Some of the back yard landscape work -

Yesterday, while working on removing a white plastic pipe and the little dirty white rocks that encased it underground, a huge butterfly flew over head.  I wouldn't have noticed it had I not been looking up in to the trees.  I was trying to spot a fussing mockingbird. And I was thinking about hanging the individual crystals from the chandelier that came with this house ... hanging them from fishing line and letting them fall like raindrops from the branches that shade the yard over where there's still a lot of work to be done.  

This yard came with significant drainage problems and "layers" of failed attempts to solve those problems.  One of the solutions was to ring the entire house with a ditch, I'm guessing its about a foot deep and two feet wide, filled with walnut sized rocks.  I don't know when that was done, but long enough ago that the rock ditch is know filled with dirt that has compressed around the rocks like Karo syrup around peanuts ... it's brittle. And when we strike the rocks, the dirt breaks up in to pea sized "nuggets".  I am using the fire pit screen as a sieve.  My husband says he will reuse the rock we are culling out of some areas as the underlay for a drainage path/ walking path/  patio.  I know that doesn't make much sense without picture!  I'll go snap one in a few ... the only reason I have time to write now while I should be watering plants is because there's a cloud layer blocking the morning sun. 77% humidity with a 30% chance of rain ... which in Central Texas usually means there is one small cloud that will unleash a downpour over one quarter acre lot somewhere ... not here.

Today I will mix up a portion of Miracle Grow for every plant in our yard.  

Our daughter, C ... aka Four, is here staying with us for I hope all of July before she starts her teaching career.  She doesn't think we have made much progress, but then, she's not picking rocks out of where planting beds should be!

Plus, we pack up and go on little trips pretty often.  Next one scheduled this month - a camp out at the National Seashore where I hope to see some spectacular night skies.

I am really happy with the way our work is looking.  There's still a lot to do.  

rocks to repurpose as underlay 

This is that area where we are focusing our efforts right now.  The PVC pipe was a water sprinkler project (we think - no heads so not sure yet what the plan was) begun by a former homeowner. There is TV cable cord which cuts through our yard, goes under the fence and I'm guessing services the backyard neighbor (weird). We have cable guys scheduled to come out in October to upgrade that ... apparently it's supposed to be inside a conduit of some kind. I am postponing planting anything along the line where that is to be installed. My husbands idea is to provide a channel for drainage through the sidewalk pictured here but to expand it to pick up another "branch" under an expansion of the grid patterned sidewalk that we have already laid.  Those aggregate stepping stones were buried under thirty years worth of Asian jasmine ground cover. You can see where dirt and vegetation were piled against the fence and the casita causing wood rot.  As we replace fence boards, I am going to build a trellis which will attach to the back fence supporting the three vines my husband planted out there - two star jasmine (small fragrant white flower bursts) and one evergreen wisteria (Vibrant vermilion flowers which cascade like grape clusters reminiscent of wisteria).  I am very excited about the vines.

The sidewalk will fan out providing a junction for a gravel path coming from behind the casita.  That is the area set aside for garden "utility" such as our compost piles, a potting bench, a raised bed, etc.. we get good sun back there and it's hidden from view by the little building.  Where I drew on the picture in red - that's the area for our fire pit and a couple of Adirondack chairs.  We are planning on building a little table height rock ledge near the fence to sort of hug that seating area.

This area was covered by the Asian jasmine ground cover - it had really gotten out of hand and was a big part of the drainage issue in that area.  I really loved laying sod ... it's like instant gratification after hours and hours of root removal and dirt repositioning.  I planted caladiums there this year. Next year I;; plant begonias with them.  That's elephant ear in the blue pot.

Here's looking back the other way.  We plan on veneering the casita in the same rock as our house (eventually - husband will pour the ledge for that as part of the drainage job) and where that red is drawn on - a privacy fence and gate to hid my work area.  The drainage fix is really driving this project right now - the slab of the casita is about a foot below grade right now. It's going to look really nice and be functional as well.

This is one of my favorite parts about the yard work - cooling off in the pool!