New Lawn- I mentioned this in my previous post. We’ve got a lawn in...sort of. Parts of the lawn came in nicely, green and lush. Other parts...not so much. We started the lawn from seed and, in hindsight, should have done a better job of raking the grass seed in. I'm pretty sure the birds ate most of the seed. We kept after it, though, reseeding several times and fertilizing. With the onset of cooler weather, our grass has started spreading rapidly. I've got faith that we will eventually end up with a nice-looking lawn.
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| Here’s the front of the house, showing our not-so-great lawn and rose garden. |
Fence - We finished the fence along the west side of our property, probably some time in late March or early April. We struggled with a means of keeping the fencing taut while we fastened it to the posts. Every YouTube video we saw shouwed a guy with either a tractor or a forklift holding the fencing tight. We figured out how to do it with a cable come-along and a clamp that I rigged up. It was fairly labor-intensive but the final results were worth it.
Garden - We hauled in some topsoil and then fenced off a 24' square garden plot for Cathy. We had already run an irrigation line to the site, so Cathy took the ball and ran with it. She planted a bed of dahlias, knowing full well that they might not do well in this hot, dry climate. After a slow start, they gave us a spectacular display of flowers starting in late summer. Additionally, she grew tomatoes (they did great), peppers (not-so-great), zuchini (great), potatoes (pretty good for afirst effort) cantaloup and melons (great) and sunflowers. All in all, it was a great first year for the garden. She is still harvesting tomatoes and zuchini in mid-November!
Cathy hard at work setting fence posts for the garden. You can see the contraption we used to tighten the fencing.
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| Finished garden plot, ready for planting! |
Deck - This was our biggest, and most fun project. We built a ginormous deck in two sections, one at (roughly) 25' square and a smaller section at 11' x 25'. On the main deck we set some posts and installed two shade sails. Using shade sails is a low-cost and very easy way to get some shade on a deck. We decided in this climate that we did not need an all-weather cover, merely some protection from the sun. Although we had (and still have) some concerns about their viabilty in strong winds, to date they have held up very well. We've added patio furniture and an outdoor dining table. At nearly 900 square feet, our deck is roughly half the size of the entire house!
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| Here’s the deck; I later added a small step in the middle of the smaller deck. |
Trees - We ordered and planted three fruit trees - two apple and one peach, and a liquidambar shade tree. Before planting, we went to Lowe’s to pick up some bags of mulch to go around the trees. Cathy spotted some California live oaks for sale at a great price. We snapped one up and planted it, too. Although oaks are notoriously slow-growing, I have faith that we’ll be around long enough to sit under this bad boy!
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| Here’s our bargain-basement California live oak. |
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| From the left: Granny Smith apple, peach (variety unknown), Honey Crisp apple. The liquidambar tree is in the background, to the right of the sliding glass door. |
Other Stuff - We did a lot of little jobs, too…
Planters - We added several planters around the front of the house.
Gutters - We added gutters along the back of the house, to move the water away from the house and the deck.
What’s Next? In no particular order or priority, here’s some of the things that are on our radar:
- Fencing along the east side of the property
- Raised beds for the garden
- Tile black splash and open shelving along the kitchen wall
- Building out a small shop area in the garage
- Putting in a hop yard (that’s where one grows hops!)
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