Backyard

Over the past few weeks I put in some retaining walls. The biggest one crosses the backyard and allows the level of the yard to be raised so it slopes away from the house. My brother & dad helped with this one. Previously the yard sloped directly to the house - especially to the stairs to the basement. I don't have all the dirt hauled in to fill in behind the wall yet.

I also put in a smaller retaining wall next to the back of the house to create a slightly raised planting bed where I have planted crepe myrtles (all by myself). There will be some smaller things - groundcover mostly - added later. Not only did I have to built the wall, I also had to dig out a lot of the dirt that was between the wall and the house as it was a lot of rubble and crap-dirt. Then I brought in new dirt - 24 five gallon buckets. I did all this yesterday in the 90+ degree temps...

Yet to be done is the "patio" between the two walls - this will require a couple of layers of dirt/rubble to be dug out and then I will put down some pavers and steps from the higher level (bigger wall). Hopefully the weather will stay cooler from here on out...