The back yard makeover, four months in the making...done.

 

The relief and joy I am feeling.....I can barely put into words. I knew it was going to be a heavy and long project. I just couldn't bring myself tear everything out and send it to the compost facility, even though it would have been about a three week project instead of four months. I just felt I had to hand sort all the mulch and pick out the bigger wood chips. Then carefully gather up the compost and manure and move all of it into the gardens that will remain. So some of it went way over to the other side of the far yard. One wheelbarrow at a time....{are you feeling ANY sympathy yet, or do I need to get even more dramatic?}, in the hot sun, for about four months. This past weekend, I got the rest of the back yard grass seeded, and sprinklers set up. I wish I had that on video.....the tap is actually located in the sprinkler overlap, so as I was trying to get them aligned perfectly, I was in the path of at least one sprinkler almost the whole time. It was pretty funny actually, I looked like a drowned rat.

The Blueberries have been moved and the new garden defined.

It was a brutal job, what with the dry summer and solid clay, but I dug out the Blueberries and moved them into the new smaller garden. It actually looks better and I have a feeling that they will be much happier there. They will not be out in the centre of a garden in the hot sun. They will get a bit of shade at the roots and coolness from the apple trees.

 

Below is a photo of where they were. They are just on the left of the tire tracks. There are not a lot of leaves on the Blueberries, so they are hard to see. Sad isn't it. They did not do well there. I think it was just too dry and hot with no garden around them this year. To the left, or behind them, are some lavenders that have been moved. The Blueberries were moved to the area just behind the lavenders. It sure looks better now doesn't it.

Finally, after a whole summer of hard work....the first grass seed is sown!

I spent the entire summer, about 3 1/2 months, moving a massive amount of wood chips and composted manure using a wheel barrow. I would put it in the wheel barrow and manually pick out the chips bigger than about three inches and all of the sticks...and there were a lot. That is what ended up in the massive pile about 12' across by about 5' tall. Those were hand picked chips and sticks. Then I would move the wheel barrow of good manure and wood chips into the gardens that will remain. OMG I cannot tell you what a sight this is. The first section levelled and prepared, seeded and now watering. {If it looks familiar, this is the area that contained my precious Tulameen Raspberry bed}. I have never been so happy to see a job wrapping up!!

The massive garden removal, stage one, is DONE!!

 

For scale this pile of chips and debris that I raked out of the good mulch and manure.....has a leaning wooden platform that is 8 x 8'. That pile is huge. You can see it is at least 12' across.

 

 

So, fast forward two weeks and a HUGE amount of green material removed by trailer loads, and I am down to relatively flat and wood chip and plant free soil. It rained today so you can see that the car and trailer did make some ruts. I had to level everything in the next two weeks anyway, so I will do that and get the grass seed spread right on schedule in about a week or two. I must say, this taking every minute I’m not at work, for close to three months surprises me. It was a long project. After the seeding, I will begin to weed and then spread the beautifully sorted small wood chips and composted material including manure, in the newly formed apple tree garden. More to follow. Here are a few more photos of the yard and a few apples on a tree that we are eating from right now.

 

 

 

Melrose Apples