what have we been up to?

As you all know Spring is here and Summer is upon us (at least it is here) so we have been trying to get our yard landscaped. It has been going well (minus all the sand in the house at all hours of the day)

We planned on grass so Daniel put in the sprinkler system first. Leveled the ground (he removed 6 truck loads of sand by hand and shovel!) He actually leveled it last summer now that I think about it. Then he put in a retaining wall.

The kids LOVE all the working in the yard

Then we put in the metal edging.

I had to use a pick axe to get through the first layer of sand and then used a rubber mallet and hammer to get it in the ground (yes I did it, Daniel told me what needed to be done and I went out and did it, I was a laborer this time)

As you can see there is only sand in the back so we needed to amend the soil. First we put down an organic green waste mulch.

We raked that into the sand and leveled it. Here is the view from the balcony

I am LOVING the retaining wall

Then we added Albuquerque mix compost. This may be a bit gross, it was to me anyway. Albuquerque mix is an organic compost. It contains recycled greenwaste, manure, and biosolids. Biosolids come from recycled sewage. If you have anymore questions call Daniel. He kept saying "This is a really crappy day"Here he is on the big pile of crap mulch.

Did you know this is called Milorganite in Milwalkee? Daniel is excited about this stuff. He says the grass will grow so well!

Daniel raked that onto the mulch and then spread it out and graded it. Then we were ready for seed!!
And here it is all seeded waiting for 3 weeks to pass so we have GRASS! wohoo!

We hope the winds don't blow it all away but its going to be a fantastic summer after this grows.

We got it seeded by Friday afternoon (Daniel took the day off so I could go to the Dentist and he could seed) So on Saturday during conference there was a whole lot of this:


Daniel watching the grass grow :) There is little Jamison, he was having a rough horrible day because of his teeth.

Here is the most current plan for the backyard:


Can't wait until its all done!

Miriam