The Corner Hill

Last summer when we first toured the house for possible purchase, the yard on the south border of the property was completely overgrown with wild grape vines, honeysuckle vines, and other brush.   The photo below is standing not eh corner of our property, looking diagonally into the corner of the yard.  Somewhere back behind there is our house!   The south side of the yard runs 200' along a side street down the right side of the photo... the sidewalk disappears into a dark canopy of shade trees.   This corner was an overgrown jungle of messy vines all winter until we began to tackle it last month.

In early March of this year, some we were out working on the jungle with hand pruners and loppers, wondering how in the world we would ever make progress.   Then two guys in a pick up truck drove by and offered to help us clear the corner of the brush.  We immediately negotiated what we all felt was a fair price.  Two hours later, we had the corner pretty much clear cut of all the brush and vines.   The photo below shows the corner in it's raw state - it's looking pretty stark in the weeks before the leaves come out on the trees.   But even in this unfinished phase, our neighbors passing by began giving us lots of compliments about how we're "finally taking care of the corner".  I guess it has been a few years since a gardener lived in our house.  (that's my hardworking husband there working on the messy hill... kind of gives some scale and perspective about the size of the hill and the size of the clean-up task!)

Now in mid April, the main part of the corner has been fully cleared of all the remaining vines and roots, and we have planted the beginnings of a perennial and shrub garden.   We put in several shrubs such s Nellie Stevens Holly, willowleaf viburnum, variegated wiegela, and a common lilac, and three double pink Knock Out roses.   We also planted perennials such as 'Becky' Shasta Daisy, lavender, sedum 'Autumn Joy', coreopsis 'Zagreb', and several dahlias.  

We still have a lot of work to do to finish caring the south hill of brush and weeds.  And we have to spread mulch and add in some sunny annuals.  And of course keep the garden watered the first year so we don't lose things to the hot summer sun on the hill.   But I'm excited about the prospects of a "controlled chaos" hillside garden, as compared to the messy jungle that was here last year.   I'll try to keep this post updated over the course of the summer to show continuing progress.

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Fencing For the Dogs

We adopted these adorable pups last November, and have been working on getting them trained and integrated into family life since then.   They're rescues - so they came with some behavioral and emotional baggage, so it's been quite a long road.  One of the things we're dealing with is fear and anxiety around other dogs.  Especially dogs we encounter while we're out on leashed walks.   When our dogs see another dog, ours lunge and bark and become aggressive, all based on a fear of the other dogs.  

So we need to build a fence in our yard so we can have outside time without encountering other dogs.   We're lucky that our back yard has two sides already fenced with chain link.  While I'm not a big lover of chain link fencing, the fact is that it's there and it's functional, so we're not going to replace it. Because we live in a historical neighborhood, we are not permitted to erect new chain link to match the old.  So we are going to put in wood picket fencing on the remaining sides.   Wood because the historical society won't allow vinyl or PVC.   I think it's going to be pretty and functional and provide shelter and containment for our dogs to relax and play without worrying about other dogs.

I've got all the necessary approvals from the neighborhood architectural board, the city's historical society and the permit from the planning board.   Here are the details of what we're going to do:

Our house faces west (the left side of the plat above), and there's a 20' hill drop on the south side of our property (the bottom of the photo).  Our lot is divided by our driveway that goes up the hill around the to the left.    We have existing chain link on the north (top) and east (right) side of the back yard, and we plan to add new wood picket fencing on the red ink areas.

Here are some concept photos:

We may install a white arched arbor around the 5' gate in the future, but not right away.

This view (below) of the back yard shows how the fence will come up along the driveway (out of view on the right), take a turn, and then turn again back toward the house.

 The photo below is what it might look like from inside the gate near the house...

...and what it might look like from the middle of the back yard.   The grassy areas in the corner outside the fence would be turned into mulched flower beds, and some of the grass near the fence on the inside would also become mulched flower beds.  

I'm pretty excited about this project - it'll be nice to be able to play with the dogs off leash in the yard, without worrying about them getting away or being afraid of other dogs.  And I think the pickets will really complement our 1925 Colonial home's architecture, and provide some wonderful backgrounds for pretty flower plantings.

The fence is due to be installed soon - woohoo!

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This is what two hours looks like

Before:

After:

Yep, that's what two hours in the garden looks like.  Guess I need to spend a coupe more hours and finish the job!   We've got 12 cubic yards of shredded mulch in the driveway that needs to be spread, and those weeds aren't gonna remove themselves, are they?

Welcome!

Welcome to Harmony Hills Home and Garden!  I'm so glad you're here!

We're gonna have a lot of fun here, I think, caring for this old home and the property around it.  Many lives have already been lived here over the years, and now my husband and I are the next in line to keep this lovely old home going for the generations to follow.