Remember how my back yard looked a really long time ago? I can’t hardly imagine it anymore and find it fun to look back at the pics.
Honestly at first when I moved here the grass in this area was pretty good. It was fairly thick and solid except in the very back corner by that skinny gate because of too much shade.
The wild rose bushes that had completely taken over the back of the house were an issue. They covered part of the windows on either side and had SO MANY THORNS that you couldn’t even walk out the patio doors without getting attacked. My water spigot on the back of the house wasn’t even accessible because of them. They HAD to go!
We cut down the rose bushes and dug them up. The grass in this photo is much less green and thick because this one was taken in the early spring. We put in a fire pit which we do use on a regular basis but otherwise I really did nothing in this space. I was more focused on the front yard for the curb appeal aspect but to be honest we spend more of our time in the fenced back yard.
Fast forward a number of years and the only thing that has changed is the color of the house and the condition of the grass in this area.
Yup! I had decided a couple years ago that I wanted to turn this area in to a patio for sitting around the fire pit and for entertaining etc so I removed the sprinklers that watered this section but that’s as far as I got.
Last year I put the split rails along the edge where I wanted the grass to end and the patio to begin and I made a little flowerbed in the corner with retaining blocks.
My huge maple tree provides wonderful shade in this area and it’s the perfect chilling spot.
Then this area made it onto my Project List for 2021. Although I had put an outdoor space on my project list for 2020, nothing much happened and it was all in the front. Again. Time to change that once and for all!
I promised myself and you that I would work on the back patio area this year and I am definitely going to keep that promise.
After a couple weeks of putting off the inevitable because of how major of a job I knew it was going to be, I sprayed the remaining clumps of grass in this area with a weed and grass killer and ordered an enormous load of pea gravel.
One wheelbarrow at a time we began. I had to have the gravel dumped in my driveway since there is no way a large truck can get through my fence to this back section. Knowing what a huge job it would be to haul all this gravel around the the opposite side of the house is what kept me from doing it for so long.
I chose not to put landscape fabric down under the gravel for a couple reasons. First, over time it decomposes so eventually I would not have a weed barrier anyways and would have to deal with the odd weed of bit of grass finding it’s way through the gravel. That being said what was the point in spending the money and taking the time to cover this area with the fabric? I spoke to a number of people who did NOT put it under their gravel either and so long as you have the gravel quite deep, there is rarely an issue with weeds. The odd one that does sneak through you can quickly and easily spray and be done with it.
My gravel was a minimum of 3 inches deep and in places where it had sloped off or there were holes it was more like 5-6″. Plenty of coverage!
Months ago during a bad wind storm a huge branch fell from my maple tree. I cut off all the leafy branches and burned them in my fire pit but the main part was still something I needed to deal with. While waiting to figure out what to do with it, I laid it along the split rails that separate the grass from the patio area and I really liked how it looked. This is how ideas are born, y’all.
I decided it deserved to stay and help with the overall look I was creating.
It rained early in the morning the day after we finished spreading the gravel which is the reason for the different tones of rock in these photos.
I let my dogs out to potty and waited with baited breath to see if all this hard work had paid off. Previously whenever the dogs went to potty they either brought in lots of dust on their paws or major amounts of mud all over my wood floors.
But this time?
No dust.
No mud.
I danced a happy dance all over my still clean floors and I sang.
I think the sun came out to sing with me.
This project is not quite finished but it’s SO much better already and now it’s down to the fun stuff.
Like getting something to hang my hose on the wall.
Like getting some furniture to place around my fire pit.
Like hanging party lights.
Like partying!
Don’t go far. I have some things being delivered later this week to help make it pretty and I can’t wait to show you!
I’m going to go have a hot bubble bath now because after 2 days of shoveling and hauling gravel, every muscle in my body is aching!
This looks amazing!!! So fresh and clean! I love the pea gravel!!
Thank you! Yes it was a huge job but one I’ve been thinking about and planning to do for quite a while now. So glad it’s done and I can’t wait to use the area so much more now.
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Wow you sure know how to make the most of an outdoor space! I love the flower pit right in the center of it all;) I’m sure this will make for easier maintenance and it looks so nice too:)
Enjoy the great outdoors!!!
You made my day, Maria! Thank you so much for stopping by and your sweet comments. I can’t wait to add a few more cozy touches to this space and to get to use it this summer for the first time since I moved here. Every minute of the hard work was worth it!