Backyard Disaster--Almost Finished!

Months ago, John and I finally decided, after dreaming about it for three years, to change up our bakyard and make it "ours".    We planned out what we wanted changed and thought that by starting in February, we'd have plenty of time to change things before the weather got too warm.

Then reality hits, Saturdays are filled with other things, projects take way longer than expected. More time, more money, and more money. . .  And here we are in mid May, not quite done.  But we're close enough to see lots and lots of progress, done enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or the backyard coming to fruition.

We started by tearing down a "stage" in the corner of the yard that took up quite a bit of space.  I'm not sure what the intention of this cement eye sore was, but John and I have never liked it since we moved it.  So down it went. . . this process took about 3-4 weeks of full Saturdays and a lot of evening time.  It was a TON of cement!

Having Papa's tractor was a huge help as we got rid of all that cement.  John sure didn't mind working (i.e. "playing) with the tractor, and all the neighbor kids enjoyed riding on the back. I'm just glad no one got hurt.

Along two walls of the yard, we had a neighbor build us some nice planter boxes for gardens.  He also filled in the side of our house with concrete (someday, we'll put a shed there to help clear out our garage), then extended our patio/porch with pavers.  The kids enjoyed marking the fresh concrete with their handprints.

 Here you can see the new sidewalk that goes to the cement slab on the side of the house, the patio extension of pavers and one of the garden boxes along the east wall. 

 In the corner where the big cement stage was, we planted a grapefruit tree.  Eventually we'll put curbing there to divide the tree area with gravel from the lawn of grass.  With all the tractor driving all over the lawn and no water these past few months, our lawn has taken a beating and has gotten buried under lots of dirt. 

My father-in-law is probably the hardest working grandpa I know.  He helped us figure out a new sprinkler system, get the right kind of dirt in our planters, level the ground for grass, etc. . Without his help, this project would have dragged on for at least another month or two.  So thanks to Papa for all your help!

Now we need to seed and water that back lawn.  And start planting lots of vegetables in our awesome gardens. And get curbing to divide the grass from the gravel, then do some more cement on the west side of the house, then find/build a shed, then create something to keep our bikes from the AZ sun, etc. . .

Always a project around here!