Landscaping- Tree planting and adding new mulch beds!

I started the Landscaping 'phase 1' this week, it is hard work! The builder left a large pile of mulch on the side of our lot so I wanted to use it before someone else came and got it. I am planting a Yoshino Cherry tree about 20 feet away from the standard Crepe Myrtle that the builder planted for us.

Yoshino Cherry Tree

Picture from www.fast-growing-trees.com

 

I removed about 25 pieces of sod from the area and laid landscaping fabric and then poured the mulch on top. The tree is not in yet so when it comes in I will be planting it.  The house I grew up in had 3 shaped mulch beds and I always loved the look of it, to me it makes the yard look more mature. I will be planting some other plants in the mulch beds too, I love Hostas; so they will be making their way in soon.

Before, small mulch bed around the crepe myrtle. 

 

After :)

 

 

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We planted 5 of our Leyland Cypress trees on the other side of the house, too! These grow 2-3 feet per year, so I'm hoping next year we will have a cute hedge

 

They are about 12 inches tall now.

 

 

 

No one can build in the bottom of the cul-de-sac but there are lots to the left of this picture, so this will give us some privacy when someone eventually builds there!

This picture shows the area in relation to the house.

I ordered the Leyland Cypress trees from Quick Trees . They sell them in bulk and give free shipping. I ordered 10 and they sent me 11 and the total was around $73.00. I want to plant the other trees on the other side of the yard, we just ran out of time (and energy)!

 

 

 

Basement cleanup, Gardening and Office Desk set up!

I apologize for the wide gaps between posts lately. My husband and I work together at his family's company and it's our busy season! We sell RV's and we have been swamped, it's a great thing though. We need some dough to fund all these projects we have going on :)

 

We spent most of our day yesterday cleaning up the basement, and we still aren't done! I'm estimating the sq. ft. down there to be around 1500. The bad part was that the builder did not clean up their mess and there is a ton of red mud that has dried; it's gross. We bought a shop-vac from Lowes and started vacuuming everything. We organized the storage portion with my stockpile of home items (which btw, looks tiny now!) and organized all our other boxes and plastic storage bins. I still have about half of the floor/walls/windows to vacuum but it should go quicker now because the rest of the space is pretty much empty.

This section was vacuumed and you can still see all the red mud stains. We will have to mop to get it all up :(

 

We have a million lady bugs in the basement, I don't know how they are getting in...I'm assuming around the windows. Any tips for reducing this? We have ladybugs in the main levels of the house too but no joke, an army was in the basement :( 

 

We also purchased a good bit of gardening tools from Lowes, I can't wait to get started! We purchased some planters for strawberries, cilantro and spinach; and we purchased beans, zucchini, beets and 2 blueberry bushes. My husband is obsessed with blueberries, they won't produce fruit for 2 years but I know it will be worth the wait :)

 

The builder left over a good bit of wood in our backyard so I am repurposing it to make a raised garden bed. I am also using some leftover hardi-board to line the raised bed with so it can match the house. It is going to be 10 feet long and around 4 feet wide. I had to call our HOA because everything has to be approved, I was so relived to find out that we can do whatever we want in the back and the only thing that needs to be approved is a fence, which we aren't installing.

The idea I have for the raised bed is something like this:

I've been told that we have lots of rabbits where we live so I may need to install

some chicken wire to keep them out! When we would visit the house last summer/fall we would always see rabbits running down the streets :)

 

I also purchased 10 Leyland Cypress trees from a vendor online, they came in and I hope to plant them next Wednesday.

 

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I finally got my desk yesterday! It has been hanging out in my in-law's barn after I had it painted. I love it. I have a before picture on here too so you can see the difference. I haven't decided about the top yet, I kind of like the idea of leaving it as it is, it's a rubber type of top. It's pretty beat up but I like the vintage feel. I had to get it repainted because it was starting to rust so it was sandblasted then painted. It looks TINY in this picture for some reason but it's really around 6 feet long and 5 feet deep! The opening for the chair is very small.

My rug should be here within the next 2 weeks to complete this room. I also want to style this desk, I need to look on pinterest for some ideas!

Before