Since this is my first blog, I thought I'd start it out properly by introducing our family and what-not, but as I sit down to think, I can't think about much else except the overwhelming task at-hand of reconstructing our backyard. We've been in this house for almost 3 years now. One of the big selling points to me was the mammoth trees that lined the fence in our backyard--talk about shade galore. Little did I know that they're cottonwoods--fast-growing junk trees that are meant to grow by the river. They suck the water out of your grass, have roots that maneuver their way too close to the surface, and drop an unimaginable amount of leaves down in the fall. Long story short, this spring we had all 10 of them chopped to the ground and hauled away. This summer we've had to deal with chopping up and killing off the root systems, because they've been shooting up all over our backyard. (At one point, we had our own mini forest growing back there.) We even had to kill off all the grass to try and get to the roots below.
The good news is that it's starting to turn around! A few weeks ago we had a glorious cement patio poured that extends from our existing deck around the house to the garage. It will be a great place to entertain and let kids play, once we can get the rest of the yard looking presentable. It is still very overwhelming (especially for Allen as he looks out on all the roots and grass he's going to need to dig up,) but it's really neat to start from scratch and do the backyard the way we envision it.
When we are finished you will see:
The good news is that it's starting to turn around! A few weeks ago we had a glorious cement patio poured that extends from our existing deck around the house to the garage. It will be a great place to entertain and let kids play, once we can get the rest of the yard looking presentable. It is still very overwhelming (especially for Allen as he looks out on all the roots and grass he's going to need to dig up,) but it's really neat to start from scratch and do the backyard the way we envision it.
When we are finished you will see:
- a landscape border that goes along the back and sides of the fence
- some new fruit and evergreen trees and shrubs
- concrete curbing to give it a nice clean separation
- new, beautiful grass!
- a fresh coat of paint on the fencea rock pathway that leads around to our future hot tub retreat
- a rock patio around the kids play equipment
- an area for gardening
Think we can get it all done in a month and a half? Our goal is to finish by September 28th! Wish us luck!
