Yard Improvements, 2 years in the making

Justin and I have lived in our house for 2 years. Since day 1 we have had dreams of ways to improve the inside and out (mainly out). Here is a photo journal of the yard improvements we have made. I am missing some great photos due to our hard-drive crash and pictures just can never capture the full effect, but you'll get the idea. For the first time we can actually say we accomplished all of our yard-goals!

How the house looked when we moved in (2008):

Last summer we had the house painted and isolated some gardens in the front:

And last week we (well, mainly Justin) finally redid our parking strip to match the neighbors and eliminate the constant weeds. Of course, this was the very first project we listed when we moved into the house, but that's not the point... :)

Next: The Backyard. I really wish I had taken pictures of the "before", but I didn't. At the time it was so ugly that I didn't want to document it. Just imagine an empty slate with weeds, a few plants, and dirt.

First project: add a shed to create storage. Justin modeled the shed off of the Tuff Shed design and did an awesome job!

Framing...

And "Voila!" A shed!

Then we have the planter boxes. Remember that dirt I talked about?

Last summer we built the boxes and brought in a truck full of pea gravel. (2009)

This spring I planted lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, and herbs. Some things have worked better than others, but the learning curve is steep and I look forward to doing it again this coming spring.

And here we go! I am really excited for the tomatoes to ripen.

And then we have the landscaping... or lack there of. This was another big project. Again, I wish I had a before picture. Here is spring of 2009 after a lot of work had already been done:

Summer of 2009:

Summer of 2010 - more mature and some new plants, a new tree, and a trellis.

Nothing really makes me happier than being outside, watching Ellie playing in our yard, and enjoy just being in it. It's our little slice of the American dream. :)

Final Project: The Deck. Again, one of the first outdoor projects we discussed prior to moving into the house was building a deck. Justin had it designed upon first look, but we wanted to get the other things done first. :) The deck became a reality this summer. The plans morphed along the way, but the end product is perfect. It is large enough to host our picnic table, two large planter boxes, and a sitting area as well as long enough for Ellie to ride her bike back and forth. We are SOOOO happy with it!!