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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Garden: The Plan, Part III "Embarrassment is Fun!!"

Alright.  Here it goes.  Now, I'm typing this on my second glass of wine, and it may end up being fairly long, so I could be on my second bottle by the time I reach the end and I may propose to the Idiot by the time all is said and done.  By the way, go donate.  See previous post.

Now is the time both of you have been waiting for.  The time where I show what a horrid job at a gardening blog I have done.  Ready?  Wait.  Go get a beer.  It will be better that way.  I'll wait.

Our landscape designer, Mr. Savage, has given us three dimensional pictures of the finished plan, minus many of the plantings, but you can get the general idea.  I've included those as best I can.  And, we're off.


Side yard as it currently stands.  My contribution to the world of white trash.  My wife will be fuming when she sees this one.  Well, and the rest.

On the left you can see the vegetable garden.  Notice the lack of vegetables.  That's because of this.



That's a pepper tree.  That tree was half the size when we moved in a few years back.  It has now grown so large that it actually casts a shadow over the vegetable garden during the winter.  I need to call the City.

Moving along, the side yard should eventually resemble this.


See trees and stuff.  Apparently, that's my wife.

Moving on.


This is the backyard from a path that runs along the back of our house.  The path is actually a couple of miles long and winds up through the hills behind the house.  Of course, that requires a gate in the back as during the summer months we enjoy walks back there while the kids do what they do and I smoke a cigar and have a proper beverage.  Anyway, here's what it will look like.

The structure is going to be replaced.  Over to the left there will be a row of fruit trees.  I need something to put in my gin.  And my Blue Moon.  You get the drift.

Lastly, the front yard.


The front yard will be a dramatic change.  It will end up like this.

Big change.  Now, ALL of the lawn is being removed.  I'll have a mower available in a couple of years.  Currently, the yard slopes down to the sidewalk.  We're going to remove that and put in a retaining wall, creating a courtyard up above.  That will be a future post.  We can't give it all away right away.  Neither of you will come back.

So, there you have it.  Filled with good intentions, but a lack of time.  Maybe I'll win the lottery.  Probably not.

4 comments:

  1. Oh the promise. Just start and don't stop. Except for when money stops you. It'll be awesome to see it come to life.
    One question...where will you park the truck later? I didn't see it in the drawings.

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  2. Oh, Sherlock, somebody pays attention. Couple of points. First, the truck is actually on blocks where it currently is as I'm replacing my brakes with new calipers and power brakes. It normally goes on the driveway. In the future, it will probably go on the street.

    However, we have an "order plan" and that area the truck is at currently is actually third on the list and where the truck normally parks is last, so we have quite some time before a new spot needs to be found.

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  3. Oh my, it all looks rather expensive (but I'm very frugal by nature). It's going to look gorgeous though, and no, that's not the beer talking ;) I like the front yard, I think that retaining wall will really make the approach to the house inviting. I also am happy to see the side yard incorporated into the design. So often those side yards get neglected. At our last house we actually designed and installed it first (that way if we screwed up the cobble stones, it wouldn't be so visible), but I loved having a secluded destination alongside the house. You're so going to love this...your wallet might not (maybe yours is more resilient than mine) but I would have been too cheap to pay a designer LOL :P

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  4. Curbstone, we're looking at this as a multi-year project. Pay as we go. The concept plans were not that much, although the construction drawings which will include an architect and a structural engineer for the patio cover are a little pricier. BUT...

    ...my wife's side of the family is filled with contractor's. My father-in-law has already stated it won't cost "that much", so doing the work ourselves (or having people work for beer) will hopefully make it somewhat affordable.

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