We're trying to get a lawn put in this year. We've been in the house two full years and with our little girl getting more mobile we decided it's time to buckle down and landscape the yard. Before we put in the lawn we have a few other projects to do. We needed to extend the retaining walls int the back of the house.
Luckily we live in Ruby Valley and have access to some granite boulders. These actually were dug out when the foundation for the house went in. The top photo was Day 1 of landscaping. The next four are day 2.
The north side of the house
The south side.
Mary put a rock border around the front of the house. I moved the big rocks with a tractor.
The next project was putting terraces on the hill on the east side of the house. We had some large hardwood mats we salvaged from a natural gas pipeline project last year. They used the timbers to make roads for heavy equipment through wet areas. Anyway we took them apart and repurposed them.
The above photo is the Day 3 of landscaping. This timber is an 8" x 16" piece of oak 20 feet long. We felt a little extravagant solid oak and granite retaining walls.
The next two photos are Day 4. We got 60 feet of wall put in for the first level on the terrace.
Our neighbors lent us their little Kubota. It was a lifesaver getting a lot of work done and maneuvering in spots we couldn't get our big tractor. That little back hoe can really dig too.
On Day 5 we got a second terrace put in. We'll plant grass on the top level and the second level we'll plant a garden.
On Day 6 we made a raised area on the other side of the garage. We'll plant some evergreens here maybe.
Mary suggested we make a pond around the gutter drain pipe. It was much better than any of my ideas and now we have a water feature. Now we just need water.
This dirt will hopefully be a lawn by the end of summer. We still need to finish grading and put in the sprinkler system, but at least we're getting closer.
