another weekend of progress

We got a lot done over the weekend & it feels great to look out & see the progress. I had to include some BEFORE photos (meaning: when we bought our house) this time because it makes me so happy to see what we started with! We are not exactly done, but there is definitely much improvement!

BEFORE
(November 2008)

Looking towards the area where we laid new bark mulch & placed raised beds.

Looking towards the back fence - totally overgrown with blackberry bushes & out of control shrubs.

The shed.


AFTER:

New bark, beds & newly shaped lawn. This photo matches up (kind of) with the first BEFORE photo.

Looking towards the back fence - no longer overgrown with blackberry bushes! Yay!

The shed.

Shrubs are a little more under control. Cute bench & turtle from Marylee & Lew. :) We are making plans to build a chicken coop & to raise some chickens in that back, grassy area! Can't wait to see our boys' faces when we get our baby chicks!

Another view of the beds.

Kenton washing out his parents' truck - we've gotten A LOT of use out of that truck this past month. It took us 6 cubic yards of bark mulch to cover our new flower beds! Thanks Kevin & Outi!

The result of busy parents paying too little attention to the 3 year old?? Apparently he lost his pants at some point. I think he was kicking the bark mulch & got slivers in his pants. :P You live & you learn!

And I planted my first seeds in the raised beds!
Yay for Romaine & Butter Crunch Lettuce! I've also started two varieties of peppers, some sunflowers, peppers & two varieties of tomatoes inside the garage. I have a little growing station set up & love checking on my seedlings. :)

I think I'm a little over excited about all this gardening stuff, but I have been thinking about it for over a year now! I really wanted to do this all last Spring but was quite pregnant & didn't think it would be great of me to make Kenton do all the work by himself. So yes, I am excited! It's great to see our plans in motion!