Our urban neighborhood has lots of perks, like being within walking distance of great restaurants, shops, and even the most charming little library. But one thing you don’t get in the city is a big yard. I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t trade our location for anything. But we really need to make the most of our limited outdoor space! Right now, our front landscaping leaves a bit to be desired. I’m determined to change that this year, and I’m partnering with Roundup® For Lawns to make that a reality.
If I had to sum up our outdoor space in one phrase, it would be, “so much lawn, so little yard.” Our house is long and thin and situated on a corner lot. Our front yard is pretty shallow, but the grass seems to stretch on forever.
Here’s a rendering to give you a better perspective of the long, thin layout of our yard.
Our backyard {which is really a side yard} is small, and was pretty dysfunctional when we moved in 9 years ago. The patio wasn’t big enough for more than a couple of chairs. The borders of rocks all around the grass took up valuable space. And the lawn was at a pretty steep slope down toward the fence on the right {although it’s hard to tell in the photo}.
Over time, we’ve transformed the backyard into a space that I’m pretty proud of. Phase one of the backyard makeover was the modern, gridded patio, which is a great entertaining space that feels like an outdoor living room.
In phase two of the backyard reno, we added a retaining wall along the fence line to raise and level the right side of the yard. This made the small grass area more usable for the kids, and also allowed us to add a playset tucked in the corner next to the garage.
For all the improvements we’ve made in the backyard, I feel like the curb appeal in the front yard has been slowly slipping in the other direction.
When we moved in, the planter boxes on either side of our front porch were filled with clumps of feather grass and lavender. It looked so pretty that first year, but by year two, problems were arising. The clumps of grass quadrupled in size from one year to the next, and as the grass got taller it flopped over and overtook the porch. The bigger problem though was that the lavender attracted bees. SO. MANY. BEES. Not ideal for a front porch!
We ripped out the tall grass and the lavender, and planted different flowers. But the flowers we picked couldn’t handle the south facing sun all day. After more flower fails, we switched to ground cover, which has been doing a bit better. However, the ground cover doesn’t provide any height, so the planter boxes look empty from the sidewalk. Whomp. Whomp.
The good news is that I have a plan to fix this planter box problem… The bad news is that it’s probably not in the budget for this summer. I would like to put large stone caps over the top of the existing planter boxes, and then place large pots on top of the stone caps to add color and height on each side of the porch. Looks good, right?!
The stone caps for the planter boxes are going to cost more than I had hoped, so that project probably won’t get done this year. But I’m determined to do what I can to improve our curb appeal this spring and summer, so I figured why not start by focusing my efforts on the single largest feature of our yard… all that lawn!
The winter here in Denver was warm and dry, and it shows on our lawn. But I know that spring is just around the corner, and I’m dreaming of a lush, green lawn that looks so gorgeous that you don’t even notice our sad planter box situation.
But I’d also like maintaining the lawn to be hassle free. That’s not too much to ask, right?
There are a few signs of green along the very edges of our lawn, and where there’s green, the weeds are already starting to pop up.
Argh! Who has time for weeds?! My five-year-old son thinks that a lawn full of dandelions is “beautiful,” but I want those weeds gone without sacrificing our precious summer family time to deal with them over and over again.
Fortunately, Roundup has been the #1 weed killing brand for over 40 years, and this year they’ve come out with a new formula for use directly in your lawn. And there are Roundup For Lawns formulas designed specifically for the different grass types found in the northern and southern regions of the country – so you’ll know you are getting the product best-suited for your grass type.
Roundup For Lawns is designed to kills weeds, not the lawn, and I’d call that a win/win! We’re going to try out Roundup For Lawns in our yard this year, and I’ll report back in a month or so to let you know how it’s going. I’m looking forward to a beautiful lawn that improves our curb appeal, and I look forward to spending many warm spring and summer days enjoying the grass, playing games with our boys.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Roundup® For Lawns.
