Last couple of days cleaning up back yard 3

Another thing I did which I have really been thinking about an the easiest is adding a flower bed next to the carport on the yard side.

Before


Took down the small fence. I'm going to put t back up at the end before adding plants.


I got my weedeater out and trimmed the area out to get a idea of the area.


Then I tilled up all the area that is going to be a new flower bed. I seems to be great soil in that area. Also I made sure to go out enough so when rain comes off the carport it will go into the flower bed, which means less watering I have to do






New flower bed




Filled even with dirt




I'm not 100% sure what I am going to plant but I am mainly thinking about tulips, then planting other plants there so each season a new plant will come up and keep having color all years. I also might add pumpkin seed their to grow my own pumpkins.

Updated finishing planter. I have added dirt, mulch, 3 rows of bulbs, 1 row should come up then the next and then the next to give a spring to fall color each and every year.


Took down the small rails and add 3 long planters. I will most likely just put annuls in but I think it looks better.




Added mulch and the you can see the Iris are come up quickly.


I added some broken solar lights that I put dirt in and I will put some small plants that will give a little extra color during the spring-fall time. It is basically done. Then during the summer I am going to try and grow pumpkins in the planter.


This is the summertime look. Making the planter a little wider so the water above drips into it really helped the flowers grow.

Bench Planter

One of my first projects was adding gravel to the breeze way so it would look better, I wouldn't have to cut the grass there, and to make my little home that much bigger. When you have a small area you make all of it work for you.

I got a old bench for free from Craigslist. I had to go to Brentwood and get it, but it was free. It is a little used and run down but it still holds people. So I kept the old wood on it so it had a rustic look.

Bench


Added some 4x4 post to give the bench a little height. I put the bench right where the living room window was. Adding the 4x4 gave it enough height that you can watch tv outside over the couch. That will be good during football season.


I moved all the gravel out of the way and dug down a couple of inches. I then added some dirt from the load of dirt I got a little while ago. Then I added 3 lily hostas since the bench wont allow a lot of sunlight. I then added some potting soil so they should do pretty good.

Bushes added to side of house

The side of the house just looked a little boring. I had thought about adding some bushes, but I wasn't sure. Then while I was at Lowes I saw they had some bushes on sale, real cheap. Only $1 each so I figured if they died, it was only $7 and I would get to see how that area looked with bushes.


Plain and simple before


I started this project at about 9pm, so my neighbors might not have liked I was tilling up the yard when it was dark. I used my trucks lights to give me light.


I added 7 of these plants. They get about 4ft x 4ft and I spaced them about 2.5ft away from each other. They should fill into each other as they grow and should look good once they hit their full size. They also turn green, to yellow in fall, and red during the winter so it should give it a 3 color show. They also weren't doing well, that's why they were $1.


As you can see they are already getting greener and doing better after I got them.


I added some cedar mulch, redish color mulch, to see how the red mulch would look, and it was on sale. All the other areas have black natural mulch.


After. I think once they fill into each other they will look good

4 Smaller Wooden Boxes

I still had numerous wood left from the out decking I got, thanks again Christian. I made 4 smaller wooden planters that I put some small bushes in, Azaleas to be in fact. They are small bushes that bloom in the spring time and have some nice red flowers. They were added to be in front of the trailers, again draw your eye to the plants and not the trailers. Think or urban camo, haha. These came out ok, not my best work. That's what happens when you need to finish a project and tired.

Wood before, just normal.


I made 4 small wooden planters, only 3 shown


Small planter inside



The past planters I made I put a trash bag liner in them to try and keep water and the wet soil from getting to the wood. Just something to help them last longer. This one I got a new idea. I had just put in a couple of bushes, post about it in a moment, and the plastic pots they came in were just about the right size.


So with my handy creative mind I decided to use them. I guess that is from watching Junk Raiders on ION tv. Since it was round and the planters were square, I did the impossible. I made the round peg go into the square spot, and that kids toy said you couldn't. With a hammer it can be done easily.


With their new plants and in place.

Green

What I have done with Freecyling and Going Green with my house. Some of it is because it helps the environment and some is because I am cheap and you have to do what you have to do to get by.


Once was a deck in East Nashville. It was going to be thrown away but I was able to get the wood and reuse it for other things around the house.


1st was the compost bin


2nd was a square planter and 3rd the bigger longer planter


4th another identical big planter.


5th 4 little wooden planters for smaller bushes

Butterfly House

My newest work, but might be my worse. It didn't turn out how I wanted and I might do back and remake it with another type of wood or screws. This one was just being a pain for some reason. The wood wanted to split, and one did that I had to remake one piece, and it just wanted to be a pain even though it wasn't that big. I make the butterfly house to attract butterflies. I would have done things for birds and bees, but I have a nephew and other friends with kids and butterflies aren't scary. I have already started some small plants in the back (coneflowers) of the big planter to attract butterflies and I will have a couple of other plants in the work and I might buy (butterfly weed) to help bring them in.

2nd Big Planter For Trailers

A planter box may not sound great to a lot of people, but just think that these wood use to be a old deck. So think of freecyling (IONLife channel term) or going green.

As the plants grow they will start to hide the trailers some, not 100% but just look better. The plant I have in it right now I started as seeds indoors and they can grow up to 15 ft tall.


Also with all the planters might keep people from trying to steal them. Trailers are valuable, but I have a trailer lock on 2 of the 3 and a thick chain attaching 2 of them. As soon as the plants start to grow it will really take shape.



It's looking better, slowly.