Blanking the Slate

We've had a lot of small steps toward progress in our backyard in the past week. When we moved into the house, we did a survey which showed us that the old alley behind our house was part of our property. While we loved the idea of the extra space, it resembled quite the jungle at the time. It overflowed with trash and actually had trees growing from the ground.

So, last fall we rented a wood chipper and bought a chainsaw, and began to conquer. We rid the area of dozens of saplings as well as huge quantities of trash, filling more than two dozen yard bags at the end of the day. Then, this past weekend we had a landscaper come out with his Bobcat to level the land. I'll have to look for a picture of the area pre-wood chipper, but the before and after Bobcat pictures are below.

Our plan for this area is to make a garden. We will build raised garden beds out of cedar to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs, and will pave around the beds with old bricks we got for a great deal off of craigslist last week. We want to make a rain barrel off the garage, and I plan to learn all about composting and start a bin as well.




Bricks are stacked and ready in the garage until we have the area ready for pavers. (With Wrigley as a photo extra). We had to dig most of the 1600 bricks (approximately 8 tons, but who's counting?) out of a guy's backyard patio, load them in the truck and unload at our house. I can't wait to see them in the ground.



On another note, a bit of spring excitement is in the works on our front porch as well. I've noticed over the past few weeks that when I go out to water plants in the morning, a bird flies out of one of our hanging ferns. Just this weekend we peeked down into the plant, and found the nest. No eggs yet, but we'll keep you updated!