My Secret Garden. Fini!

I think it was almost a year ago that I told you in this post about my grandiose plans for the ugly corner of my backyard.  If you have similar plans for a project somewhere around your house my advice is:  Stop!!  Plant a bush instead.

Seriously.  I knew this would be a fair amount of work.  It was only 10 x10 though.

Nothing major. 

(and I wanted to do it myself.  Bragging rights, you know.)

So I am now able to present you with the finished product!!  But first, I am going to make let you look at "in progress" pictures so you can be amazed be forewarned about the work these things take!!

When I started this, I swore it would be finished with recycled, low cost products.  Ok, no one was getting rid of extra gravel or sand on Craiglist and I wanted to get cracking on this before we started having 100 degree temperatures and I would have to hide in my house.  I'll break down this one time and call International Stone.  And maybe have them deliver it too...... wise move.

No big deal.  Shovel it into your wheelbarrow, push said wheelbarrow through the garage, out onto the side yard, through the storage shed...yes, don't ask, and dump it into your cleared out plot.

Let me digress a bit here.  I dug out all the sod last year and that was as far as I got. (too hot, then dang--winter came)

My "raring to go" sister showed up in April and she, my daughter and her boyfriend finished leveling everything out. (I was there!  I was going to help just as soon as I got back from picking up the "let's do yard projects" cocktails.  Let me tell you--those folks were fast!!)

 

Then my husband explained that I would have to create a border-and that it would be best if it was "square".  If at all possible avoid anything that must be "square"......

So all the gravel and sand is down (only about 24 trips through the...you know) and the fun begins!! Woot!!

Laying bricks.  They too had to be hauled from the garage, through the side yard etc, etc, etc and then dumped but finally I was getting to what I had looked forward too!!  The fun part!!

Hmmm.  Something isn't quite right.  Plus, my dear husband now says I must not only make things "square" but "level".  And "level" in one direction and slightly sloped in the other direction.  HA!

After a few false starts, I think I am getting the hang of this!!  Look at that.  Even the cats are loving it!  (well, I think they loved all the sand in their new giant litter box more but they were sports about it)  And then:

               You have got to be kidding me....ok, alright.  I admit it.  I bought these
        bricks off Craigslist and just had my fingers crossed that there would be enough.
                                                   

And I have this guy screaming chirping at me constantly to stay away from his nest.

In my neighbors yard!  But I love nature, so I pause to photograph him....

                               He looked like his life had been kind of rough....

Let me take a break and work on a project that I can actually finish, here.  Flowerpots.  I'm good (and fast) at flower pots.

So, although I've said this would be cheap and recycled, I broke down and headed to Home Depot for 90 more bricks.  And if that wasn't enough, well then I'd steal them from our friend Rob's yard....ok, forget that plan.  Had to go again and get 30 more the next day.  I kept thinking that this would be like when you are doing that puzzle and you think "My gosh!  There are not enough pieces to finish this thing" and then, what do you know!!  All the pieces were there after all.  Well, not with this puzzle........

I should also admit that my "trellis" project was a bust...literally.  The frame I had, collapsed under the weight of the branches I'd attached!!  And the wind and weather didn't help as it was waiting to be finished...

So here you have it:

And I didn't break a single nail.