Progress

Friday, 22 May 2009

The last time I mentioned our back yard, it was in pretty sad shape. I made a public vow that day to turn the yard around and get it into summer barbecuing condition. While we aren't quite there yet, I'm pretty happy with the progress that's being made, and I wanted to get an update on the record.

The biggest sore spot has by far been the "mud pit" in the back area, where the previous owners had an in-ground garden. We moved the garden into raised beds, but never really did anything to clean up the area left behind.  Our renovation plans for that area revolve around a patio that we want to get put in. It's the perfect spot, due to the nice combination of sun and shade it gets.  The good news on that front is that the area has been completely cleared of all weeds and I've been in the process of prepping it for the patio over the past two weeks.  

 

 

I still have about a 8'x 4' area left to dig out, but by Saturday we'll have a 8' x 15' area that is dug 5" deep, ready for the patio to be built. We've got 2 tons of crushed limestone ready to be delivered bright and early Saturday morning, and my father-in-law has volunteered to lend me his expertise and truck in getting it built out. If all goes according to plan, we'll be enjoying Memorial Day on our newly completed patio.

The other big areas we wanted to tackle were the bare spots in the lawn and the secondary mud pit that was developing below the raised gardens.  I dug out the area below the square foot gardens and installed a mulch bed, spread some grass seed around, and things are looking markedly better already.


We still have a few bare spots that need to be patched, but you can see that the boxes have been filled back up with soil and are ready for planting. That will probably happen sometime next week, thanks to the state of Virginia finally coming through on that tax refund I was due.

While we're not quite there yet, I'm pretty happy with the direction things are going back there. I love having a yard again, and I can't wait to get it back to a place where we can actually use it. Check back next week for some updates on the patio construction. Whether or not it all goes according to plan, there should be some good photos to share.


Tags: daily  gardening  homeownership 

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