The New Path

After weeks of back-straining work and digging, we're pleased to present our (nearly) finished yard project, with new concrete path and sprinklers.

Here are the "before" pictures, with the concrete slabs and narrow flower bed in front of the house.

Our back yard had no concrete - the trash cans and little shed were on gravel, with mulch and stepping stones near the back gate.

 In mid-November, Stace spent a weekend moving the plants we wanted to keep, and clearing the area near the back wall.

Then, a contractor sent men to dig out the concrete and grade the area for the new path.

I was amazed at their strength - no machinery assisted them as they removed the concrete.

Stace then spent a week working on replacing the sprinklers, grading the grass down to the level of the path, and installing a drain in the back lawn. That's what's happening here - the girls are helping him cover over the new drain pipe.








Here's a look at part of the sprinkler system.

 Stacey worked so hard, for so many days. Here, he's removing some of the grass, to lower the level of the lawn to that of the new concrete.

 The concrete path was designed to form a drain for our front yard. We've always dealt with a big puddle in front of the front door when it rains hard.

Now, the rain flows away from the house, down to the driveway, to the street.

The next week, workers came to pump loads of concrete into the forms.

Stace spent another week designing the front yard sprinkler system, and working further on the irrigation for the back lawn.

Stace is an incredibly hard worker, and thorough researcher, to figure out how to best irrigate our yard.

The next week, we had a couple of trees and other plants put in. Cora will be looking out at a semi-dwarf apple tree, and in front of our house now stands an ornamental pear tree, with ground cover around it. This tree will eventually provide shade in the summer, and red/orange color in the autumn.

The next stage of the project includes moving a bench, arbor, and  potted flowering vines to the blank space in front of the house

We finally have a solid surface for wheeling our bins around, one that won't be a mud pit when it rains.

You can see that Stace still has some work to do in the back. It's been raining, and the mud/extra grass is sodden and heavy.

He also will reinstall the red fence that blocks the bins from our view from the living room. And he needs to wire the sprinklers into our timer, mulch around the front yard plants, and tackle the front arbor.

Still, it feels very, very good to be at this stage of the project! We are very pleased with how it's turning out.