Before and After

BooMama is hosting a Before and After carnival. Back in June she challenged us to commit to a project around the house and conquer it over the summer. She was even gracious enough to give us an extension.

I accepted the challenge and decided to finish landscaping the Hairdryer household's backyard. My goals were:

1. Clean out weeds and debris.
2. Clean off the porch.
3. Plant 1 or 2 trees to shade the house from the evening sun.
4. Lay sod.
5. Weed and mulch the vegetable garden area so it is ready for planting next season.
6. Buy Honey a new grill.

Here are my before pictures:

In this picture you will notice the messy porch, ancient grill, weeds, broken wheel barrel, and some sort of baseball backstop thing.

Here is the picture of what lay between the back porch and the back gate. Our dumpster is just on the other side of the fence. Every time it rained our backyard became an absolute mud pit. It was a major chore to even take out the trash. Not fun.

Here are the after pics:

Here you will see that numbers 1,2,4,and 6 on my list were accomplished. The debris and weeds are gone, the grass is growing in nicely, the porch is neat and tidy, and the new grill (with it's weather resistant cover) is in place.


Here's a view of the vegetable garden area. I put down some cheap bedding border that will hopeful keep the healthy bermuda grass from invading. At one point in July when we were working on this project, I had the beds cleaned out and growth free. I attempted to spread mulch, but sadly I ran out before I got the job completed. I was sorely mistaken on the amount of mulch it would take to cover my vegetable area. Estimation is not my strong suit.

Here's a pic of our new grill. Honey feels like he's died and gone to grilling heaven. It has two different sides, one for propane and one for charcoal, allowing you to pick your poison when you cook. It also has a side burner for those times when you feel all Martha Stewart and want to cook the complete meal, side vegetables and all, outside.

We didn't check off our list planting trees and actually finishing the vegetable garden prep. Here's a newsflash: the middle of the hottest and driest month of the year (July) is not the best time to plant trees. Who knew? So we decided to put the tree planting off until October-ish. I'll finish the vegetable garden by then, and of course I'll post pictures.

If you're interested in seeing other Before and After projects, click over to BooMama's Before and After and check out the Mr. Linky. Happy weekend!