Attack on the Front

The front yard was starting to look a little ragged around the edges from all the spring growth, so I borrowed my fave tool from my in-laws - the Hedgehog - for a little light saturday morning hedge trimming.

I got a little carried away. And almost three hours later, caked in sweat, dirt, and a little blood, the front yard was out of surgery with a successful mini facelift.

Before #1 - Between the window and the plant bed.

Before #2 - From the front.

My plan was to trim the hedges and bushes, mostly spurred by a weird, perfectly square dead spot that's formed on one end of the hedge (my suspicion is the flooring guys draped some sort of chemical-coated towel there).

So once that guy was cut out and the hedge shaped up, I moved on to the plants flanking the other side of the walkway... then the bushes in the plant bed.... then the rhodie on the far right... then the low bushes in the front plant bed. Now that I had my mojo working and my yard waste bin filling, I figured I'd just quickly pull out this decorative grass plant that's driven me crazy since day one.

I'm looking at you, crazy grass under the tree.

An hour in, my foe had a name - Sedge.

Previous planters were great about leaving tags... Now that we're unearthing them.

After another hour, I was victorious. But tip of the day: You like sedge and want to plant some? Don't. Just don't. It's like a tattoo: If you think you may ever want it removed in the future, it's not worth it in the first place. That's the most hard labor I've put into less than two square feet of space EVER.

Finally mowed down the grass to get at the thatched bottom growth.

Buh-bye.

But with that out and all my trimming done, look how pretty!

Decorative rock border - Who knew?!

Oh and just because it cracked me up once I looked back over the pictures - Did you notice the observer in the window in the first few photos? Let's zoom in...

Puggle photo bomb!

He loves that window seat.