The "Weekend" Project

Back in March, we decided to tackle a project that we initially thought might get done in a weekend.  The reality of being DIY homeowners quickly set in.  This took 4-5 weekends.  I've lost count.  When we first moved into this place, there was a cute little 4x6 garden box in the yard.   It was a shame no one had done much garden-wise as far as we could tell in the 60 years this house has been around.

When we bought the home, the first thing Steve put on his wish list of home upgrades was to make a good garden space.  There was a slope on the far side of the yard that was difficult to mow, had no use, and received good sunlight for a decent portion of the day.  And so our garden space was born.

The first weekend we rented a sod cutter to take out the grass.  What should have been an easy removal turned out to be surprisingly difficult due to the slope.  The sod cutter had to be pushed up the hill because it did not have the horsepower to take it on and this machine is no light weight.  Not to mention the weight of the sod removal.  Steve was completely wiped by the end of the day.

 It would be fun to print these off and flip through them like a cartoon.  Steve soon realized what a tough project we were taking on.

The kids have been such good little helpers from start to finish.  I've been really impressed with them both. 

Another little project we did along with the garden.  I really love patio lights, so we put some in.  The kids helped out with that too by painting the support poles.

Someone would not give up her paintbrush.  It was a little tense there for a moment.

We're ready for some summer siestas.  Especially once we get our fresh salsa ingredients growing.


The following weekend was spent taking out the remaining sod that the sod cutter missed and getting everything prepped for Grandpa Luke.  He had graciously offered to come help us install the terraces and get it together.  After a lot of shopping around, we settled on the materials and how we would go about getting it done.

I think Grandpa felt his age as we were trying to pull off getting it all done in the weekend he came down.  I felt my age taking the retaining wall blocks off the truck from the driveway and down a decent slope to the other side of the yard.  There were 240 of them.  Insanity.  Everyone, especially Steve and his Dad, worked really hard to pull this project off.  Hauling 5 cubic yards of dirt in and using the rototiller to mix it all in it took its toll on the guys too.  Steve's never been so buff.

 Rowan helping me take the blocks down to the garden site. 

My mom surprised us with a quick visit while this was all taking place.  Thank goodness as it was nice to have someone hold Sage while we were trying to pull it all off.

Elaine also helped out with baby holding duty and raking/leveling of dirt.  We would be working on this long into the summer if we hadn't of had their help.

Rowan and Nadia hard at work.  Elsa playing in the "jungle" probably chasing Spaz.

I just sat around taking pictures and holding Sage at this point as my mom had left.

 I planted some hostas, primroses and a few firefly coral bells and arranged some rocks on the side to meet up with the other ground cover we have under the tree.

 In South Carolina we used weed barrier fabric in our garden and loved it!  Enough work has been done to this garden, we didn't want to spend the summer weeding it too.  Grandpa Luke got us some soaker hoses to help keep watering an easy task as well.

These are the fabulous stairs Steve built.  Most, if not all of the rocks are ones we uncovered as we were ripping dirt out.  We can pretty much expect to hit some major rocks anytime we want to plant anything here.  The stairs lead up to a gate to our neighbor's yard, but we're mostly using it to access the garden.  Our kids love them!  I planted two different ground covers- creeping jenny and irish moss.  We'll see if one or both will take.

There was a lot of adjusting of the blocks and many trips to the store after Grandpa and Grandma left.  Steve was very kind to my OCD by trying to get it all as level as he could.  It's only now that we can officially say we are done with the installation of it all.  We're glad we have some time to rest before we have to work on the actual produce of the garden.  Looking back at it all, we can truly say that this was a labor of love.  We're so thankful for those who helped us put it together.