Ding Dong the Weeds are Dead!

So since I've moved into my house I have had weeds in place of my flowers in my flower beds. I didn't mean for it to happen - it just did. When we first moved in, there were quite a few weeds, and I told Jon that I wanted to get rid of them so that the little flowers could grow. However, such as is life, we had to prioritize and we decided that fixing our house into a liveable capacity took priority so we could get out of his parents basement. (Even though we closed on our house just a couple of weeks after the wedding, it still took three months to recarpet and refloor, repaint, get new countertops installed, get appliances, fix walls, etc.) Not that we didn't like it at his parents, it's just not fun as newlyweds, I'm sure you understand. ;) So we focused on the house.

Once the house was liveable, there were still repairs and little things that we had to do to make it nice, and with work and Jon's school, tearing down the chicken coop in the backyard from the previous owners, my car getting hit and then my hood crashing into my windsheild and us having to fix and paint my car, we just never got around to our little flowers. So the weeds took over and then winter came.

The following spring we decided to paint my car a different color, and the weeds continued their hostile takeover of our flower beds. I contemplated trying to get the weeds, but they were almost overwhelming now - plus there was still work to be done on our property that took priority. We put in an extra driveway for Jon's boat, we put in a sprinkler system in the back yard and planted grass, fixed our fence, and lots of other little things. Another winter comes, and the weeds continue to thrive. We would cut them down at times, especially when we came back from a vacation and saw a weed that was taller than Jon (he's 6'2"!), we made sure that the weeds were cut short, but they were still getting thicker.

So now we get to this spring. The snow melted and I saw all the little weeds, a thick carpet in my flower bed, working their way up through the soggy soil and I had decided I'd had it. I told Jon that once the weather was warm enough, we were going to destroy these weeds. So, that's what we did! I took one of those garden Claws and tilled up all the weeds (okay, half of them and Jon did the other half) and Jon would shovel them up and throw them away. It took a lot of effort because they were so bad, and the whole time I kept thinking of how few weeds we'd had when we first got the house. No time to dwell on the past though, we kept working, and finally they were gone! To make sure they didn't come back we put down that gardening paper and went and got some red lava rocks and put those on top. Then we took the big decorative rocks that had previously been hidden and put them on top and - Poof! We suddenly had a presentable yard! It didn't take nearly as long as I thought - it looked a lot more daunting then it really was. Maybe it's just that Jon works faster than I do, I don't know, but we got it all done in just a couple of hours - and that included running to the store twice to get the lava rocks! I still haven't planted new flowers yet, but I'm getting some tiger lillies from a friend at work and then I wanted to transport some of my tulips over there. It will be so pretty when it's done! (As long as I keep it nice!)

Now we just have to tackle the area under our pink blossom tree (I don't know what it's really called, but it's pretty!) and we'll be set! That one's a little harder because there's an electric outlet there and we don't want to till up the wire and get shocked. Anyway, here's our pictures of our hard work paying off! (I didn't get a picture of the weed before so you could really see it, but I'll see if I can find some weeds that compare and snap a shot of them!)