Our 4th of July Project

While others were boating, swimming, drinking and grilling, Dan and I decided to landscape our front lawn!  I mean, what a great idea!  It'll just be a quick project...plant a few things...done!  Right?!  NO.  This was a 2 full day project and we are feelin' the pain right now for the second night in a row.  Let me take you on a little journey...

Above is what our front path looked like before we attacked!  As you can see, well, there's nothing to see except stupid old weeds!  There were 3 lily plants there, which was good!  But it definitely needed something!  I can't tell you how much I've learned since starting this but gardening can be really fun! 

The story: So, of course, I didn't know what to plant or how to do it.  I asked my co-workers, friends, mom, and 3 Home Depot nursery people.  I wanted to plant Hostas because my online research told me these were good "beginner plants".  Key word is totally: "Beginner" and that is totally me!  After looking around at Home Depot and analyzing how much sun our front yard actually got in one day, I decided Hostas would be good.  I measured out the bed along the path and it was 33 feet long.  I figured the plants should be planted every 2-3 feet so we would need 11-12 Hostas. We were just about to plan on buying all the plants in time for the weekend, when our next door neighbor posted a "Plant Sale".  Lo and behold, sitting on her lawn were 12 Hostas for sale.  Dan had met these neighbors briefly while mowing the lawn but I had never met them!  So, Saturday morning we went over there and rang the doorbell.  Jan and Dave were so thrilled to meet us and Jan is a HUGE gardener (which you can definitely tell by her yard!).  We asked if we could buy the rest of her plants and she gave us the "Good Neighbor" discount!  (now we really have to prove that we're good neighbors!)  BUT!  Not only did they sell us the plants, Jan could tell I had no idea what I was doing and took me under her gardening wing!  She came up to the house, looked at the situation and approved that Hostas were a good choice.  She told me what top soil to get and what kind of mulch.  She asked me "So, do you have a shovel?"  I said, "No."  She said, "Do you have gloves?"  I said, "No."  She said, "Do you have a wheel barrow?"  I said, "No."  I told her, we didn't own anything but a 2 gallon yellow bucket!!  I explained that we have a wedding registry and were trying to hold out!  She took me back to her house and gave me ALL of her supplies and more!  I couldn't believe it!  I couldn't thank her enough!  So, we started.  Below is a picture of what I accomplished on Day One.  (while Dan was golfing, I might add :)

I think I filled a whole wheel barrow with rocks!  And this is when my sunburn started...

The next day, we kept workin' and started digging holes:

We were exhausted!!!!!!!!!

Finally, they were all planted!  Dan put in new mulch!

As if the Hostas weren't enough, we I decided to plant some annuals in the garden bed below the picture window by the big lily plants.  We planted 62 flowers!!!!!!!!!

(and did new mulch AGAIN)

So, it's finished!  And we even added solar lights!  So far, the plants and flowers are staying alive so let's hope it stays that way!!  And the lily plants bloomed!  It was almost like they were just happier with their water and new mulch and pretty flowers around them :)