Back Yard Plans

Now, first of all, these are allllll LONG range plans. We simply do not have the $ laying around to do them all at once!

Here are some of the improvements we have planned for our yard.

Although it would make sense to start with the front yard, I will instead start with the project we are working on this year!

Last week I hauled eight barrows full of dirt from the back alley. Sometime after the house was built, in the five years the original owners had it, they dumped garden soil back there, three feet high. I guess they planted some potatoes or what not out there. A lot of people in town here do that, Grow veggies in the alley, it allows them the extra garden space without taking up valuable back yard play area. ANYWAY. I am not much of a gardener, I can do it, and I like to eat the things that come out of gardens but I hate the upkeep. the weeding and watering and the braving of spiders and the dirt. Oye, do I hate the dirt.

So, the dirt went away. (with much much effort on my part - and like I told my husband when he got home that first day of shoveling and dumping, I am a bonbon and soap opera wife, not a manual labor one!)

Just leveling off the dirt from the back alley is not enough, if we leave it like that it will be over run with weeds in a matter of weeks, so we have ordered a few trailers full of crush rock and are going to fill it in with rocks. it will not stop the weeds entirely, but it sure will help! At the same time, we are replacing the rock along the backyard path. Most of it is gone, washed or carried away by little hands, so it is definitely time for that!

Anyway, that is our landscaping plans for this summer. The list to follow, I do not know when we will finish it off, well one thing I do, sort of, but the rest is up in the air.

*I want to seal in the dog house, we are still deciding if we should go with vinyl siding, which is easy to clean, or get it stuccoed to match the house.

*I want to build a shed. One that is about 8x8 or 10x10. No bigger than that. They sell kits at the lumber yard that has all the materials and the wood is already cut to size, so that would be an easy project for hubs and I to do. But It will cost about 1000.00

*I REALLY want to take the rocks out of the front yard and those two ugly bushes there, and replace them with sod. At the same time, I want to continue the sidewalk on towards the back yard. I will not be removing my beloved apple trees from the front yard, I will leave them there, placing cement tree rings around them. Having lawn in the front yard will do two things - make the front yard look a lot nicer, and give the kids more room to play! This will also be a costly project, between 1000.00-2000.00, so it will be waiting a bit.

*lastly, In the back yard, in the corner where I would put up the shed, I have a four by twenty patch of garden. I want it OUT. It's not big enough to offer enough veggies to satisfy us, and yet it takes the same amount of work that a larger garden would take. So, this fall when the peas and carrots are done, I am going to rip out the railroad tie border, add a bit more dirt to level it off, and put in some winterizing grass seed. is there such a thing? if not, I will do it in the spring, but with sod. (Sod is only 3-30 cents a square foot, so it won;t cost that much)

And there you have it. My plans for the - oh - and I want to re-paint the front rail, it is starting to chip, and if that is left, it will begin to rust - but thats it! thats all I have planned!

Right?

(and maybe while we are painting the rail, we can paint the front door?)