Yardwork!

As happy homeowners, Alex and I have proudly finished three projects in and around the yard.  I’ve been itching to have a lawn to do work in, and now I’ve gone a bit crazy.  I think Alex was content with having no lawn and a guy that came to clean the stairs in the winter after each millimeter of snow fell at his old apartment.  Once the projects were done we both felt proud to have worked on something together to make our home feel more like ours.

Project # 1 Stone Walkway for Front Door

With the help of Jeremy at Swenson Granite in Westbrook, Alex and I picked out five beautiful stone pieces to layout for the walkway.  We broke them up on the driveway and laid them on the lawn to create our design.  Then we cut out the shapes of the stones and placed them in the empty spaces.  We used the excess sod to cover a large patch of dead grass on the side yard.

Project #2 Raised Beds for Spring Veggies

Alex and I received a lovely wedding present from my Dad and his girlfriend, Deborah.  They gave us three raised beds to create our first veggie garden so we can be a self sufficient home by 2013!  Just kidding.  We do want to be able to utilize our garden as much as possible, though.  I would love to get all of our salad and juicing goodies straight from the backyard.

We laid the beds out and dug up the sod and donated it to the side yard again.  We dug a bit further to dig up the soil and we will fill them in soon with new soil and possibly some compost before the winter comes.

Project # 3 Planting Bulbs

I dug up the area around our car turnaround and planted tulips and daffodils to come up in the spring.  It was a lot harder than I thought.  I found more rocks than soil under there.  I plan to lift up the sod and lay mulch to add more protection for the winter and also add a nice environment for when the flowers come up.

Alex and I also dug up the beds in the front of the house to plant the rest of the bulbs there.  In total, we planted over 80 bulbs.  I hope we get a nice turnout in the Spring.

Project # 4 Composting

My mom has had a large trashcan of compost in the backyard for at least 10 years.  I couldn’t wait to start my own.  I finally have a 3x3x3 ft one in the backyard that I add to weekly with my raw scraps,  juice pulp, etc. I started it in August and am already seeing some great decomposing going on.  It also saves on our trash service since we have to pay per bag.

Project #5 A tree! 

Alex and I received this lovely spruce from my boss, Shannon, at our housewarming party last night.  I am so excited to plant it.  It’s extra special because my parents received a spruce for their wedding and it grew to be about 10 feet wide and almost as tall at the house.  I always loved that tree.  Sadly, after the house was sold the new owners chopped it down!  This will be a lovely new addition to our home.  Thanks, Shannon!

Project #6- Firepit

We are very lucky to have a fire pit; it’s like camping.  However, I saw an interesting DIY project on Pinterest from Flikr to spice it up into a mini patio area.  It might be something to think about for next year’s to do list.

I know it’s a little late in the year for this post, especially since we’ve already seen an inch of snow here, but there’s still time for some last minute work!

Happy Gardening!

Lauren

Lauren Lear

About Lauren Lear

Virginian to Mainiac, I moved to Maine for a photo internship with Aurora Photos and stayed because I met the man I would marry after winking at him on Match.com. My photo business, Lola Studios, is where I pursue my love of fantasy photography using makeup and props to create alternate realities for my clients. I started this blog a little over a year ago to share the wedding prep, diy, food, and family experiences that I had. To bring you up to speed, my husband Alex and I bought a home, got married, went on our honeymoon, hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas back to back (never again ;) ), I turned 30 (never again :( ), we went to London to celebrate our first married year, and we got a puppy, Walter! That’s about it! I hope you’ll join me to see what unfolds next. Enjoy!