Once again, I am plotting the demise of several bushes in my yard. Considering that my yard is about the size of a postage stamp, 3 ousted bushes will be a pretty big deal. If you recall, last year's de-bushification of the yard included removing 2 suffering bushes to make way for the veggie garden, and removing the offensive overgrown bushes from the front yard. This year we have 2 more bushes in the side yard planed for removal to fit more planter boxes for our veggie garden and one bush in the front yard just needs to go away. From day one, the lone bush on the right side of the front yard has irked me (I really feel like 'irk' is a very underused word- I'm rather fond of it- its appropriate in so many situations). Anyway, the bush- it's healthy, not a terrible size, but the placement leaves a bit to be desired. I gave it a year and hoped that I'd forget about it (to save us the manual labor), but it still bothers me much more than it should. It probably doesn't help that new episodes of Curb Appeal are on again, and I love seeing how huge of a difference just a few small changes can make. Too many DIY ideas causes trouble & I'm totally going to get myself in trouble this summer (don't tell Hubby).
The front yard started close to this. I don't have a FULL before picture of the front yard. This picture was taken after we removed a few suffering bushes from the right side-yard right next to the house:
After we finished the last bush-ectomy, it looked like this:
See how the bushy guy on the right just looks a bit awkward? There's nothing grounding him visually- he's just loitering out in the middle of the front yard. Awkward.
Through the wonders of photoshop, here's what I want to do there:
I know its not a MAJOR difference, but it looks more pulled together and hides the side yard/veggie garden. Cost-wise, it won't be a big investment, it'll just be a full day project (optimistically). Once we get the offending bush out of the ground, I want to plant 2 or 3 arborvitae in line with the house, leaving enough room next to the fence (all the way to the right, unseen in this pic) for a narrow path to the veggie garden.
Last year, the yard and gardens were largely experimental. We weren't sure what would grow or how things would work. Now that we have a better idea of how we use the space and what grows successfully, we may go a little nuts. I'm super duper excited. I just want it to be truly warm enough so I can get started!
Do you have any epic yard/garden projects planned?