I can honestly
tell you I've never really had much of a yard here as long as I've owned this house. The first few years we transformed it from a
tangled, overplanted jungle to a lawn with a few flowers. Over the years other projects and life in
general took precedent as I watched the sod I had installed many years ago wither
and die off due to poor soil and lack of sunlight. With limited funds, knowledge and time our
yard took the hit. Last year I was
determined to change all that and finally
make the outside of my home match the inside.
In early spring of 2021 I began the demo and then as many of you know
life threw me a curveball. But that's
okay, because it allowed me more time to plot, plan and research this project. And save up some more money too.
Fast forward to
early spring 2022 and we got rain. Lots
of it! Which was good because we needed
it, but it sure did put a damper on my plans.
So I waited. Some more. And in mid May I was able to get outside and
get started on this long awaited landscape project. I worked on my yard in
between wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning storms throughout the month of
May and progress was made. I even
resurrected the old raised beds at the very back of our yard and my daughter
and I planted a garden.
I devoted the
entire month of June to this project and by the end of the month I had made it
from the curb at the street all the way into the backyard to the end of our
upper deck. Right now the lower deck is
housing my project woodpile and the rest of the yard is the garden and chicken
coop area. I have grand plans for that
once the garden is harvested this fall, but for now my main focus is the rest
of the yard and the upper deck.
It amazes me the
transformation I have been able to make in just six weeks. From a barren wasteland to my dream
landscape. We now have a weed free gravel parking area with a beautiful little flowerbed and a darling little fence and gate that
opens into our front yard. We have a lawn with more flowerbeds filled with plants and shrubs. Our pond is up and running and surrounded by
a lovely flowerbed that runs the length of our house wrapping around to the
backyard deck.
We have a lovely
seating area in front of the pond
where we can sit and enjoy the shade in the canopy of our trees and the sound
of the water from the spitting frog. From
where you sit you can see the entire yard, front to back.
I added another flowerbed underneath the pear tree with
plans for blueberries and strawberries next spring. All of our flowerbeds are edged with rocks we
already had in our yard until I got to this one and had to acquire more rocks. I picked up a truckload of FREE rocks thru
Facebook Marketplace and continued on.
All of our soil has been amended with our own homemade compost and our new plants are thriving. I've never seen so many earthworms in our
soil as I do now.
Our deck was sanded and stained in 2020 and we added a pergola. A year
later it suffered a wardrobe malfunction with the lattice top, but this year I
was able to get it repaired and finally added the lights I had set aside from
our Christmas décor to the perimeter.
Our deck is now a lovely outdoor space we get to really enjoy and we
have been. We have a nice seating area plus a table with
stools for eating along with our barbecue.
Originally, I
had set aside a $1000 budget for this project.
This year, due to inflation and the rising cost of just about
everything, I saved an extra $500 to add to my budget and figured I'd go as far
as I could with that and see where I ended up.
I had been saving Home Depot gift cards for over a year and had several
of those to add to the pot as well. So
are you dying to see how much I spent on my landscape project so far? Did I budget enough?
Well, since you
asked, I have spent $557.96, just over a third of my budget so far. The bulk of that was for the faux grass which
we absolutely love. By reusing a lot of
things I already had and acquiring expensive items like rock and gravel for FREE off of Facebook Marketplace, plus doing all of the work myself it save me a ton of money. My girls also bought me some of the plants
and shrubs as gifts for Mother's Day and Father's Day which was a big help too.
I'm not
done. I still need to bring in more
gravel, I have plans for a front porch update, I want to do something around
the hose bib area and I've got big plans for making a beautiful vegetable
garden area in the backyard. Plus there
are a lot of other little tinkering projects I want to work on around the
outside of our home. Plenty to keep me
busy. So what do you think so far?
It's a lovely place. You've put in lots of hard work.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a labor of love. Thank you Pam.
DeleteYour yard looks lovely. Love the pond!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lisa
DeleteWow, all your hard work paid off.
ReplyDeleteYour yard looks wonderful!!!
Enjoy, Janie
I am enjoying it so much. Thanks Janie!
DeleteLooks so pretty. So neat and clean!!
ReplyDeleteExactly how I like it! Thank you. :o)
DeleteIt looks great and a nice place to relax.
ReplyDeleteThanks Debby. I'm enjoying it so much. :)
DeleteOh you have done an amazing job! Great job saving so much money too!
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite spot would be in the shade of the trees beside the pond, so peaceful. Enjoy!
Thank you Kathy. That's my favorite spot too. :)
DeleteThat’s looking nice!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
Delete