Around the House: Getting Outside

13 May 2011

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By Dawn Sailors In Around the House, Outside, Projects

The weather here has been pretty up and down, like every spring I guess. So when it’s actually nice outside, we’ve been trying to get out as much as we can.

It’s my goal this summer to get the yard and landscaping looking at least a little more presentable than they have since we moved in. I did a little work outdoors right when we bought the house, but just what was absolutely necessary to keep it from looking like it was abandoned. Since then, however, we’ve been so focused on getting the indoors in shape that we have really neglected the yard.

So I started planning a few weeks ago, trying to figure out what is reasonable to attempt this summer and what can be put off til next year. And I started by moving one of the three large peony bushes from the side of the house…

…to this empty patch of dirt off of the deck.

Both areas had been bothering me for a while. It’s hard to tell in the picture above, but when that bush gets big later in the season, it starts to block the gate opening. Just not an ideal place for it. Incidentally, I have no idea why that lattice is there, and it won’t be for long if I have anything to say about it. I’m no botanist, but I’m pretty sure these peonies aren’t going to be ‘climbing’ it any time soon. As for the deck planter, I assume there was a plant of some sort in there at one time, but it has just looked like a pile of dirt for the last year, so it was time to get something done. I’m hoping that if the move didn’t kill it, the peony bush will fill it out nicely and I can’t wait for the smell!

I should interject here to say that I have a real problem with keeping plants alive. That is the other (real) reason I’ve been putting off the landscaping projects. I don’t know why, but this is where plants come to die. I’m trying to get better though, and I guess you have to start somewhere. So this bush is my somewhere.

So there it is. We got it dug up and moved. I realize it looks like Brett’s doing all the work here, but I swear I did the majority of the digging! I’m a little worried that maybe I didn’t dig out wide enough and accidentally cut off some of the roots. I guess we’ll see if my first transplant is a success. Here’s hoping!