Green Thumb

I'm not saying I have one, but I've been working in the yard a lot more lately and have come to enjoy it more than I ever have in the past. In Birmingham, I tried to plant a few things but it never worked because the dogs dug them up or they just didn't get the nourishment needed to grow. Then there were times I thought about planting something, but that Alabama clay was so difficult to dig in/up, I just never got around to it. Several years ago we had a drought and our yard never really rebounded after that.

Fast forward to this spring and I finally made some time to get some yard work done. The people who lived here before us gave us a good head start and planted several beds. The problem is, several of the bushes were overgrown or dead. I don't recall why we didn't get in there last summer, but I'm sure it made it worse. Plus I really wanted some color, almost everything was green. So after I returned home, we got in there and pulled out weeds and dead stuff. Ah, it looked better already. Then I asked my parents if they could help me pick out plants- I don't really know what goes good together, where it should be planted, etc. Fortunately they were able to come out (I think mostly because they had not seen Maggie since our return) and went to the nursery with me then even helped plant flowers by our mailbox. Dad turned the soil and mom, Will & I planted. Maggie worked hard too. :)

A couple days later I decided to tackle the front bed. There were a couple bushes in there that I haven't liked for awhile and they just needed to go. They fought hard for the right to stay, but in the end, we won.
Maggie turned into little miss gardener and wants a shovel and a chance to dig any chance she gets. I got the first bush out by myself (the one closest to the house) then Daniel came out and helped with the second, which is good because I probably could not have done that alone. We did the bushes one day then I planted flowers the next.

I love how it looks!! Such a big improvement and I think the neighbors agree because we've received several compliments. I can't wait to see them grow!