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My Backyard….Let Me Show You It

Posted on 04/18/2011 by Backpacking Dad

It’s been a long time coming, but the backyard is finally finished. It’s not a big space, but I think we’ve managed to do a lot with it. And by “we” I mean my landscaper and his cousin. I am more than happy to give referrals to anyone on the San Francisco Peninsula who needs a good landscaper.

First, a reminder of the before:

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Overgrown with weeds, a bush that served no purpose beyond catching lemons that fall from the neighbour’s tree, and a wildly growing peach tree perfect for poking at children’s eyes.

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An air conditioner unit just sitting there against the back wall, and a garden shed full of old paint and tile (and spiders) taking up a huge portion of what was left of the patio space after we expanded the house.

So…there was some stuff to do.

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A step to the back yard. What a concept! You mean I don’t have to leap off out of the back door anymore?

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Weeds pulled, irrigation in place for what will hopefully be something requiring irrigation instead of weeds, which somehow do not require irrigation.

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A covering for the air conditioner, which also covers that window in the back so the peeping Tom’s can no longer get an eyeful when I forget that it’s there.

The finished space is….better….

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The lawn is in, and the cement step was finished with flagstone. Stone-filled planters border the house and the lattice-work. Two-feet tall wooden planter boxes line the fence.

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Grapevines (now in the ground, not sitting on top of the rocks) are in front of the lattice work, and will grow up to provide more covering, and also, hopefully, fresh backyard grapes someday.) The peach tree in the distance is trimmed to adult-eye level, and one of the old plants has been divided up to dot the area around it. The apricot tree provides shade. Two flagstone pathways arc out from the rear step, one to the patio, one to the side of the house, helping create a full circuit walkway around the entire house when the gates are opened.

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The wooden planters sit on stabilized sand surface, away from the grass and its sprinkler heads. Each box has a its own sprinkler heads, and will soon see tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, and herbs trying to survive under my neglect.

The shed is gone, and in its place will go a table, chairs, and the grill I’ve been using back there for the past few days. We enclosed the open end of the lattice with a gate that will give us, but not the kids, access to the hose, irrigation, and air conditioner.

All of that, and there’s still enough room for a slip ‘n’ slide back there.

Seriously, if you want a landscaper, I know a guy.

21 thoughts on “My Backyard….Let Me Show You It”

  1. Trish Smith says:
    04/18/2011 at 12:48 PM

    Beautifully done. For once, I have no urge to snark. Your designer created an excellent combination of design and function…lovely.

    1. Backpacking Dad says:
      04/18/2011 at 4:45 PM

      Yeah. I made a bad choice with the filler stones for the house-adjacent planters though. I picked river stones, since they looked the best, but I realize in retrospect that they're just weapons for kids. I may have a broken window in my future.

  2. DCUrbanDad says:
    04/18/2011 at 12:49 PM

    Where's the hot tub?

    1. Backpacking Dad says:
      04/18/2011 at 4:45 PM

      In the house.

  3. Dean Ouellette says:
    04/18/2011 at 12:51 PM

    Very nice, I just started mine this weekend, it is going to be a month long do-it yourself project, but much of the same stuff. Grass instead of weeds and a watering system which is kind of helpful in Arizona

    1. Backpacking Dad says:
      04/18/2011 at 4:45 PM

      Someone asked me if I was going to do Zero-scaping and I was all "No, I'm already doing that. Now I want a yard."

      1. Dean Ouellette says:
        04/18/2011 at 5:22 PM

        Would love to do that, but holly cow batman is that expensive.

  4. Sistersisterink says:
    04/18/2011 at 12:52 PM

    lookin good man :)

    1. Backpacking Dad says:
      04/18/2011 at 4:53 PM

      No you are!

  5. Jill Krause says:
    04/18/2011 at 1:02 PM

    Looks amazing. Now don't go messing anything up by getting a dog who will poop all over the place. It's possible I'm speaking from experience there.

    1. Backpacking Dad says:
      04/18/2011 at 4:53 PM

      I don't even let the kids walk on it.

  6. Diane @ OhDiane says:
    04/18/2011 at 1:31 PM

    Looks great. We need to start working on your yard…if it ever stops raining.

    1. Backpacking Dad says:
      04/18/2011 at 4:54 PM

      The rain delayed us about a week in the middle.

  7. Crabby Mommy says:
    04/18/2011 at 6:18 PM

    Great job on the yard. Looks like you're ready to add a playset.

  8. Memoirs of a Single says:
    04/18/2011 at 9:10 PM

    I like it! Those wooden planters make you look like a bee keeper, though.

  9. Patio Blinds says:
    04/19/2011 at 12:06 AM

    This is the great blog, I'm reading them for a while, thanks for the new posts!

  10. meghann @ midgetinva says:
    04/19/2011 at 12:14 AM

    Those top two pictures look just like our yard, except our yard is a billion times bigger. I have all these dreams of what our yard could be, but those dreams take many monies. Of which I have none. My 8 year old loves clover and thinks we should just have our whole yard be that. She may be on to something.

  11. Bullgrit says:
    04/19/2011 at 5:20 AM

    That's a nice looking backyard. Got a nice shade tree, and the grass just begs to be rolled around on wrestling with kids.

  12. Bethany says:
    04/19/2011 at 1:18 PM

    Fantastic! Good luck with those veggies…

  13. Christian D. says:
    04/21/2011 at 6:03 AM

    Nice! Wish I could find away to keep the dog from destroying our back yard so that when our little one arrives he'd have a place to play, but I think by the time he's that age we might have moved to another house…and hopefully with a bigger back yard!!

  14. Christian D. says:
    04/21/2011 at 1:03 PM

    Nice! Wish I could find away to keep the dog from destroying our back yard so that when our little one arrives he’d have a place to play, but I think by the time he’s that age we might have moved to another house…and hopefully with a bigger back yard!!

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