I’m in love with my backyard; steep hills, slopes, weeds and all. Since we moved here, I’ve waited impatiently to see what’s already growing and this spring has been chock full of verdant surprises. With the help of some gardening encyclopedias and my very knowledgeable neighbor I’ve identified an awesome fragrant lilac bush/tree, hostas, Hydrangeas, a trail of knock-out roses, a Japanese maple tree, a flowering dogwood tree, four flowering cherries, two huge maple trees, bearded irises around the mailbox, heurcheras, violets, azaleas, a southern magnolia, a beautifully shaped arbor vitae (Christmas tree) graces the corner of the front porch, A grand tulip tree, crepe myrtle, Salvia, Ajuga, sage, thyme, oregano, another attractive pine of some sort, crimson barberry bushes, lamb’s ear…and a beautiful raised bed for vegetables. There are things dying of course; one of the flowering cherries, a bushel of climbing roses. There’s other vegetation growing that I don’t know anything about, including a ton of WEEDS!
Ellie and I have big plans for the landscape. Evans is on board with anything that cuts down his lawn mowing efforts such as covering our steep slopes in the front and back with some sort of ground cover (otherwise, he’s threatening to spray the place with “total vegetation killer” so he doesn’t have to mow the lawn).
Poor man:
As pretty as the raised bed is, we are going to plant our veggies on the deck, in containers. Why? Easy access and more manageable. I found myself aghast at all the sprouting Maple seedlings that helicoptered down right onto the veggie bed and started sprouting WEEDS! (Ain’t nobody got time for all that!) See the Maple tree hovering over the veggie bed. It’s all for the best anyway since that patch is, like, the only flat parcel of land around the house. It’ll be better as a beach sand terrace with a fire pit; I told you I have big plans. The girls want a sand box and Ev wants a fire pit (perfect way to chop two carrots with one knife).
Here’s the deck that receive tons of unfiltered sun. Perfect for a container veggie garden. I have okra, eggplant, chili peppers, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, rosemary, and mint growing so far. Cucumbers and squash are growing in the veggie bed for now.
This slope is going to be converted into island beds, perfect space for a cutting garden, my blueberry plants and other plantings to soften up the slope.
We will keep the grass at the top of the hill since it’s nice and flat. Perfect play area for the kids after we install a fence of course.
The north-facing side of the house is pretty shaded due to the line of trees so I plan on turning that into a shade strolling garden with a path and plantings to cover up our neighbor’s hideous privacy fence.
The front yard is a hill too. So we plan on installing a retainer wall and planting attractive ground cover; don’t want that man breaking his neck trying to scale and mow our mountain.
All in all, the yards in our neighborhood serve as great inspiration as everyone has done creative things to spruce up their hillside properties. We have a very striking landscape with beautiful plantings started for us by our predecessors. It’s up to me to make it fabulous!
This herb on the front of our home smells SO GOOD!
…and just for kicks:
I started working on my big plans today. I’m beginning with the shady strolling garden area first. I’ll be clearing out the space, installing a path and smothering out weeds for planting beds. But no one told me pulling up weeds is a workout. Here I am melting body fat, but I made some progress:
