Landscaping Done Easy

As you all know I LOVE to do yard work. I've cut down my fair share of trees in our yard and loved the look on Nat's face when he came home to find yet another tree or shrub gone. :-) This week we had a landscaper come by, the same one who cut down the massive pine tree that was next to the house, to give us some ideas as to how to keep the moisture out of our crawl space. We were thinking it should be as simple as putting more of a slope in the front or something. (We REALLY are amateurs at this and it is SO hard to not have my dad close by to solve these problems for me!). Well, Terry Zeigler, of Zeigler Landscaping and Nursery gave us a GREAT quote on just doing the landscaping for us. I was SHOCKED and excited to think it could all be done so quickly and pain free. They came the next day and with the help of 5 hardworking men, they cut down the hideous tree in the front yard, put shrubs all in the front yard, mulched, buried the drain tile from our downspouts, filled in the massive mud  pit Nat had created when he took out my lilac tree, and ground down 2 more stumps in our backyard that I just could not convince myself to dig up myself. All this in ONE day and within our budget. It really would have taken Nat and I all summer to do ourselves. I love how it all looks in the front now. We now need to trim up the tree in the front, but as soon as dad can get back down here I am pretty sure he and Nat will get that done. :-)  I figure being on a ladder with a reciprocating saw is not such a good idea for a pregnant lady. I'm not saying I won't be on the ground with one, but the ladder is out of the question at least until baby comes.  So here are the pics of our newly landscaped house done the easy way....by the professionals! The first two pics are from right when we moved in in April of last year and the rest are obviously the after pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

I am looking forward to adding to this down the road at my own pace. Or whenever mom gives me some good ideas as to what to add. :-)

Here they put pavers on the left side. It use to be dry, nasty mulch and the boys just made a mess of it every time we were in the front yard. We plan to put a bench swing in that space!!