Spring Prep Update

7 tons topsoil

I honestly did not know what to title this back-breaking experience. Saturday we were scrambling around trying to see what local nurseries offered in trees, soil, and mulch. In the process, we added to our outdoor plans. (more on that later)

Saturday we visited three nurseries and our local Lowes in search of the perfect evergreens for the "the beast" side of the house. What a nightmare! Due to how narrow that side of the house is, our options continue to narrow. 

While searching for trees, we began to really think through the process. Local nurseries were advising us to kill all surrounding weeds, amend the soil, add fertilizer, and mulch on top to maximize the amount of growth the trees could grow yearly.

We went to Lowes to look at all the plant labels. We were looking at the evergreen labels, tree labels, and shrub labels reading how much sun they would need, how big they would become at maturity, and viewing the overall picture of them at maturity level. A waft of sweet smell caught our senses. There on display sat gardenias. We had gardenias at our old house. My husband appreciated their delightful smell at our old house, so we bought them. The nursery worker warned us to wait until the last frost before planting them........yes, we have more plants to plant now, ha!

Since our house was built last year, the ground has been stripped of its topsoil. The rains have created rivets in our soil. We decided we would start with purchasing topsoil. The topsoil was only $135 for a 7 ton load, including delivery.  So there was that huge pile on Monday staring at us.

Here we are four days later sore from hauling dirt in our wheelbarrow all day yesterday. Our sweet neighbor suggested another local nursery to check out. Needless to say, I am excited! The more nurseries the more options, I say!

Our total list for this year is starting to look like this:

• Fill in rivets with topsoil
• Level out the yard
• Seed the yard with zoysia grass seed (should come today)
• Plant Gardenia bushes
• Dig holes for trees
• Decide on trees!
• Purchase trees this weekend
• Purchase and bring in mulch this weekend
• Plant trees

 And all because it's Spring Break this week....we're a gluttony for sore muscles.