Backyard - Before & After

The biggest project we tackled in our new place was, by far, our backyard. We must have been overly excited at the prospect of renting a house (as opposed to an apartment) that we overlooked some details on our walk-through. If I would have known how much hard work it is to maintain a yard, I’d have done things differently! I also would have taken more “before” pictures.

Our backyard was pretty much a mess when we moved in. I can’t and don't blame anyone for it. It is a rental house, after all. Dan and I love to entertain, though, and so we just couldn’t stand for that area to go unused, especially considering what a big area it was and how much potential it had for being a great place for hosting summer shindigs. For example, ohhh, I don’t know…an August birthday party??!?  Just sayin'...

So, we decided to go to work! We had no clue how much work it would turn out to be. We were naïve little first time home-renters! Now I know that there is a LOT to be said for a good-looking yard.  I also have gained a great amount of respect for those who take care of their own lawn.  However, I now understand why people hire help for landscaping and lawn work!

Our backyard is fairly big. In it, there is a patio with a grid of brick-like, red squares and a non-functioning water/rock fountain that used to flow into a tiny pond of water which was essentially serving as a mosquito breeding-ground. In between each and everyone one of the bricks was a massive amount of weeds. Deep-rooted, dirty, nasty, sometimes prickly and always annoying weeds. There is also a 16’x4’ flower bed that abuts the house, which was filled with rocks and also covered in weeds. I have determined, by the way, that weeds are from the devil.  They choke, entangle, steal and make me curse! 

I will now offer a few pieces of advice. If you ever have a house with a patio such as ours with a grid of square bricks or stones, which contain soil and sand in between them, remove them and pour a concrete patio or build a deck.  Chairs do not sit well on a grid such as this and you will save yourself a heck of a lot of sweat and tears.  Additionally, if you have a family member, a stepdad in my case, who suggests that you “simply” remove ALL of the red squares and till the entire patio area to remove the weeds, then “simply” replace all of the red squares, DO IT. LISTEN TO YOUR FAMILY MEMBER! They love you and just want what is best for you. Do not be stubborn, like me, and think you know what weed pulling is all about. Trust me. You don’t know.

Dan and I spent countless hours after long days at the office/clinic spraying and pulling weeds until dark. There may have been times when Dan hated me for wanting to fix up our backyard. I know he wanted to; he just didn’t want to. You know what I mean. It was hot, sticky, dirty work. No one wants to do that after a long day. No one but me, of course.

Another consideration we had was that we are only renting this place. And only for a year. We didn’t want to put a lot of money into it, considering it wasn’t ours, so we'd get no return on our investment, and we’d be moving soon. Anything we invested in the house, we wanted to be sure we could take with us when we left.

So, having all that in mind, here’s what went down after all the weeds were pulled, stomped, spat on, mowed over and thrown away, which, by the way, took the majority of our effort and time:

We pulled all the rocks out of the flower bed and enhanced the border of the patio area with those rocks.  Additionally, we pulled the wooden boards bordering the patio out of the ground on one side and moved them out a couple inches, to provide for a 4th side on which the rocks could surround the patio. With rocks on all 4 sides of the patio, it’s symmetrical and looks very nice. I love symmetry!

We placed some of the brick-like red squares in the flower bed and surrounded it with mulch. We bought mulch from Menards for $10 and that’s the only thing we bought for the backyard that we can’t take with us. At Menards, we also purchased a 100 ft. Black & Decker garden hose for $20, a fire pit for $40, and some solar lights to line our flower bed and front walkway for $10. All of that was on sale, so we found some awesome deals! Additionally, we bought three shepherds hooks and two flower pots from Lowe’s for $7 each and three hanging flower pots, two plant stands, and three tiki torches from Family Dollar for $3 each. We also bought some flowers and potting soil from Wal-Mart for about $25.

The result:

We didn’t do much with the patio besides pull weeds, beef up the rock supply and get the water fountain working. That’s all it needed! Dan worked hard to get that pesky fountain working. After hooking up the pump (Menards; $14), we discovered the fountain was clogged with debris. He resolved the problem after getting creative with some wire, a fishhook and a flashlight. We dug that debris right out of there and voila! The fountain worked. It is so peaceful to sit out on the patio now. We have a small bistro set that fit on our apartment balcony. It’s really too small for our current patio space, but it works for the two of us. If you come over, be sure to BYOS - bring your own seat! We are looking forward to the fall when we can light up the fire pit and roast s’mores with our friends!

We love our new space and feel that we landscaped it very efficiently. Now we can enjoy our evenings on the patio, without having to pull weeds, move rocks, pot flowers, pour mulch, or anything else. We can just enjoy a glass of wine, talk about our day, and listen to the peaceful water fountain flow! Can’t wait to have you over!