Time for change...

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thestealth

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jul 28, 2009
240
11
KC Metro, Kansas
When we first built our home we didn't know much about gardening, so we planted just about anything in our side garden. Over the years, our indiscretion caught up with us. It was truly getting unruly and IMO unsightly. Also, we were experiencing a good amount of settling at the foundation.  So, this Spring we went too work.

Here's what it looked like a year of two ago. Not bad, however, far from good.

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So, we tore it all out. Gave away what we could, composted the rest. We had 12yds of dirt brought in and built a retaining wall and planted more plants that wouldn't take over like lambs ears, wild roses, etc.
This is what we ended up with. Obviously the plants are small and will be for a couple of years, but they'll grow.

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The yard took a pretty good hit when the guy spread the dirt around, but it'll grow back.

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I have to give Amy (my Wife) a lot of the credit however. I went and got the bricks on a Thursday we laid out the basic shape of the garden and I started the wall. I strung out lines so it would be somewhat level. She is off on Fridays, so when I got home from work that Friday, she had all but 13 bricks laid and nearly all the dirt moved. Hell of an accomplishment.

I also need to get some updated pictures as things are growing quite nicely.
 
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In addition to the garden, we had to replace a tree. Last year, we lost our big Elm tree. While Elms are not that desirable IMO, it was a BIG tree that provided much shade in the summer. Last Spring it leafed out like normal, then just as quickly, the leaves dried up and the tree died. Go figure. We had it cut down last summer.

We started calling around about getting a tree planted late winter, early spring. Most places we called wanted right around a grand to plant a tree the size we wanted (minimum 5" trunk). That's quite a chunk of change. One of Amy's clients recommended an "good ole boy" that she had dealt with in the past. He took up tree planting after he retired. He gave us a great price to plant our tree, even sent us out to his orchard to pick the one we wanted...it's a pretty cool process.

This is the way to dig a hole! It's about 4' across, maybe 4' deep.

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He said it's about 7000lbs of dirt.

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He was gone about an hour or so...came back with our tree.

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Freshly planted tree. It's an October Glory I think, maybe an Autumn Blaze...either way, it's a variety of Maple that gets red leaves in the fall. Should go well with all our ugly yellow leaved trees.

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He came back awhile later and mulched it all in.

That was back in March I believe. It's all leafed out now and doing great.

The tree is looking good, I'll have to get some updated pictures of it as well.
 
I guess I do have one picture of our new tree.

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Our first rose of the year.  
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The veggie garden is doing great.  Amy harvested her first mess of beets yesterday.  The tomatoes have been in the ground for 2 weeks and coming along good as is our green beans.

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Yeah, we grow our veggies in the front yard.

Our strawberry/rhubarb patch.  Been eating berries for a couple of weeks.  The rhubarb is ready to cut.  There is lettuce and spinach growing in the planters which we harvested yesterday.
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Hopefully the wisteria will bloom...someday.
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A squirrel having some lunch...
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We only have one rose left...gave away (or killed) the rest.  It happens.  It's got about 6 blooms on it right now.

A few updated pictures. :)

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I can tell you have a love of the land!! That is a lot of work for just a hobby. You've got me wanting to make some changes.....got to get some land first.....thanks for the pics!!
 
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Now you sure do have your house looking very nice indeed. Now our roses have bloomed for the 2nd time this year. It has been quite a strange year so far. Ecerything came out and bloomed and then it froze again and now it hot as haitie out there.
 
Thanks gang. :-)  It really is a lot of fun.  We did a bunch of yard work yesterday, then in the late afternoon we cracked a beer and sat out in the lawn and just admired our hard work.  My wife is really the green thumb however.  I just take orders well. :-D

The tree machine was very cool to watch.  We have really nice black dirt about 3' deep around our house, one benefit of living in the old part of town. He just pinched out that 3+ tons of dirt like it was nothing.  He said the many of the new sub divisions, the contractor will strip a lot of the good soil to sell and back fill and grade with mostly clay then skim a thin layer of good soil out when doing the final grade...kind of rip off.  He says that clay makes his machine pucker pretty hard at times.
 
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