Yard Progress

May 28, 2009 at 5:20 pm (Home Changes and Additions) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , )

A lot of work and a few sore muscles, and we now have a usable yard.  The backyard, as I have mentioned before, was three lots of mounds of compost.  An unusable waste is what I call that.  Compost is a great idea, but an entire three lots full?  No thanks.  So, I set out to get the yard summer-ready.  We are finally almost there. 

I started by pulling the massive amounts of growing weeds out of the compost piles.  Once fairly clean, my options for the compost were to either give it away to people who used compost or to spread it out evenly.  Upon further inspection I realized that the compost was old and mostly now decnt soil.  I decided to spread it and make level ground around the fire pit area.  This took an entire day and I was definitely sore after all the work, but it was well worth it.  We sprinkled grass seed on the raw dirt areas and are hoping that something other than weeds sprouts by the time we have our backyard engagement party. 

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These pictures look boring after the rain, but it was much cuter the other day (and will be when we have company over!).  We have moved the picnic table out near the fire and have a table cloth for it.  We also have a large hammock and fun pillow ordered for in between the trees.  The large log near the fire is actually a seating area.  We are using it as-is right now, but will form it into a bench later.  We also have some cute red paper lanterns to go in the trees and a few buck candles to go around the area.  I think it will all come together well.

We also worked on the side of the house near the alley.  We have a hard time finding keys and getting into our kitchen door in the dark, so we added a few inexpensive solar lights to the walk-way.  They really make a boring area look homey.  The former residents of the house also left an annoying pile of rocks near our parking area.  We have no idea what they were meant for, and they are now growing weeds.  So, we dug in and Tony arranged them where my car goes.  There is only one slab on cement and a lot of mud where I park.  This may not be the cutest solution, but it definitely helps and now its all ready for when we get more cement poured (or better yet-a garage!).  Didn’t Tony do a nice job making the rocks look neat and even!?

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And, on a prettier note, our peonies are in bloom!  Another bush of pretty pink flowers is also in bloom, which I think might be a kind of roses.  Here is a shot of the rose bush and the bouqet we cut for the table and even some for the bathroom.  They smell great and you gotta love a free touch for the home! 🙂

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So there you have it, our yard progress.  Not super exciting, but it has opened the way for us to work on a few more diy projects for the yard.  We will keep you updated!

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