Out with the old........

Back in June when I knew I would be owning this house, I knew as well, that I would be making some changes to the landscaping. As you can see from these photos, it's too much green......no color except green. The ground cover you see is called Juniper-Blue Rug. It spreads out and the branches grow along the ground. Personally, I don't care for it. So I checked with one of the local nursery's in town, Mulhall's, and asked them how hard it would be to remove it. The guy I spoke with put his hand out and shook mine. He told me, "good luck." Alllriigghhtyy then.....

That wasn't what I wanted to hear! Here is what I'm talking about:

Juniper plants....

More of the ugly things....

......and more..........

and lastly, the close up of them. Ish!

I went home from there and proceeded to cut the branches down to the root stalk. It took an hour and 1/2 just to do the area next to the bushes. It was all I could handle for one day. My back was practically yelling at me once I finished! Once again I discovered that the former owners had let another project fall by the wayside. I found many dead branches under the top layer. And the branches themselves were very thick. My neighbor loaned me his pruning shears (the kind with the long handles and a moon-shaped cutter) and I went to town trying to remove the thicker branches.

Once that was done, I got my shovel and started digging around the main root stalk. At this point, my inner voice was cussing myself out for even starting this project in the first place! But the angel on my shoulder told me I was smart to do it myself as it is less expensive. So now, I have two out of three roots dug out, and one more to go. I will have to pull it out of the ground using a chain or rope, etc., as I can't get it dug out. But I have to say, it already looks 10 times better than before. Next week, I hope to get some flower bulbs planted to bring more color to the area in the spring. And eventually, I will remove the bushes as well. I would like to plant a lower profile plant in front of the railing. It will dress up the front of the house a little better as well as provide better security in front of the windows. The ground is covered with landscape rock that will be going away too. I will leave it just soil so that I can plant flowers there next spring.

It pays to watch HG TV and see the many ideas they have for things like this!

Here is what I ended up with after all the tedious work:

One of the small piles of the removed branches.

The last root section to be removed.

Is this better or what?!