It’s Fall and Time For Planting!

Happy Friday all! I wanted to share with you the break we took this past weekend (from boring unpacking and tedious setting up) so we could to enjoy the beautiful Louisville, KY weather! While we didn’t spend much of that time exploring Louisville we did enjoy working in our new yard. Gardening is one of our favorite things to do and Fall is the best time for planting trees and shrubs. It is much less stressful on the plant, as it requires a lot less attention and watering from you, plus the weather is usually cooler which is a plus!

We aren’t planning on planting too much more in our yard (we have over an acre) but we did want to deal with some unsightly issues sooner than later…

Here is one of them, these pavers surrounding ALL of the borders and trees… I really don’t care for this look, even if the pavers had been installed perfectly I still wouldn’t like them.

BEFORE

I wanted these pavers gone ASAP… but honestly I didn’t want to have to remove them myself, it would have been a HUGE job. So I decided to list them for free on Craig’s List, being sure to make people aware they had to remove them from the landscape. I had 20 emails within the first 15 minutes! I was stoked, not only would I not have to remove them, but now someone else would get something they needed! By the way it took the guy 2 days to remove them all… once again sooo glad he wanted them!

I just really think the landscape looks so much better now with those pavers gone and a fresh layer of mulch!

AFTER

There were a lot more pavers around back too…

Our main outdoor project for this Fall was to remove this unsightly bush/weed combination from the corner of the house, expand the bed and plant a privacy “hedge”. The first thing I did was cut all of the limbs off the unsightly shrub so that my Hubby could do his “manly” thing with the chainsaw, cutting the trunk down as close to the base as possible. The remaining stump is just too close to the house for me to feel comfortable about having a stump grinder come in so we will just let it degrade naturally.

See the two shrubs in one mess below…

We wanted to add a row of Arborvitae in this area and connect the two borders into one larger border. The screening will allow for some privacy from the neighbors while also screening their 3 Great Danes and Bloodhound from our VERY nosy dogs! I want to mention that the neighbors are great, but sometimes a little privacy is important too…

Here is just one of the Dane’s and our little Schnoodle…

By the way do you see the drool hanging from the Danes muzzle… I think he wants to eat poor little Chewy! Let me tell you our little Schnoodle acts like he will tear him up!!! I know that Great Dane is thinking “thank goodness for the fence”

After removing the large shrub our next job was to mark the area where we wanted to link the borders together. I then sprayed the area with Roundup in order to kill as much grass as possible before we started planting. You can see the sprayed area still has grass, but there is no need to remove it. We put down a layer of paper (we had plenty from our unpacked boxes) directly over the dead grass and then a layer of mulch. Installing a paper barrier is a REALLY important step to help with future weed control.

We purchased 6 Arborvitae and planted them slightly closer than the recommended 3 foot spacing. I REALLY love the look of black mulch, it makes your plants look super green and sharp!

Here is how the two borders connected together. We will eventually be installing a small flagstone pathway from the patio to the hammock in the border… I’m on the hunt for a stone supplier here in Louisville.

Here is the view from our patio… and one of the Danes checking me out…

Now you see him…

…now you don’t!

These Arborvitae will get about 25ft tall and 6 feet in diameter at their base. They are very quick growing, which is why we chose the cheaper, smaller plants, they will grow about 18 inches a year and will be HUGE in no time! We are also going to install 3 trellises behind the planters. The planters have vines in them that need a place to climb and will be full of flowers come Spring.

So if you have some trees or shrubs you want to add to your landscape go out and get it done this Fall! You will be so glad you did when you see how beautiful they will be come Springtime! My tip for you is if you can wait for the plant to mature, then go ahead and buy a smaller plant. Not only is it less expensive, but the hole you have to dig will be smaller which is very appealing to those who have to dig the holes (which in our house is my Hubby)…

As always thanks for stopping by… now go out and get your hands dirty!

Until next time…