to no care, especially in the backyard where I don't spend a lot of time. I saw a post on Pinterest recently about using newspaper as weed block instead of buying the annoying sheets of that stuff, so I figured I'd give that a whirl and then top it with rocks instead of dirt and mulch.

 First we sucked up the existing mulch with the Shop Vac to be used in the front landscaping later. Waste not, want not. :)

Here are the two beds with newspaper.

    In case you're wondering, the stairs were taken down because we wanted to remove one step in the hopes that it would keep the chickens off the patio for good. I'll keep you posted on how that works out for us.

    After the newspaper was put down, we placed a one foot square paver in the middle of each flower bed. This is where the planter will sit on each side. We borrowed pieces of the monstrous, never-dies-no-matter-what-they-do-to-it aloe plant that has been growing at my in-laws house forever. I really hope these don't die on me. Then I would know for sure that I've got the black thumb of death. Anyway, we put one aloe in each planter and we were done! How's that for low-maintenance?

Our Newest Addition

Remember a while back when we pulled up the plants and pavers that formed a jellybean shape in the corner of our front yard?

Well, we decided to plant some sort of fruit tree in the hopes of balancing that corner out with the rest of the yard, which has two Bradford Pear trees on each side, and hopefully producing some fruit as well. I really wanted a Granny Smith apple tree, but after checking online we were iffy on whether it would thrive in our climate. The choice then became either pear or peach. Peach trees get gorgeous pink blossoms reminiscent of cherry blossoms in the spring, so we went with a little peach tree. It will probably be a few years before it actually starts to produce any fruit, but hopefully it will at least grow and flower in the meantime.

Bringing home baby.

Harley has to check out the new guy.

No, we didn't fill the hole with kitty litter. Our compost is in there! This is the first project we've used it for.

Harley supervises Alton as he puts in a layer of compost.

All done!

It's already taller than me! Not that that's saying much...