Need Some Sull? (Soil)

Spring is here, and so are some changes to the outside of our house.  There have been many slow difficult tasks involved, but there has been definite progress.  I was really hoping to have been working on other projects inside the house, but as these outdoor projects were time sensitive we had to do them first.  This is what our house looked like when we moved in:

Our main issue was that the sidewalk in front of our house (that connected the front stairs to the driveway) was preventing water from flowing away and instead sending it under the house.  So, step one was to get rid of the sidewalk.  Two borrowed (and both broken) sledge hammers, a pick ax, and a rented jackhammer later the sidewalk was gone.

Whew!  That was some hard work.  Next we removed the large bushes to the right of the steps and then I relocated the small bushes to the space around the tree in the front.

Let me take this opportunity to say that I have never planted anything in my life.  When plants are brought into my house they usually receive a death sentence.  But I've been trying really hard, so hopefully the plants indoors and out will make it!

The next thing we needed was dirt.  Lots of dirt.  As previously mentioned, The Hubs was working crazy hours, so this task was taken over by an ambitious Wifey.  2,000 lbs. of soil later, I was ready to plant new bushes.

The ground was ready, but as I know nothing about plants it took me a while to decide what kind of bushes to plant.  I'm also a bargain shopper.  I knew I wanted something that would flower and that could handle the heat, and finally found some Abelia bushes that will hopefully treat me right!  When I asked the man at the nursery if I could grow this type of plant, he asked if I could change a flat tire.  When my answer was yes, he assured me I could grow these.  Not really sure how the two correlate, but they already have these crazy shoots of new growth which is awesome.  Our neighbors have tons of beautiful plants and dug up three of something that I don't remember the name of for us to plant, too.

If only I had my camera on me when we tried out the sprinklers for the first time this season.  Apparently we jackhammered into one of the pipes and had a geyser.  I thought it was rather entertaining, but it took Tim a while to come around to the funny side of things.  He got it all patched up and now all we need for the front to be finished is some sod to cover the rest of the dirt.

If you made it this far, I'm glad you were curious enough to read.