Front yard - what I've been working on.

With the nice weather we've been having off and on over the past month or so I was able to get a project crossed off my list already. I've gone outside to work on any day that it hasn't been raining. I can't believe how much easier digging and removing grass is when the ground is really wet. The grass practically came off in strips as I pulled it out. I remember removing grass in the summer and it was very difficult to dig out. If you need to get rid of grass, try doing it while the ground is wet from a good rain.

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the front of the house for a long time. I used to have front of the house shots as my blog header, but for now I just can't part with that cute hummingbird. Here you can see just how long the grass is already. I've seen people out mowing their grass, much earlier than usual. Ours is about half grass half moss right now. We're just leaving the moss, it's actually pretty looking.

The crooked line of edging was what I had wanted to fix. I had enlarged two different parts of this big bed last summer and didn't do a very good job matching up the edging. Removing the grass and dirt here took a couple of days.

This is after I moved the edging back and refilled with about 18 bags of soil. All that blank space equals more room for new plants.

This is looking down from the other side after I was able to do a little cleanup and weeding here. In the new area I sprinkled in Poppy seeds, moved some Veronicas out that didn't have enough space and planted the Siberian irises from Linda. Even though the edge isn't perfect I think it looks much better.

Another place I cleaned and even moved a couple of plants around. Look at all that bare space, I can't wait to fill it in with seedlings from winter sowing and the dahlia tubers I dug up last fall.

I can't believe how long the grass is, maybe I should at least edge it. I love how the light shines through the Spirea 'Magic Carpet' new red growth.

And a view about halfway down. The closest shrub with the green leaves is an Abelia and the one in the middle is a Mexican Orange (Choysia). Both are evergreen and add some much needed green during the winter.

I still have more to do in the rest of the front yard, but what a great feeling to get something accomplished already!