The Evolution of My Backyard

I was trying to explain my backyard landscaping in an email to my friend Brian in Florida today, and I just thought pictures would be the best way to go.

When we first moved in, 7 years ago this month, the backyard was all dirt. We are the first owners, the backyard was just flat, with weeds and with dirt that the builders added after they finished building. There was lots of construction trash in the dirt, many weeds, and lots of thick clay. The clay couldn't even be walked on if it was wet at all, it just stuck to you and pulled your shoes off. So, first, we sodded the whole yard right away.

Here's Alex next to a newly planted tree and young sod. My house is on camera right.

This picture and the next one show the backyard at 2 years of age. That's Alex in the picture below, at 2.5. He was 6 months old when we bought the house. Here you see the sod, there's a small garden in the back (camera right), that now I've moved closer to the house.

I had just planted 13 small bushes along the back fence to eventually cover the fence (shown below), and two small trees (shown above).

The back yard last summer:
Now we have a playscape we got used from a friend, there's a food garden on the right, and a flower garden in the middle which had sunflowers last year, but this year it just has wildflowers in it. The back fence is completely covered with those bushes.

That's Sam swinging. The trees you saw before are now huge. The one on the right is taller than our 2-story house.


Also, there are six new trees in the back of the yard, for shade and fruit. The apple trees grow well, but don't get very well pollinated. The peach trees, and an orange tree I just got this year, did well this pollinating season and have tiny fruit on them already.

Here's a picture of the yard from last week. It's still early spring, so the garden isn't in its full glory yet. the grass is still half-dormant, and the trees' leaves aren't all in yet, but you get the basic idea. The back fence is all solid-green with those bushes, though it's hard to see that in this picture.

These bushes, and some in the front yard, I trimmed up last month, making them look cleaner.

I got a better rainbarrel this winter. And, a surprise to me, my herbs in pots didn't die from freezing this winter. Must've been too close to the house or something.

So, that's what I've been up to, maintaining the back yard, and making improvements to the front yard. Now, we are planning improvements for the inside of the house. :-)