Extreme Yard Makeover

The backyard of our new house is pretty much a mess. I think it might have been nicer at one point until the owners moved out well over a year ago and God took over the landscape maintenance and fired the gardener.

When we first saw the house in March, it looked like this:
Not so bad - very doable.

Once spring hit...it turned into this:

Basically, the backyard has been terribly overgrown to the point that you could barely see the side and back fence. There was a grapevine on the left side that had taken over some trees and created a canopy and nearly impenetrable hedge. The right side had a stack of nearly rotten wood (maybe stacked firewood) that created a rather significant mound. The back fence is a mess of who knows what and more wisteria than I have ever seen on my life. I think, although I can't imagine why, that the previous owners had planted it along the fence line every few feet. Pretty stuff, but a bear to get rid of - and it will take down a fence. Not a good idea. The grapevine, BTW, appears to not actually even be in our yard, but is migrating from the neighbor's yard on the other side of the fence. (Thanks neighbors).

The weekend of the girls' birthday in May, I worked really hard to try to clean out the corner where I wanted the girls' play set to go. I made a lot of progress, although grass tried quickly tried to take over.



This past weekend we spent most of Saturday working on the left side of the yard (where I plan for our future pool to go:-) ) We cleared SO much brush and that dreaded grapevine, rescued some maple saplings (again from the grapevine), and even cut down some small trees. The plan is to let the nicer hardwoods grow up and get rid of the yucky gum trees and pines. There's a lot left to do, but we made progress.





All the slate you see on top of the flower bed were pieces I found on the ground under all the brush. I foresee a slate patio in my future:-)

I still have a lot to do, but I have a grand plan. When I'm done, it will be beautiful. The kids will have a wonderful corner with the awesomest daddy-built play set and a wonderful grassy area where they can run around a play. Everyone is invited over for a cookout - and a swim in the pool I'm still trying to convince Ben we should get one day:-)