Hi there friends!!

Here’s a quick update post about our little side yard.  It may not be all that exciting to some of you, then again, with all the lawn hating going on these days, you just might be very interested.

More lawn gone, you ask.  Yup.  Seems to be a trend around here.

Of course, here’s a part of my yard that I so BADLY wanted a lawn.  In fact, we tried everything to grow a strong, lush, green lawn and in the process, we spent lots and LOTS of money.  None of it held up very well since the soil is pretty much the worst ever.

This second picture was one of those time where we kinda had a lawn.  This was right after we put in the ficus all around the fence to cover our neighbors ripped privacy screen, which drives me Gwen Stefani BANANAS.  That screen has died.  Let’s just bury the thing already.  Amiright?!

That little slope was also once the home of a huge pine tree that was knocked down in a crazy windstorm.  Needless to say, over the years there have been a few changes… some are working, some just ain’t.

The plan was easy.  Dig up the dirt about 3-4″.  Cover this with a steel mesh to deter any gophers.  Add in a retaining wall for the dirt and to make the hill look legit.  Add a drip system to the side greenery and hill.  And then grade the whole play area with decomposed granite.

Now, we have this.

The frog?  A vintage find from an old park.  The plane?  From Costco – Where else?

Let’s break it down, shall we?

The retaining wall?  Each wood piece was $20 and we needed 14 = $280

The mesh I bought here and needed 5 rolls for a 700 sqft space, $66 x 5 = $330

The landscape edging, $20 for each piece x 6 = $120

Drip stuff (I can’t tell you every piece here) was $200

The big cost?  The DG was $25 a scoop and $50 for delivery.  I bought 12 scoops for $385

And then of course, there’s the labor portion of the whole thing.

I didn’t lift one. single. finger.

Digging out, refilling, leveling the whole thing was $500.

Capping the old lines, and adding in the drip system $100

Putting in the retaining wall and edging $100

All in all, it was a cool 2 grand.

With our goodies put back, it’s like our very own playground.

I love it so very much.

It’s funny, the hub doesn’t really get too involved in my grand schemes, but when I told him I was thinking of doing this project he definitely eyed me suspiciously.  He didn’t say no, but he wasn’t enthused either.  Now that it’s done, he’s beyond thrilled.

It just looks so clean.  Weird word, I know.  But it does.  It’s intentional now.  This space makes sense.

We are thinking of adding a few more shade sails, flowers, and benches… you know, the fun stuff!  All in due time Watson!