Fall Cleanup 2014

I'm still on stay-cation.  It's nice to get some things done and it's nice to have help.  My mother-in-law came up today to help me clean up my front flower bed.  I'm so thankful that she's able to help me each year and I know she enjoys spending the time with me.  The weeds get so crazy tall and by the time you have time to finally tackle it, it's out of control and becomes overwhelming.

Here's the before picture.  Look at that mess.  :(

A close up.....so many weeds and dead flowers.

Here's another picture closer to the steps by the porch.

As we started to clean up I saw this praying mantis.  She stayed the entire time trying to blend in with the holly bush as if we couldn't see her.

Here's the after picture.  Tidy!  :)

I also changed out my little garden flag.  I chose my fall flag with mums.  :)  I'm happy fall is here.  It's my favorite time of year....especially the pumpkins.  :)

The other side of the front flower bed had a bunch of dead daisies.  I tackled this before my MIL got to my house.  This side is easy for me to clean up and I don't need help with it.  It doesn't have as many weeds.

Here's the after shot.  Nice and tidy.

I need Nate to trim the bushes up a tad.  The holly bushes grow so fast and get so big.  Right now though the wasps and bumble bees love the holly bushes so I try to leave them alone until it's a little cooler out.

Now.....if you follow my blog (*waves*) you know that I've got some trumphet vines growing.  You can see them below at the left in the picture.  They are a nuisance and grow under siding and can destroy it.

Here's a close up of the vine with the orange flowers.  The flowers are cute but not worth the damage.

My MIL helped me get all the vines out.  We found part growing up from under the deck and we found some under the bigger window.  My MIL pulled as much out as she could.  And she made some wasps mad.  She found two big wasp nests and she made a wasp mad and it stung her.  :(  She's okay, she said it wasn't as bad as a hornet and shrugged it off.  She a tough one.  I probably would have cried.  LOL

Look how nice it is with the vines gone.  And look there....there's an Amish rocking chair.  :)

My MIL also went over and cleared some weeds away from the A/C unit and at the Japanese Maple Tree.  (yes, the grass needs to be cut....hubby is doing that this weekend)

I gathered up all the bags (6) big black trash bags full of weeds and dead flowers.  I hauled it all to the trash dump.  When I got back I decided to just knock out, straightening the shed.  It was a mess.  Stuff really needed to be picked up.  You couldn't even get in there.

This is what the shed looks like now.  I picked up all my gardening pots and put them on the shelf in back corner.  I also found a few things to throw out and put it in a trash bag.  Looks much better for now.