{hooray - backyard is complete}

I should write an Ode to Craigslist. This definitely wouldn’t have happened without that website. CL, I owe you one.

I didn’t finish the project for my initial deadline (December 15th), but I am pumped that it is finished. I’d previously mentioned that I might add terraced beds, but I think I’ll just enjoy it as is for now.

These pictures don’t really do it justice. Walking out onto the patio in the morning is such a peaceful experience! Hooray for months of hard work finally paying off!

{our original backyard - 5 years ago}

We finally finished the backyard project this weekend. So before posting the final pictures, I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane. This is what our backyard looked like when we first moved in. Yikes.

It was completely overgrown with “trash trees,” or invasives that shoot up really quickly, kill off the naturally growing habitat, and then die. (ahem, paper mulberry, I’m looking at you.)

Jonathon spent most of our first year in the house cutting down the invasives and clearing out the brush.

I honestly forgot that the yard used to look this bad! It was a jungle back there! Update coming soon!

{a video to inspire}

{a video to inspire}

{death by transplant}

I hate to say it, but the salvia and rosemary did not make the transplant to the backyard. This picture of the rosemary was taken about a week ago, and that poor plant finally gave out a few days ago.

Note to self: Don’t split rosemary again without reading something about it first.

The salvia was a straight transplant, no splitting. All the blooms have fallen (even though their counterparts in the front yard are still thriving) and the plant is turning more grey with each day. I haven’t pulled it yet, but if it doesn’t cheer up, I’ll pluck it over the weekend.

{spring blooms}

The first blooms from my Ladybird Wildflower Center fall purchases. I didn’t get much done in the garden over the weekend, but I love seeing these guys from the kitchen in the morning.

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{survivor}

So, of all my propagated plants, there was one species that was the lone survivor - the Mexican Flame Vine. All the propagates survived the greenhouse phase, but a few weeks after they’d been moved to individual pots, they just started dying off.

I have several pots of the Flame Vines and I’m hoping to find a fun corner of the yard and let them run wild. For now, though, I’ll let them get a little stronger in their pot homes.

However, I haven’t totally given up on the Passion Vine propagates (which are so much prettier than the Flame Vines). They are mostly dead, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that they may make a comeback.

{Retaining Wall: From Zero to Hero}

After finishing the patio extension, I basically left it untouched for three months. Until last weekend, that is.

Tons of weird grasses started growing, so I started out by weeding along the side of the retaining wall where I wanted to plant my flower bed. Naturally, this meant I couldn’t stop working until a bed was planted, so the rest of the weekend went something like this:

• I dug out the flower bed
• I removed the limestone wall
• I built a brick retaining wall (using the free bricks I’d scored from Craigslist in the fall)
• I built a smaller brick retaining wall, two inches from the edge of the patio (this will become a drainage solution, which I’ll go into some other time)
• I added compost and organic topsoil to the bed (also scored on CL)
• I *finally* planted some of the plants I purchased in the fall, along with a few plants from the front of the house (which I split)

So far, everything has survived the transplant. My plan is to water and coddle them a bunch over the next couple of weeks, and then slowly reduce the watering schedule and see how they do. Fingers crossed!

Also, the rosemary is totally taking over the bed. Once it acclimates, I’ll be cutting it back a bunch.

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{gratuitous tuesday birdbath}

It’s the little things. 

{patio extension: finished}

As promised, here are some photos I snapped at the beginning of last weekend, highlighting the new patio extension. You can see, it wraps around the back of the house, which keeps the grill tucked out of the way.

I did a lot of work over the weekend! More updates coming soon!

(Yes, that is a giant bottle of Round Up. Please don’t judge me. :)  )