Landscaping The Backyard

When we first moved into our home, we were so excited about the size of our backyard! It needed a little bit of work, but we saw (and still see) endless possibilities. The yard was wide open on three sides, the pine trees went all the way to the ground, and aside from the grass, there was not much life back there.

The fall after we moved in, we enlisted some family to partake in "Tree Fest." Although it sounded enjoyable, it was a lot of work. We cut down a beautiful large pine tree on the side of our house. I was sad to see it go, but it was planted wayyy too close to the house and was resting on the roof. During this time, we elevated the pine trees in the backyard to give them a cleaner and healthier look.

After "Tree Fest" came "Fence Fest" and let's just say our parents now know to stay far away from any "fest" we come up with. When we decided to get our Lucy Lou, we knew a fenced in yard would come shortly after. After spending the entire winter keeping her tied up whenever she was outside, we knew that as soon as the ground thawed, we would be putting up a fence so she would have room to run. Last April, we finally got our fence (see picture above). We also made other small improvements last year, such as pulling up all the brick for the patio and attempting to flatten it ("Patio Palooza"). Adam also built us some beautiful steps to get to the patio. When we moved in, there were concrete steps on the opposite side from where the sliding door opened. The previous owners made some funky steps just to be able to get into the backyard, but lets just say it looked awful. 

THIS YEAR: We decided to edge and mulch around the two big pine trees. We were hesitant, simply because we were afraid Lucy would spend too much time in there, either digging, pooping, or chasing squirrels. We didn't want to spend the money if it was just going to make a mess. 

Well, we decided there was only one way to find out. After two afternoons and 5 trips to Menards later, we finally finished. And my goodness WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

We were able to splint some of the plants from our front yard, and got a few more from my parent's and our wonderful neighbors. The bench Adam built for our balcony when we lived in an apartment finally found it's home too! (I have since added some flowers to those pots as well)

We planted a whole lot of hostas and day lillies. We also have a few fern and I planted some tulip bulbs from some blooms I had inside this year. I love all the green out there now, especially against the mulch instead of dirt. I just can't wait to see some yellow, too!

And guess what?! Aside from the occasion ball landing in the mulch, Lucy learned to stay out of it very quickly. Success!

Has anyone else tackled some big landscaping projects while the weather has been nice?