Category Archives: Landscaping

Landscaping improvement projectsWho doesn’t like having a nice front or back yard? I certainly do! And this category, includes the different landscaping improvement projects I have completed, from sprinkler tubing and heads installation, tree planting, weed control, to landscape decoration and more!

How We Made a Flower Bed in Front of Our House

Planning a flower bed layout

The area of our front lawn where we made the flower bed

If you’ve been following this blog, you should know that our house is always a work in progress. Although it has pretty much everything we need and want, there are a few areas that we would not mind changing or remodeling. We’ve been trying to take it easy though, so we’ve been focusing on the areas that require less work. In other words, those we think that just need some minor improvements or some love.

This is part of the reason why, most of our last posts, have been about home decor.

One of the areas that we always thought needed some love was our front lawn. Although we replaced three ugly bushes with Alberta Spruces and planted an Ash tree on the left side of the garage when we worked in our backyard, it still needed some work.

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How to Add a Gate to an Existing Wood Fence

putting a gate in an existing fence

Adding a gate to an existing wood fence

Right after we started working on our low maintenance, low water, no grass landscaping project, it was obvious that an extra fence gate on the east side of the house was a must. Unless we really wanted to carry all of the materials the long way around the house, adding the gate was actually our first priority.

Luckily, it is very easy to add a gate to an existing wood fence. There are obviously different ways to do it, but, assuming you do not need to somehow modify your fence (add an extra post for example), this is a project you can complete in a couple of hours.

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Our Low Maintenance, Low Water, No Grass Landscaping

Our landscaping without grass; west side of the house

Side of the house before completing our landscaping without grass

When it comes to landscaping, well, pretty much everything around the house, actually, I’m one of those neighbors that tries to stay on top of its maintenance. Pulling weeds, mowing every week, picking up leaves in the fall, in other words, always making sure it (and the house in general) looks nice.

However, the fact that I stay on top of everything does not mean that I enjoy the work. In fact, I do not enjoy landscaping work, at all. You may have guessed this by now, though. Because as you know, I like using lots of rocks, which usually help a lot with weed control, meaning, less long term maintenance, even though they’re harder to spread than other materials.

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Wood or Rock Mulch Around the House? For me, the answer is Rock

Wood or rock mulch around the house? For the second time, I went with rock.

House as it looked after completing the rock work

After settling and living at my second house for a couple of months, spring was rapidly approaching, for me, that meant answering the following question: wood or rock mulch around the house?

As you may have read before, when I decided to buy this house, I knew what I was getting into. I knew about everything that needed to be taken care of for it to look the way I wanted. It had potential, but it also needed a lot of work, yes, they were mostly cosmetic upgrades, but it was work nonetheless.

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Backyard Landscaping Makeover

Inexpensive backyard landscaping ideas? Follow my example and do it yourself!

My new backyard!

As you learned from my garage improvement post, I do not like eye sores! Unfortunately, this house had a few of them. As you’ve also learned, though, I was determined to do something about them!

Next on the list was the small backyard, full of all kinds of weeds, uneven, dry spots and an improperly installed sprinkler system with stuck out and mower broken heads.

In early August 2011, I decided to start working on it.

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