Working on the backyard

Backyard

We bought our house 4 years ago this November. We loved the bones of the house but knew that it needed a lot of work. We have slowly worked on the inside of the house and are now getting to the point where we have to work on the outside. 

We have 2 young kids and I want them to have a place to play. 

When we bought the house, the backyard was described "park-like". An elderly couple had lived in the house before us and clearly knew that they didn't want to spend a lot of time with the upkeep of the backyard so they created their own little park. It had a walking path, benches, trees, palmetto bushes, etc. It looked great but really isn't the style of a young couple in their 20's. 

So, we slowly started to work on the backyard. We took out most of the bushes and about 4 trees. There was a clump of palmetto bushes that my brother-in-law, Ray, loving took apart for us one week. 

This past winter, our son really started to show an interest in playing outside and would always come inside covered in dirt because there was no grass. So, my husband got some temporary grass that would die away as summer came. That really helped cut down on the dirt that was brought into the house. 

About a month ago JJ tore down screened in porch that is in the left side of the picture.  This is a huge improvement to our backyard. The screened porch roof leaked and it became a place for roaches to die. We can now sit in the backyard and listen to the birds chirping and enjoy being outside. 

The one thing that has kept us from putting down sod is all the trees we have. We have mature trees surrounding our property. This is great because we get a lot of shade but is not that good for growing grass. 

JJ did a bunch of research and decided to get some hybrid grass seed. There are about 5 different types of seed so the hope is that one type will grow. So this past weekend we put down top soil and laid the seed down. 

(H was a huge help in getting the top soil moved.) 

It rained a lot right after we put the seed down so we will see if any of it survived. We have high hopes that this will solve our grass problem. I have visions of our kids being able to play and roll around in the grass and that is not happening right now. 

Next up on the list is a pergola, stone ground coverage and a fire pit. 

To Do:
* get grass down and grown
* Landscape (add color)
* firepit
* pergola
* Pool!!!