house stuff

operation front door // added the pretty

May 9, 2012

operation front door

Operation front door was in full swing this weekend. And I mean full dirt-embedded-nails, sticks-in-hair, wake-up-and-I-can’t-move-the-next-morning swing.

Before you even ask,

I still haven’t painted the door.

But just wait until you see what I did do! My motivation started Thursday night when a neighbor knocked on my door to see if I needed any help weeding the front garden. ha! Talk about a passive aggressive way to say, “Hey, Miss, your yard looks TERRIBLE please do something about it.” I politely declined the offer and spent the rest of the evening pumping myself up for some serious yardwork in the days ahead.

Friday afternoon I started to tackle the front garden:

ugh.

Just in case you still don’t get it, I’ll throw in one more pic for you.

See all those little mini trees sprouting up in the middle? Yeah, that’s a weed. A weed tree. There is actually just one tree in the center of everything. I went on a hunt for it.

Weed tree branches were all over the place!

There’s the real tree! It’s in view! Aside from cleaning up the branches, this was as far as I got on Friday.

Saturday I headed out to get pretty plants, work gloves (because my hands bit the dust after Friday’s ordeal) and some cutting/trimming instruments (there are more weed trees to tackle in this yard, and a little four dollar trowel is not sufficient)

Anyway, one shopping trip later and here’s what I have:

I just put in annuals for now because later in the summer I plan on putting some mums in the bald spots. Those were there before but went completely kaput. So for the time being, I put in some gerbera daisies and purple coleus in between.

It didn’t even occur to me until just now that I could and should have taken out that ADT sign for the photo shoot.

I also got some plants for the side garden that I had been working on. And in case you forgot, here’s where I started with that area:

before

and then I had:

operation front door after

and finally to (drum roll please):

It still looks a little barren, but I’m hoping it will fill in as the summer rolls along. Because some of the tulips proved fruitless, I dug them up and replaced them with some new perennials.

Boy, I’m hoping the Dahlias come in, or else I’m just going to have big holes in the garden!

In between the perennials I just put in a mix of annuals. How did I decide which ones? I just looked for ones I liked and were in the $2.98 a flat section.

I had four dahlia bulbs, so there’s one on the other side of the front steps and another in this little trinket of a front garden

So there you have it! I added the pretty all around the house. I did yard work in the back, but we’ll save that for another post because this one is getting long. Plus I can add it to the list just so I can check it off later, and who doesn’t love crossing things off their list?!

Going back to the official Operation Front Door Checklist:

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17 Comments

  • Jenny Hayward May 9, 2012 at 8:17 am

    Steph, It is really looking good around there. Time well spent. You can do mine next week.

  • Meagan Opel Photography May 11, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    My body aches just looking at all the work you did to the brick walkway. It looks great!!!

    • steph May 11, 2012 at 8:06 pm

      haha, I was definitely sore the next day, but it was worth it! Thanks!

  • Nik Nik May 11, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    Great work, Steph. The difference is quite striking. Also loving the coffee can herb garden. Thanks for the inspiration.

  • kellie@foodtoglow May 12, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Isn’t it great to see a tangible difference with hard work? Unlike, say, with dieting?

  • copperwyre May 12, 2012 at 5:10 pm

    My neighbors do that from time to time. Makes me cranky, honestly. And even more recalcitrant about mowing the lawn. I begrudge time spent on something I can’t eat.

  • Connie T May 12, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    Those flowers will look nice when they grow.

  • lunatactics May 13, 2012 at 11:51 am

    The lavender should fill out beautifully. Excellent Choice. Your plants look lovely.

    • steph May 13, 2012 at 6:40 pm

      Thank you!

  • Katie P May 13, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Wow, it looks awesome! If you sprinkle a little Preen in the flower beds, it will ward off any new weed trees and can help give a little oomph to the new flowers!

    • steph May 13, 2012 at 6:37 pm

      Awesome! Thanks for the tip!

  • purpleowltree1234 May 13, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    Can I ask- how’d you get all the grass and weeds out of the paving brick path? I worked for a whole day on these, weeding by hand and trowel, and got about two yards done. It looks great but I’ve run out of motivation for it cuz it’s such time consuming work. Any tips would be welcome!! 🙂
    Love from Rach.

    • steph May 13, 2012 at 8:47 pm

      haha! unfortunately I don’t have any shortcuts, but it was helpful to do it after a rain, the weeds came out of the ground a little easier when it was wet. Regardless, it was time consuming!

      • purpleowltree1234 May 13, 2012 at 9:32 pm

        Ahh, That’s probaby the secret! Where I worked on the brick path weeding, it almost NEVER rains! Only about six weeks each year. Ahh, maybe I’ll soak it with the hose before I try again. 🙂 Great tip- thank yoU!
        Rach.

  • Adriel Dela Rosa May 14, 2012 at 3:05 am

    Over all, it turned from a rubbish garden into a voluptuous one, period!

  • operation front door // bringing up the rear | stuff steph does May 22, 2012 at 7:12 am

    […] Plant some more flowers, “pretty it up” […]

  • operation front door // the painted door (finally!!) | stuff steph does May 24, 2012 at 7:10 am

    […] Plant some more flowers, “pretty it up” […]

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