Landscape the back yard

We have a huge back yard… I don’t expect to landscape all of it, that would be ridiculous! I just want to have my fire pit paved. I would have a flag stone circle around the fire pit so there would be a flat surface to put chairs on. I have also heard that this will help with mosquitoes! I’m hoping we can do it next summer… this summer $ wasn’t available to do this project.

of the landscape

the back yard was clay

and there wasn’t a whole lot of it.

and there was a killer view.

First, we tried to work with a landscape designer. It turned out to be very hard to find anyone who wasn’t booked for the next 18 months. When we finally found someone who was available, she was an unlicensed person who nevertheless had a portfolio and could draw the design on her computer.

So we agreed to go forward. She bailed after doing the preliminary design, which we liked a whole lot. So we hired a landscape contractor to carry it out.

He said we had to wait a week or two while he finished his current project.

Weeks turned into months, and then he began. The rock wall went up, but not like we talked about. So it was made more like the drawing.

Meanwhile, someone really talented put in the flagstone walkways.

The contractor brought in some helpers for the flagstone patio, and they began laying the rocks out with weird gaps between, and next to the flagstone walkway, it was obviously a third rate job.

We talked that through too, and by then I felt like a bitch from hell. But, it was after all, my back yard, and I was paying for it to be done according to a design which was very clear.

So of course the contractor walked away.

We ended up bringing back in the talented guy to finish the job.

Along the way, I learned a lot about how to put in a backyard. I know how to build walls and benches, how to lay flagstone, including cutting it so it fits together in a nice way. It is a lot of work, but it’s best if you spend the time and money to do it right.

It is gigantic. Today I will work on filling it with dirt and getting the bamboo planted.

I think my husband is making them today. He is so awesome.

My husband is going to build planter boxes for the bamboo, which I will line with pvc. I took a look at the fence line, and it would be very difficult to dig a trence to bury a barrier- so these raised boxes will be wonderful.

SO I need to get it in the ground, which means I need to install some sort of barrier.
The weather is cold and rainy. I guess the good news is, the ground will be soft.

Yesterday, I noticed that the people who live on the right side of my aforementioned backyard neighbor, who just moved in two weeks ago (he drove the previous folks away), have made some backyard improvements of their own.
There used to be a “good neighbor” fence seperating their two back yards- a fence where the slats are staggered, so that you can sorta see through the fence at an angle, but no- one gets stuck with the ugly back of the fence. The new folks nailed all new boards to their side of the fence, so it is solid, and raised their fence by about 18 inches.
What is hilarious is that they only did this to ONE side- not all three.
hee hee hee.

There are three major obstacles to accomplishing this goal- the first two are my dogs, Gus and Murphy. Each dog weighs too much to weigh, roughly 150 pounds each. Neither of them are particularly active, but they tear up the yard just by placing their weight upon the poor little blades of grass. Not to mention the poo. If I could find a market, I would be a poop baroness.
Since a nice lawn is somewhat out of the picture for the next few years, we have really given up on the back yard. It’s more like a pasture. And, last summer, we commited the ultimate hillbilly sin of leaving the quick-set pool on the lawn, mostly drained, but not quite. So there it sits, full of leaves.
The other major obstacle is the backyard neighbor. This guy is the loudest, most obnoxious drunk ever. He invites 2 or three friends over, almost EVERY evening, not just weekends. They start drinking early, usually barbequeing, or burning trash. By nightfall, they are so drunk and so loud and so profane that it would be funny if it weren’t my atmosphere they were polluting. He has already driven 2 renters away on one side of him. And the language! I am no prude, and I enjoy a salty word every now aand again, but this guy- this guy has about a 7 word vocabularly. He just rearranges his 7 words to try to get his point across to his buddies.
ugh, and he is so loud. He yells everything. Of course, he has to yell, to be heard over the music. It’s usually 60’s music- think Big Chill soundtrack. Great tunes. I hate them now.
They usually pass out about 2, or quiet down when someone calls the cops. He must sleep until 10am or so, because in the morning, we get to hear the missus swear at the kids at the top of her lungs. Usually it’s about letting the pit bull in.
ANYWAY- today, I arranged to get some free (!) bamboo from my mother. I will dig it up when we go visit her in a couple weeks. Hopefully the bamboo privacy screen will help keep the din from over the fence contained.