Backyard Update!

The spring and summer has been filled with rain and more rain. The farmers down here are rushing to plant and in some cases replant crops due to the rain. For my little backyard, I was finally able to find some free time between rains to finish the backyard. A big thank you to my friend John and his truck! Both were a huge help getting this project done. I hope these few pictures show you the changes my backyard went through over the past few weeks.

Before - The backyard had two silver maples in the corners of the yard. My neighbors behind and to the side of me had put up four foot fences the previous summer. Running the lenght of my yard is a cement drainage ditch. The ditch never bothered me until the fences went up and it stood out even more. (The flower pots sitting in the yard are there trying to help me visualize the location of the future plants.)

A Little Progress: I was lucky to find someone digging out a basement close to my house. For a few bucks, we (John, his truck, and me) were able to get four truck loads of dirt to raise the beds and level the ground. As we picked up the first truckload of dirt, I thought one or two loads would have been enough, but I think I could have easily used close to ten truck loads of dirt to give the beds more dimension. - Oh well.

I created five small beds in the backyard. The corners are filled with arborvitaes, ninebarks, grasses, and liriope. I might squeeze a rosebush in the middle for an early season boost of color.

A Little More Progress: The three beds in the middle of the yard have a mixture of trees and plants. The tree to the left is a Eastern Rosebud. The tree to the right is a Althea Rose of Sharon Tree. Both are flowering trees that should be amazing throughout the summer. In front of each tree is a small rose bush. The center area has a Ninebark and grasses along with some yellow flowers (I forget the name.)

Finally Done Photos - I finished adding the watering system throughout the five beds. Jim had given me the system for my garden a few years ago. I extended the system straight across the backyard so that I won't have to water all the grasses and plants throughout the summer. I added over forty bags of mulch to finish the job.

I will post some more pictures later in the summer once the trees bloom. - Dan