Fixing up the backyard and preparing for more gardens.
Still working our toockies off over here. I had this ugly patch under my laundry/office window and we moved my strawberry patch here. It must have the ugly fence to keep my girls out because those hens can squeeze their scrawny chicken bodies into any fence and they just tear things up.
We had an ugly spot under the kitchen and I planted lavender next to the mandarin tree. My husband did the fancy brickwork with old brick we found in the yard when we moved here. Add some mulch and voila!
I don’t have a before but it was just dirt and some old pots.
I have another garden patch where the strawberries once parked it. Here is the before and after.
Everything has to be fenced in due to the chickens and the cat. The dogs too. Now I have a squirrel starting with me.
We did all this work during a few evenings before my birthday celebration. Bali heard family was coming and wanted to be proud of his new home. We also painted the cement. It was a hideous grey with paint stains from Leo throwing old leftover paint on it. It is now an earth brown. Still not thrilled with my cement patio but we will work with it over the years to create something. Here are just the stairs but you get the idea.
This house has been so fun to work on. I have never gone to the Chiropractor so often though. But there are times I walk around and I just love this place.
For fixing up the backyard we have used patio and cement paint that cost $35 a gallon but if you add water the paint is much easier to spread and goes farther. We needed two gallons for a big patio and stairs. I used a roller and I had them add sand…or you can add sand to the bucket of paint to make it non-slip for stairs.
For the fencing we used cheap chicken wire and wooden poles that were .99 cents each. The raised beds were cheap boards and the bricks that have the grooves to fit the wood. I loved discovering these bricks. Anyone can put together a raised bed in minutes.
So, that was a weeks worth of work and worth it.
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Where did you find the bricks for the corners of the raised beds and what are they called?
I love your blog – I come here for encouragement and inspiration.
I love this post so much! It’s so inspiring! Our backyard is a big ugly blank slate that I have such big plans for but with the rains starting this week, there are things I need to take care of now. Where did you find the bricks for your raised beds? Those would be simple enough to prevent me from procrastinating my raised beds! Also, what brand of paint are you using for the patio? I have a 900 square foot grey patio that I want to paint but I’m not sure which product to use. Thank you so much for doing the legwork and sharing. I tend to get intimidated about projects like this and seeing someone else complete them so beautifully is a lot of help to me.
The bricks are “planter wall blocks” at Homedepot. The paint was cement paint and FYI…add water to it when painting. A blank slate is wonderful because you can plan your trees and garden just so.
Good work! I really like the stairs that color–it’s what I learned in design school a ‘grounding’ color.
I want the cement up but it won’t happen so I painted the color of dirt. Clever eh? Still not thrilled.
Oh, and tell Bali I said great idea with the bricks for the garden edging–reuse and recycle!
That was really clever of him.
Y’all are doing great, making your yard prettier and more functional.
Thank you for all the free books this week.