My Yard Makeover

On a lighter note - my yard underwent an amazing transformation in June.

Middle of June both Bernie and I took a week of holidays and went to town on our yard. So holiday? Or work without pay? Toss-up! However, we did enjoy spending the week together working on this project. It was actually fun!

So you may recall what the front of our house looked like when we bought it - hadn't changed much come June 2016.

This is a google maps picture - but the changes have been slight - we added a new front door - but that was about it.

It was time to make our front yard feel like it was ours. So I called on my sister for assistance.

She is a landscape consultant - so perfect!

She drew up a design on some graph paper! and with that we went to town. (she is much more professional with non-family!! those are computer printed!!)

AND AGAIN, I need to stress, THIS HAD TO BE DONE ON THE CHEAP - so cheap labour (volunteer), borrowed machinery (Friesen Farms) and pure muscle and backstrain!

We started by picking up ALL the rock in the front yard - and let me tell you - it was deep and wide!! We used muscles, tractors, wheelbarrows and shovels. And in the end? It didn't take nearly as long as we thought!

So as you can see - there were a lot of rocks!! But move them we did - most of them to the backyard where we were making a river bed that would run along the entire west side of our yard and join up with the front yard. And then there was just the pile of rocks we made after that project was done!

We may not have moved mountains, but we did move small small pieces of them!

After we moved all the rock, it was time to have some fun and start laying out our river bed and planning the walkway, deck and planting area. We followed Jodi's plan to a T and we were very happy with the way it was looking. The other thing that we did was something I had been waiting for since July 1, 2015 - REPAINTING THE PEACH HOUSE!!! So it took a bit to finally settle on the colour. There were debates about what colour looked purple or grey or brown... but we settled and I love it.

The part about getting on top of the tractor bucket - not so much enjoyed! But I did it. (As you can see, we still had more stone to move!)

But the picture above shows you the tilling that has begun - it shows my hired help as well. The little helper is quite busy on the ipad - I'm pretty sure he is insourcing and outsourcing help and ideas!

Not.

But we moved forward and each step was brilliant and fun. Jodi ordered my trees from Jeffrey's Greenhouse in Portage La Prairie. We also got trees and flowers from the one and only Heather Warkentin at Warkentin's Prairie Grove Greenhouse in LaSalle/Domain.

Then there were all the hard workers. I can't speak for them, you need to hear and see for yourself.

So as you can see - very busy helpers!!

Then we bought plants and trees!!

Dexter built the first garden box and dad built the 2nd! They are awesome! (From old pallets by the way!)

Well, a lot of sweat and some tears, sore backs and callouses - we were finished our week of holidays and our yard looked a lot different!

BEFORE

AFTER

a few more pics

A few more pics

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So there you have it - 1 week - lots of family help - a landscape designer - plants - new yard! I will take a new pic next summer after all our shrubs and trees have grown a bit!

Along with these pics are a few that bring back memories of dad... he put a lot of work into my front yard. The wooden walkway is 'the path that Frank built.'

The deck has his hand prints all over it. (This was mid-June 2016)

And my grand kids got to hang out with their great-grandpa!

(he was just holding that beer can for, um, Bernie?)

He is missed. I think of him every time I walk up my wooden pathway and sit on that green chair on my front deck. I'm thankful for that week in June - I was frustrated at times during it, but so thankful for it now. Thanks for your hard work dad!!