Landscaping Phase #3

Last I showed you our backyard was looking pretty good…

Look at all that pretty green grass.

Anywho, there were a few more things Justin wanted to accomplish out here since the new drainage and landscaping were finished.  A few of the solar lights we had previously installed were broken.  So, Justin purchased some new outdoor lights for the garden beds back here.  He decided to go with regular electric lights.  He moved the remaining solar lights that were still trucking along to the front yard.  He purchased the new lights from lowes.  Once he got home he started installing them…

Since the sod was freshly laid, Justin was able to run the cords from one garden to another right under the top layer….

While he was burying the new cords he came across this little guy…

He was just sleeping under the mulch and Justin dug up his bedding!  So he buried the cord and then buried him under the mulch again.  We saw him later the same night once the sun went down, we’re all friends now.  Once Justin had finished installing all the lighting he added new mulch to all of the garden beds…

Charlie also helped…

This guy showed up too…

Isn’t he handsome?  Love these little lizards.

After hanging out with the lizard I got some photos of the freshly finished backyard…

And you know I can’t help but give you some before, middle and after photos…

Check out how much the plants by the patio have grown!

I don’t have a before photo from this angle, but here is the mid way point and after…

We also got to see the new lights in action that night…

Aren’t they pretty?

Char man also hung out to check out the lighting…

It was already past Zack’s bed time.

We are thrilled with our backyard now.  We may have some other ideas for the the fence and possibly another little garden. For now we are just happy to sit on the porch and enjoy the unflooded yard!  It’s a far cry from this…

Don’t you think?  PS the drainage works.   Here is a photo I took immediately after a down pour…

BOOM! Do you see a drainage issue?  I think not!

Landscaping Phase #2

Last I showed you our backyard was lookin like this…

I had told you about the installation of the new drainage and the removal of the hedges.  We were left with a yard o’ dirt.  Then I came home the other day and I walked outside to this…

Ahhh! New magnolias and sod!  I can’t explain our excitement.  Let me show you around…

Take it all in people!

This grass is soft, like the grass we had in NY.  It is awesome to have something that is pleasant to walk on barefoot!

As I mentioned before we used Horizon Landscaping and they did an amazing job!

They were actually still working when I got home around 7pm.  They did such an amazing job, and they even stuck around to tell me how we should be taking care of the new trees and sod.  They were such polite guys and we are really impressed with their work!

We love that we still have lots of space in the yard with the new trees, yet they still block the neighbors in the back.  We will soon have some other updates back here, stay tuned!

Oh and of course some before and afters…

Lanscaping Phase #1

It has all begun. Brian from Horizon Landscaping chose a couple companies to complete some of the backyard projects that need to be finished before he gets going on the landscaping.  So last week, during the hottest week this year we had four guys out in our yard digging up trees and also digging trenches for the new irrigation.  I swear the heat index was like 110 degrees, poor guys.  They were here for about 7 hours and this is what we are left with…

They basically removed all of the hedges including all of their roots.  Also they added the much needed irrigation, including three drains that will remove the water from our backyard and let it drain out to the sewage system at the street.

Here is drain #1.

Here is #2 that Char man is checking out.

and #3.

Our yard is basically a big dirt pit right now, nothing pretty to look at.  It has to get a little worse before it gets better though!

Our yard does seems a lot bigger now without all of the hedges.

This is where the new magnolia trees will go.  We don’t necessarily want something so big in the yard, but we want the privacy from the neighbors, so the magnolias will be perfect.

We can’t wait for Brian to come out on Tuesday to plant the new trees and re-sod the yard.  We also are thinking about putting a garden in one of the corners back here and giving the fence a face lift.  Don’t worry we will keep you updated!

Yardwork

Justin has been working extra hard on our lawn lately.  I swear we’re in a neighborhood competition for the best lawn that I don’t know about.  He has been outside 24/7 every weekend working away.  I will share what he has been up to so far.

He re-sodded the entire yard!  I came home one weekend to this.

Two pallets! I am going to let you in on a secret… our yard is not that big.  I was wondering if he would actually need this much sod and it turned out he used every piece.  He rented a huge tiller from Lowes.

Of course I took a picture of it. I also got a few pictures of Justin hard at work.

He did a great job, looks awesome.  He also dug out the stumps from the trees he cut down last week and planted this cute tree.

He wasn’t done there, he also dug two trenches that went out toward the corners of our yard. He added drain pipes that connected to our gutter drains off of our back patio.  He did this because when it rained we had a lake on our back patio.

He worked his butt off and the drain pipes worked well, it has rained since and we have no more lake! woo hoo!

I also added some flowers out back.

This stand was a gift from Sandy(love it) and the plant is a gift from Justin’s grandma.

I think the backyard is coming together.  Now it is safe for the dogs and pretty for us to look at.