After we got the deck finished up… check out Yard Crashers-ha and Yard Crashers Part 2 if you missed them… we decided to tackle the yard.
Now I would just like to let you know that Lowe’s has brain washed my husband. If you have seen a recent commercial their slogan at the end is “Never Stop Improving”. I really think this has become his personal motto, always coming up with something else we can do. I knew that it was coming, as we ended the building of the deck; we kept thinking of everything we would like to do. Always improving!
Before John left for Europe he put down some grass seed and fertilizer in the front yard. Then planted six trees in the back. We put four autumn blaze maple trees near the back fence. Then we have two cherry trees a little closer to the house. While in Europe the kids and I put mulch around them. We are hoping in time that the maple trees will create shade in the play area. The cherry trees were just because John’s grandfather used to have some at his old house and John enjoyed them growing up. I even remember visiting and picking cherries off the trees to eat. I also put another picture below of the trees taken more recently. They seem to like their new home.
When he got back from Europe, we started right back up with yard work. He came home Thursday evening, Friday we were out mowing and doing the norm yard work, and Saturday we had a truck load of dirt delivered. We used the first load of dirt to level out the backyard around the deck. Here are a few “stages” on our deck.
The plan was to add dirt for grass to grow in and smooth out the slope some. We went through one truck load and decided to get another. I’m so glad that John’s dad was in for the weekend and helped with the first load. With the second load of dirt coming and trying to figure out how much sod we would need; we went ahead and put in edging for the flower beds in the backyard.
The second load of dirt came and I got a shot of the mound before we depleted it too much. This load was used to fill in the flower beds in the front yard. We had put the edging around those beds before we started on the deck, but decided to wait to do anything else with them. We also filled in the new flower beds in the backyard and places where we dug up rocks and left holes in the front and back. Then any where that just needed some leveling out to help drainage or places that were more rock then dirt.
After finishing up the dirt, (which we actually are not finished with- still need to fill a little more of the front flower bed) we had three pallets of sod delivered. After a few small rain showers we decided that we would have to get sod. Grass seed was not going to take off fast enough to keep the dirt and mud out of the house. The pallets were delivered Friday afternoon and we actually had most of it laid out that evening. Below are the pallets, after we had already started I thought to grab the camera. Also, there is a picture of the back yard. You can see the green around the left side of the deck, that's our new grass!
It looks great! We have been watering it twice daily the first week and then once a day after that. It is starting to green up again. We added mulch to the flowerbeds, still need more for the front. We also started our salsa garden. They are the only plants that are going in the flowerbeds this year.
We added new chairs. Love the color and they are very comfy. Then we added a screen to help block out the setting sun. We also put some similar screen on the top of the pergola to create more shade.
We have been enjoying the fruits of our labor. We’ve eaten meals outside, read books, played with cars, and just enjoyed the outdoors. Even Lady is enjoying the new grass!
So far all of the work has been worth it. I think it has been a wonderful addition to our home. Of course since the slogan is “Never Stop Improving,” there are a few more things like the addition of misters, lights, plants, etc. that we would like to add. But these are the little things that are easy, so John has called this DIY – DONE!
Oh, he has already started another project! Like I said brainwashed!!