The yard work has just begun!

Since we got the house last year we have both gone back and forth on whether or not we wanted to keep the huge overgrown Rhododendrons in front of our house and the two fir trees in front of our garage. We have trimmed them a few times this fall and decided this past weekend it was time for them to go. All of them. So Terry got out his handy reciprocal saw (we don't have a cool chain saw yet) and whacked them down. We both felt that it would open up our yard and house a lot and make it look bigger.  Then the hard part came in getting the roots out of the ground. I think the Rhododendrons were about 20 years old...so their root system was quite established! I actually hurt my back pulling some of them out this past weekend. I realized that I am not as young as I use to be but muscle cream and my heating pad are my new best friends!

Here is what the house looked like when we bought the house in October last year. Note how large and overgrown the Rhododendrons were. How much they cover up the house and windows. As well as the large green lump of a fir tree in front of the garage. Their is another matching one on the other side of the car.

And here is what the yard looks like now! We are so happy with it! So much more light comes into our living room and dining room. We will be planting some roses this spring in front of the windows. Also potted two Japanese Pieris shrubs in front of the garage. They are not looking the best now but will grow this year to be about 4ft tall. They smell amazing! Eventually we will replace these plastic pots for something a bit nicer like ceramic but the ceramic pots are super expensive and these we had from the condo.

Please ignore the fact that the yard and plants are not all lush and green and growing- after all it is Seattle in March.

We also just thatched the moss out of the front and backyard.

We have started a war against the moss that has taken over the yard. We started this process last month with what we thought a few bags of Moss Out would fix but this is crazy hard core Seattle moss that the previous owner had let take over most of the yard for years. It is one of our many goals this year to have some of the nicest yards in the neighborhood. Also something we learned the hard way....don't try thatching your yard by hand with the rake you can buy. My goodness that is a workout and my dear husband was busting his behind trying to do it by hand! DO buy the blade attachment for your lawnmower. Much easier and faster!!! To finish off a day of hard work. Terry and I enjoyed a beer in our garage on the tailgate of our little truck and watched the sunset. It was a great end to a weekend of hard work. Stay tuned for what we transform the yard into in the coming months!