Phase 1 of Landscape Remodeling Complete

It has been several months, but the backyard landscaping project is finally complete...or at least almost.  I have lots of time lapse photography of the actual project that needs to be processed, but here are some iPhone pictures from yesterday that show the current status of things. 

On a beautiful day in mid-February with temps in the mid-60's and the news flooded with reports of the midwest and northeast in a literal deep freeze of sub-zero weather, we enjoyed working outside on some pruning and other odd jobs. We were surprised to discover that the African iris are blooming.  That is in addition to the mahonia leatherleaf that have retained their yellow flowers.  By the way, those yellow flowers are major favorites of the local bee population.   

African iris in bloom

So here, by request from the California part of the family, is a quick tour through backyard (and side yard) world as it currently exists.

There is now lots of room on the patio again without the Chinese holly bushes overwhelming everything.  The red flowers are cyclamen that we got at North Haven Gardens in Dallas several weekends ago when we attended their class on vegetable gardening.

 The flagstone path leads either to the bird bath on the left, to the bridge and various bird feeders straight ahead, or to the side yard to the right.  Besides looking kind of neat, the "river" of river rock solved the water drainage problem that had long plagued the backyard.

The lack of grass should mean low maintenance.  It looks rather barren right now, but it is still winter and we are confident most plants will grow and fill in.  For example, the small little green clumps in the foreground are dwarf mondo grass which should become a general ground cover.  There are also a few locations that still require additional planting because the particular plants planned for those locations were not available when the planting was done in December.

As seen in the close-up picture below, the monsters are carrying off the garden gnome...or maybe he is not a gnome but the troll from under the bridge.  
 

Monsters with gnome

As seen in the picture below, the flagstone path and the river go into the side yard.  Also note the "see through" bird feeder on the den window.  It contains safflower seeds, which the squirrels do not like but is a favorite of cardinals and finches.  We hope they will adopt this as a favored feeding site so that Alex and I will have something to enjoy when I am on the computer.

Looking towards the side yard

 One of the major parts of the project was reclaiming the side yard.  After the demise of the swing set years ago it had gone largely unused.  The fence across the front was moved to the front edge of the house to provide more usable space.  There is now lots more room, but it should be low maintenance since it is covered in decomposed granite. 

Side yard from the back.  The two larger plants on the right and left are African iris.

The garden bench is a relatively new addition.  We found it online and assembled it after it arrived several weeks ago.  It is made of shorea wood, which is supposed to be somewhat resistant to weathering.  We will see.  The seat opens to provide access to a storage area which we plan to use for miscellaneous garden tools or other frequently used items. 

Bench in front of the space for the raised vegetable garden

The rectangular bare spot is the location for a 12' x 4' raised bed which we plan to add by early summer in preparation for a vegetable garden.  It is not quite as sunny a spot as we would like, but that should be less of a problem as the sun gets higher in the sky.

Although we barely know what we are doing, we hope to develop the garden using the general principles known as Square Foot Gardening.  I have read and reread the book and have started collecting a variety of information.  Unfortunately, not everything as written in the book applies exactly to the weather conditions in Texas, hence part of the reason for the class at North Haven Gardens.  Even then, we are spending a lot of time researching and scratching our heads.   Fortunately we made a conscious decision not to start working on the garden in earnest until I am completely retired in mid-May.  We plan on a fall harvest garden this first year.  Although that sounds like a long time from now, it means the start of planting in early July.  Stayed tuned for lots more details.

View into the side yard from the front.  The fence along the front is 5 feet high (rather than the usual 6 feet) so we can still see the street from Gwen's window.

Overall things are coming together.  There are still a few additional plants that need to be added and the raised bed needs to be installed.  Work in the front of the house is a separate project for the not too distant future.  Even without that, we are well on our way to a much more usable space that we can enjoy.