Friday, May 29, 2009

The Beauty of a Garden

One Saturday, I went and helped my friend, Josie put up a garden wall in front of their house. It was getting difficult for her husband to mow that sloping part of their yard because of his bad knees.
Below is a picture of what we were working on ...
(all photos can be enlarged by clicking)


This is what it looks like after 2 days of hard work! ... but it was worth it, don't you think? It's hard to see, but Josie planted beautiful roses, dahlias, gladiolas, and I don't know what else. I'm pretty sure it will be a beautiful display of flowers once they start blooming.


If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you'll probably remember how my front yard looked "blah" in the winter. I've been debating on what to do to give it a little ommph! When I saw my friend's completed garden wall, I said, "that's it, that's what I will do with mine!" ;)
So, I took a week off from work, and my friends, Josie and Cecilia came and helped me spruce up the place. Pictured below is the before ...


... and after. There was a lot of hauling and digging. I could hardly move the next day; my whole body ached, very back- breaking work for sure, but the red blocks made a lot of difference! Sometime next year, I will strategically plant a few dwarf pines or yews, that will stay green in the winter. I think it will look nice with Christmas lights.


Remember also, when this same friend, Josie came and helped me start a new garden bed by our walkway? If you click the link, that's how it looked like then.

Anyhow, at first, we put two layers of blocks along the walkway, but I decided that it looked like too much, so we came up with just two layers in front as a garden wall, and one layer along the walkway as edging. I think it's more pleasing to the eye that way.


This is what the other side looks like. There are dahlias, zinnias, poppies, cosmos and marigolds growing in here, that is why I can't really dump some mulch yet.



The next day, Josie came back and helped me weed our peonies. I swear, sometimes, grasses and weeds grow as fast at the plants themselves.
This is before ...



... and after. I can almost feel my peonies thanking us! lol Now they can "breathe".
To save my aching back and rickety knees, I decided to use those landscape fabrics, covered with mulch to prevent weeds/grass from growing back.


It's amazing what you can do in a matter of two days. We were even able to weed, mulch and plant a few geraniums and snapdragons around some of my bushes/trees.


... like this one.



... and these. Next time, I will show you what I've accomplished for the rest of my week; a very busy and tiring but productive week off indeed! And hey, I lost 6 lbs from all these exertions by the way! ;)

24 comments:

Joy said...

I need friends like yours!!! My garden is in a sorry state at the moment. I know what I want, but don't have the 'ability' (OCD - can't touch soil, etc) to do it.

Your front lawn looks fab, Nance!

Thanks for visiting Norwich Daily Photo and leaving your comment. Have a great weekend! Come back tomorrow for more of Fairhaven!


joy
A Pinay In EnglandYour Love CoachI, Woman

Gorgeous MUM said...

Hello! Thanks for the visit!

It was so nice of you to help your friend do up their garden!

Good day!

Sidney said...

That is some serious work !
You have green hands!

PinayWAHM said...

Wow! What a transformation! I wish one day ganyan din ang harapan namin dito. Slowly but surely, hopefully.

Thanks for visiting Nance. Oo nga at baka maging "Imeldific"....ako paisa isa but it's slowly accumulating. I send some to my sister in the Phils para hindi obvious....hahaha.

Happy weekend!

Juliana

Lory said...

I wish we lived near each other! I could learn a lot from you! (and I sure could use another pair of hands with the gardening tasks. But it would be a give-and-take relationship. Haha!)

Your gardening works of art are beautiful!

Dena said...

Ola Kaibigan,

You have been busy! It looks amazing and now I want to do something like that too! Oh if only there were more hours in a day :)

Ingat,
Dena

RedLan said...

WIth this post, I can feel the presence of peace, helping each other. It's worth the backache and body pain! Sarap magpahinga dyan sa garden nyo. Relaxing while looking those flowers.

Monica said...

Hi Nance.. wow you have a very beautiful garden! You did a wonderful job ;-)

Mari said...

Hey, that is a lot of work. Imagine, hauling those heavy concrete blocks? That is a workout already. But it paid off. Now your front yard looks great.

Can I borrow your friends? I need to spruce up my front...and backyard. LOL

ghee said...

wowwww!i so love this kind of post nowadays coz im really into gardening!although,its my first time so im taking my time,little by little but i see myself enjoying so much!!hope my first flowers(scarlet) will bloom soon!

well,you and your friends have a huge yard that allow you all to become artistic by designing your gardens!and i may say that your effort paid you off!theyre really awesome!you have a very cute haus din pala ;)

shikes..pulling out the weed is not an easy task...i did it this morning,im glad that i only have a very tiny yard,hehe

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

wow ang ganda ng landscaping nyo.....libre na kayo ng gardener or landscaper.......
really, nice and clean....ganda talaga.

What a nice and helpful friend you are, .....nice to have friend, like you.

Happy Pfingsten to you n family.....

regards

Nance said...

One of these days, Joy, we'll come visit and work on your garden! ;)


Gorgeous MUM,
Bayanihan still lives in the US! Mabuhay! ;)


Sidney,
It was serious work indeed!...and it's never ending. lol

Nance said...

PinayWAHM,
Thanks, i told my friends, our property tax will surely go up again next year. :(
Aside from shoes, hilig ko din ang mga bags, seems like it's hard to find the perfect bag, don't you think? ;) excuses, excuses! ha ha


Manang,
that would be really cool if we live near to each other!
for the give and take? my friends and I will be content to try some of your delish cooking! he he he

Nance said...

Dena kaibigan,
Isn't that though?...we can never have enough time in a day to do everything that we want done!

Redlan,
sulit nga ang hirap, lalo na pag lumaki na at namumulaklak ang mga tanim. by late June most of my plants will start blooming, it will be more relaxing then.

docgelo said...

having green thumb is a blessing!
i wish i can also find time to plant even on potted soil, LOL.

ann said...

Wow! Kinaya nyo yun? Trabaho na yan ng mga professional sa landscaping ah.

Meryl (proud pinay) said...

oh wooooow! that's a very beautiful garden...hope i have a garden like yours!

Tracy said...

Such a lot happening there... that wall is very impressive and looks terrific! You have a wonderful property. So nice to catch up with you here now we're back from our trip. :o) Happy weekend ahead! ((HUGS))

Ciela said...

I wish I have a big garden as yours, but sans the difficult work. he he.. Anyway, difficult it may have been, but it's all worth it. What a great job!

Grace said...

Wow! You are doing awesome with beautifying that garden. You works are like of the professional. I wish you can come to our house and help me, too. :)

dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...

Beautiful garden, Ate Nance!
You did a wonderful job...
Congratulations for losing some weights...
I guess that's a Ford Expedition parked there in the first photo...

Meryl (proud pinay) said...

you also have a very nice house...ofcourse your garden is sooo beautiful too ^_^

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

just want to say, have a nice weekend,

regards,


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HvMASE4JIus/SiBAM_xEq_I/AAAAAAAABIM/wef4xl5I7PQ/s1600-h/Peonies+008.JPG

ganda ng view............

Anonymous said...

i love my mom and all of her friends!!

can i just say that I love you guys?? Take care of my mom and her garden while I am away please...

xx
evelin