Then and Now

Hello and Welcome to my garden located in Pittsburgh Pa. I am going to keep this Blog to show progress in my garden, and record the plants and animals living and growing there. I have decided to do this because for the first time in my life I own my home instead of renting and can do as I want with my yard. When I bought my house in 2009 it was a dump the widows were broken out and the place was literally falling apart. The house was owned by a bank in Maryland  and for sale as a bank repossession. I received a little bit of money for a work related injury that messed up my back. I knew my back was going to remain screwed up and I would not be back to work any time soon. I also knew without an income the money would run out quickly if I had to pay rent and storage for furniture I was holding on to so I looked for a house that I could afford. Thanks to the idiotic politicians for making the housing market so unstable I was able to find something cheep. Enough of that though I am not doing a political blog and do not really get into politics. The House had no landscaping at all when I bought it. The back yard was covered with AstroTurf like indoor out door carpet. Where the carpet was not covering the ground there were tall weeds Poison Ivy, and wild grape vine covering everything.. The front yard was all brown and dead with nothing growing. The sunny side of the house had stumps from old shrubs that were cut down and it was grown over with weeds that were taller than me. The shady side of the house had dead brown grass, weeds, and a messed up sidewalk. 

My Front Yard the First YearThis was my front yard when I bought the house as you can see it was nothing but dead weeds, poison ivy, and dead grass. After about the first two months I got some grass to grow and planted some Pansy along the top of the stone wall. I also planted a piece of iris and found some Belgium Block and concrete slabs that were buried under the  dirt and Astro Turf in my back yard. 

By the middle of summer the Pansy was dead and I started trying to get some foundation plants in. I decided right from the start that I did not want any lawn in front of the house and started tearing out all the grass and weeds. I saved all the Wild Carrot and Red Clover and used them just to make it look like I was at least trying to do a garden. I also threw down wild flower mix and planted some gladiolas.

Wild flower mix and Queen Anne's lace along the front of the porch.

Hostas Red Clover and Forsythia.

I was told by a friend about a web site that I could join called Pittsburgh Freecycle where people post adds of stuff that they want to get rid of. I was told that people were always posting plants that they no longer wanted. I wanted a nice garden but knew I did not need to spend a lot of money on it. I signed up for the site and soon responded to adds for free day lilies, hosta, zebra grass, spirea, cactus, and other perennials. I also started planting Ox Eye Daisy, Chicory, and other wild flowers found along the roadside and growing in friends yards as weeds. I like using native plants and even to this day I still do incorporate them in my garden. Some times this turns into a problem but that is all part of gardening you learn from your mistakes and work to correct them. The Wild carrot (Daucus carota) also called Queen Anne's lace and the Red Clover were both free and nice the first year but when I started putting in other plants that I wanted they became weeds and were no longer wanted in the flower beds where I first planted them.

My Back Yard the First Year

This was my back yard after I lifted up the indoor outdoor carpet and cut down the weeds and most of the grape vine. After lifting the carpet and clearing brush I found pavers buried under all the weeds and roots. As I post more pictures you will see that I put these to good use.A plan starts to come together and plants go in Daisy, Coreopsis, Cone flower, Marigolds, Morning Glory, Tomatoes, Coleus, Basil and two different Grape vines
Starting to look better already and the neighbors are complimenting the yard.  I want this to be like a garden hideaway and even though I dont have a plan in my head I have a pretty good start for what I hope will look good.

Sunny Side of the House the First Year. 

The sunny side of the house was truly the sunny side. It got full sun all day long and there is a black top parking lot that runs its entire length. This was a virtual waste land. The soil is rock hard, dry as a bone and there is nothing there but tall weeds dry dead stumps from old bushes and poison Ivy. I really wanted to do something with this side yard but knew it would take time. I answered another add on Pittsburgh Freecycle for some cold hardy cactus. This even had a hard time growing and establishing itself. Turns out after the first year this was another mistake in my landscape. The worst part was the small spines that were almost impossible to see but hurt like crazy. Even with leather work gloves and leather shoes they would get you. To this day I am still trying to get rid of this cactus.  

Shady Side of the House the First Year.

On the shady side of the house I had brown dead grass with Wild Violet, Bittersweet, Wandering Jew, Moss, and other difficult weeds. I also had a side walk that was starting to crumble and rocks everywhere. My First year at the house I decided to just try to get the side yards cleaned up I did not care about planting any thing. 

My Second Year

Front Yard

Decided to get rid of the wild flowers and the wild carrot this year.Started replacing  them with more popular perennial favorites. Last fall I put in a Rose some Daffodills and a new Dogwood. In early spring I added several types of Iris, some salvia more hostas from Pittsburgh Freecycle more day lilly some scabiosa and blue flax.

I also fell in love with the blue and purple centaurea and added oriental poppy and purple clematis. 

I let the ox eye daisy and centaurea take over where they wanted to fill in around the day lilies and hosta and planted some small lilac cuttings california poppy and snap dragon.

By summer I had some coconut lime cone flowers and (Datura) Angels trumpet also called moon flowers around here. 

I felt that the front yard was looking good but as gardeners tend to do I may have crammed to many plants  into my flower beds and know I need to move things around. 

Back Yard 

 The back yard was still in need of a lot of work but it was off to a good start with hostas, day lily, Bee Balm, and cone flowers. 

My first out door entertaining area.

 I decided that this would be my wild flower and naturalizing plant area.

 Still have a lot of cleaning up to do but this is the best this yard has probably ever looked.

Clean up is starting to pay off the stone benches were moved by a friend of mine and the pavers were laid in place by several people. I am surprised how some people are so willing to help out when they know you can not do things yourself.

 My crane statue in the native and naturalizing bed

 Another look at the crane statue.

 I am starting to be really pleased with the way my yard is turning out

 Centaurea and Ox Eye Daisy along back of house and fence.

The neighbors in the back do not clean up after themselves and they are always looking for a hand out if i try to cook or eat out in my back yard so I will have to move every thing around.

 Crane lilies and daisy.

I was thinking about moving my patio table and benches over to this area but it is filling in nice and I do not want to ruin it.

Sunny Side

Finally got every thing cleaned out and trying to get things to grow. Was not living in the house yet so there is no water turned on to water plants.

Hydrangea

rose and another type of centaurea

Starting to get things to live on this side of house.

Shady side

 This side of the house is so much easier than the full sun side

Hydrangea, Lily, iris and hosta

Nice to see plants here instead of just moss

Side walk is just crumbling to pieces

Present Day

Finally we are up to the present and I hope you will like the changes I have had done to the yard. The patio table and entertainment area have been moved to the side yard and a small pond has been put in its place. I planted perennials along the shady side of the houses side walk and moved some plants around.

Front Yard

Every one stops by now and comments on how nice my front yard looks.

  The front yard has filled in and I may have over planted so I have been moving some plants around.

Small area in front going around to shady side of house.

Shady side of house before newest changes.

 Back yard

Back yard wild flower area