Stripping It Down

When we moved into our new home, it had a neatly landscaped back yard that was by no means lush or kid friendly. There were strange "lily pads" of cement, a small "lily pad" patch of grass and desert trees and plants. We do love the built in grill and the the fire pit, but pretty much everything else had to go.

First we took out the bougainvilleas. They are pretty, but SUPER thorny and messy. Then we listed free palm trees on Craigs List. He brought a crane and took them out. He got free trees and we didn't have to do any of the work. It was great. We then pulled out the lantana, sage bushes and other desert plants. Last we chopped down the African Sumac trees (weed trees, yuck!) and then had to dig out the stumps. It was hard work, but luckily we had a couple of extra awesome teenage boys to help get out the second stump.

Then we had to break up the four smaller cement "lily pads". We borrowed one sledgehammer and took turns breaking it up. I did swing the sledgehammer a few times, but mostly I used the pick to break the cracked pieces away and then hauled them out of the way so Richard, Sam and Josh could break it up more. We did have Victor and Lorenzo, (Sam's friends that helped with the tree stump) help us break up the last one. We hauled 3 tons of broken cement and curbing to the dump, 2 loads in the van.

We all worked on removing the rock from the back yard. I had the kids work with me for 10 minutes every day for several weeks and then we spent several weekends raking, shoveling and hauling rock out of the back. We now have a VERY thick layer of rock in the front, luckily it was the same kind of rock, and a few new hills of rock. We didn't want to pay to have it hauled off.

When we were finished clearing the yard we paid to have the hills removed and have the yard leveled for grass, paving stones and trees. Yea!

It is amazing how much better it looks having it all leveled. It had been such a mess all through the clearing process. We are having the walk way and the rest of the patio put in next week and the curbing for our flower beds and garden. We are also working out our plans for the watering system and then we are going to plant LOTS AND LOTS of pretty GREEN things!!!! I can't wait for green grass and SHADE!