Backyard Makeover!

Over the past few weeks, we've slowly been making over our back patio. One of the things that attracted us to this house in the first place was the yard. Our home is situated at the end of a street which curves around into another one. Because of the angle it's on, we don't have a neighbor to the west of us until the road curves, so the yard is really long on the side. I'm not sure how to describe that accuratlely, but here is a blurry picture of when we first closed on the home:



Anyhow, we've been here 14 months now, and just recently started to work on decorating and doing things out back. The first step was buying a patio set, which we got from Ikea back before Christmas. It was a steal at $120, and only took Darrick a few hours to assemble (thanks, hon!). We also purchased some tea light lanterns that I just love:







Since then, we've slowly been adding touches to make things nicer back there. We hung up a sun that we bought several years ago in Rocky Point,



planted an Ash tree,


The ash tree.

and over the past weeks we've been adding some plants to the patio. I thought I should take some pictures to share, so here are a few. Don't mind the messes you still see...everything is a work in progress. One thing you will notice is the cloth diapers hanging over the chairs. Our HOA actually forbids clotheslines (bleh), so for now this is how I am drying them. I'm thinking of either breaking the rules by hanging up a line in an inconspicuous place, or getting a clothes drying rack.


This is a planter that had Easter flowers in it. I reused it to plant some cantaloupe seeds, since we don't have a real garden yet. If they really grow, we'll have to transplant later, but it's a start.


This terra cotta pot has more cantaloupe seeds and some petunia seeds.





The mini watering can and small red pot are from Target's $1 section. They are selling starter kits of flowers, herbs, veggies, and fruits. I decided to try some, and to my surprise they are actually growing. So, I transferred a few to that long box planter in the picture above.


A low water usage succulent.


String of Pearls succulent.


Bummis cover and Bum Genius 3.0


You'll also notice I took some pictures of the side yard since the trees are SO huge and in bloom. Our mesquite is absolutely gorgeous this year! And underneath it is our composting bin, which is totally my baby. Darrick thinks composting is a waste of time and will just attract bugs, but the City of Chandler provides these for free, so I figured I had nothing to lose! I was inspired to finally start composting by the blog Super(Natural)Momma...you can check her blog out if you follow the link on the right of my page.


Our bottle brush tree in bloom. The hummingbirds LOVE this!


The hummingbird feeder hanging from the bottle brush.


The mesquite


Looking out from under the mesquite.


Composting bin.

One funny note, since this is ME we're talking about here, and I'm kind of a clutz...as I was taking these pictures, I picked up a broom that was on the table, and ended up smacking the globe that was over the fan light, and it popped and shattered into a billion and one pieces. I had to be sure to clean it well, since we are always back there barefoot and the dogs love the patio...so after sweeping it, I took the Dirt Devil upright back there to do work. I was laughing to myself, picturing the neighbors spying out their back windows at the weirdo who was vaccuuming her back patio. On the plus side, though, you can see that the broken globe only served to expose our very-PC CFL lightbulb!




And while I was out cleaning up THAT mess, Piggy was inside destroying this pencil:


Thanks, Pig.


Luca LOVES her yard!