Backyard Progress

Turns out, there was a reason Dan and I've slacked on landscaping the past five years...

Landscaping is no joke.

In the past, we've settled on just using our backyard as a pass-thru to get to the alley to take out the trash. We've eaten out there exactly once, 4th of July with friends the first year we bought it.

After that, we somehow decided that it wasn't worth dealing with all the issues: the mis-matched fence, the monkey grass, the mountains of magnolia leaves, the hazardous patio with jagged slates, the poison ivy hidden in said monkey grass, the leaning tree, the unpruned bushes, and the influx of mosquitoes attracted, no doubt, by the effing monkey grass.

This spring, though, we finally decided that the monkey grass was done ruining our lives and that it was time to work on the backyard. While it doesn't look like much of a change, believe me, it was a ton of work. Here's our progress so far...

Before, when everything was overgrown:

After Dan and I spent hours pick-axing the monkey grass, planting six hostas, and mulching:

Before of bush/tree:

After we pruned the tree, axed up more monkey grass, put down stones, and planted three shade-happy plants in colorful pots:

Before, our patio without furniture:

Progress, now that we've purchased a table and chair set and filled up two trash cans of magnolia leaves:






We decided to make good on our spring resolution to actually use our backyard, so we made dinner for friends on Memorial Day. I couldn't resist picking up some bright accents, like lanterns to drape over the back fence


and cheap-o Target plates to go with the throw pillows:

I spray painted these terra cotta pots (Rustoleum's Lagoon and Key Lime, in case anyone else is interested) and potted a few other plants for some color near the patio:


Lastly, we bought corn hole to play (horrible name, great game). I'm all about the outdoor games lately, and am planning on investing in a bocce set soon.

Ignore the leaves in the below pic. We were completely spent after the rest of the backyard. And honestly, trying to keep them picked up is a losing battle.





So that's our progress so far. I know it doesn't look like much, but it felt like a huge difference from the disaster we started with.

And I have to say that hanging out in our backyard finally was pretty damn rewarding!