A FOREST OF POISON
Calamine lotion and a spooky curb appeal…
You may have guessed it, or assumed it, but believe it or not, I was not the one who had poison ivy. I know my track record would make you think otherwise. To this day, our ongoing joke is that Luke just has to talk about poison ivy and he’ll break out again. I guess it’s a good thing I’m the one writing this post.
When we bought this house back in 2020, I saw endless potential inside (just a little paint, right?). Sure, the color of the house and roof were things we planned to replace eventually, but the landscaping? It didn’t even cross my mind.
Each year since, we’ve done an exorbitant amount of work on the yard - on top of all the interior projects. The joke is definitely on me.
Growing up, my dad was passionate about his lawn being the perfect shade of green, not a weed in sight. He’s been mowing since he was 14, so it’s more passion than chore for him. I can’t say I share the same appreciation for lawn care, yet here I am at 32, watering half an acre daily with a single sprinkler. It can be therapeutic but also a time suck…add it to the list of projects, an irrigation system…
Do I care? Absolutely not.
But do I care about curb appeal…absolutely. So I guess I do care after all.
It’s funny how lawn care seems to be a universal “guy thing”. Luke takes it seriously, it’s like the men on our block have this unspoken weekly ritual. I wish they’d all just mow at the same time, to make the concept of a ritual even funnier to me, but nope…once one starts, it’s a domino effect. Day after day, another mower fires up after work or over the weekend.
Our front yard had zero curb appeal when we moved in. From the street, it looked like a forest, FULL of poison ivy, weeds, and trees tangled on top of each other. Oh, and snakes. It wasn’t a pretty forest. It was mangled and creepy. Luke was always chomping away at it, but would always get poison ivy. We would tape his shirt to his gloves, and socks to his pants. But then he would get it on his face or it was already on the gloves from last time.
As you can suspect, one of the first projects we hired out (and spent a small fortune on) was tree removal. Luke’s dad was an arborist, so of course there was talk of waiting for him to visit and DIY it. Thankfully, for everyone’s sake we hired professionals. Sixteen trees were removed, but we kept a massive pine tree and a few smaller ones (free pine straw, yay!), a massive elm, and one little one too that we put a lot of faith into since it was so goofy looking from not having sunlight for so long.
Looking back at the photos from that time - it’s wild. The yard looked so sparse and overwhelming compared to what it was, there was a bit of a shock factor once the trees were gone. But year after year, we’ve transformed it bit by bit.
One year (on a rainy day, of course), we dug up and replanted grass to shape the beds around the trees. As you can see, it used to be one giant bed. now it is made up of three different ones. The next year, we reshaped them again and I have a feeling we’ll keep doing that.
We’ve removed and planted tons of flowers and bushes against the house most of which have since migrated to the forest beds. Many didn’t survive, but we’re learning as we go (and breaking our backs a little along the way).
It’s safe to say the yard has filled in nicely, though it’s far from perfect. The lawn, on the other hand, is pretty darn close…at least if you ask me. Luke says otherwise, but in my defense… it’s green!
Now, we receive compliments as neighbors walk by, we even were told “yard of the year” by a fellow walker this last year - that person has no idea how much that meant considering how much work and money we have put into this yard. Who are we doing this for? Ourselves…but it is nice when the work goes noticed and we like to believe our neighbors appreciate a less creepy forest on their walks.
2020
2021
2025
Now, don’t even get me started on the backyard forest, and the amount of trees we took down back there – a story for another time. For now I will continue having dreams of a brick walkway from the front porch to the street. This would mean reshaping the beds yet again! DIY doesn’t happen over night that is for sure! Thanks for sticking around.
-Jenny Corbett
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