I wanted to capture in one place a visual timeline of the changes in our backyard during 2023. We’ve never loved our backyard. It was suburban-basic. At the same time we never had the funds available to hire someone to make it better.
Finally in 2020, I got brave and decided to draw up our own dream landscape. I had a Master Gardener friend who reviewed it and gave me feedback on changes. Kelly and I decided we’d do a majority of the work ourselves, figuring if it didn’t work it still couldn’t be as boring and awful as it was before doing anything at all.
In early 2021 we spray painted lines for new beds and had a contractor change our sprinkler system to accommodate the new design. We removed some old red tips, actually dug out beds and put down compost and called it good.
Then Johnnie got sick, we got busy, Kelly’s parents all died, we got depressed, then we got very busy settling estates. Before we knew it, 2023 had arrived and the landscape looked just as it did in early 2021.
I contacted our local compost company, Texas Pure Products, and had them deliver seven cubic yards of compost to kick-start the project. Kelly and I spent most of April and May digging out new landscape beds, spreading compost, and purchasing and installing plants. Each part of the project took the better part of a weekend, with the exception of digging out the beds and spreading compost. Those were four day projects. Kelly did a lot of the work while I was at the office.
The remainder of the summer was filled with weeding. So. Much. Weeding. We learned this was normal, especially for the first two years after you remove sod and install landscape beds.
We watched plants bloom and dealt with very hot sun.
We put in solar powered lights, a bug hotel and garden bench.
I’ve even planted wildflower seeds to see what happens in the spring. Fingers crossed!
We spent so much time in the yard this year! In fact, we’ve decided it’s one of our favorite parts of the house now and wouldn’t change the time we spent doing it ourselves for anything.
Next year we plan to install trees, remove our aging too-tall crepe myrtles, add additional plants now that we know what does and doesn’t thrive and sit even more in the backyard. Kelly’s suggested we work some on the front beds, too. Our long-term plan is to repour and cover the patio to make it an all-season retreat.