Question of the Day, Friday, June 10

Winchester

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Good morning! 
 And Happy Friday! 


I'm ready for the weekend. What makes it really nice is that I have to use four hours of vacation today or I will lose the time. So I'm leaving today at noon. Rick is taking the whole day off and when I get home, we're going out for an afternoon of shopping, probably followed by an evening of working outside. Our back yard is out of control and the beds desperately need a good weeding. 

Which leads me to today's question: What do you like about your back yard? What would you like to do to your back yard? Maybe more garden or flowerbeds? Add a pergola? A pond? Tell us about your back yard.
 

sivyaleah

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Our backyard is barely one, but we've made it as inviting as possible. When we first got the house, it was filled with weeds, weed trees, hornet nests, and dead grass. 

We put in a beautiful paver patio, created a large bed for roses, hydrangea, lilacs and others.  The old hydrangea tree is now a focal point.  We also screened it off with Cypress trees - they create a wall of green from the street so it feels really private now.  Got some patio furniture and pots for herbs. 

Here's a before (already in progress of removing prior - stuff was grown up to the top of the detached garage)


And, now (still in progress, gardens always are).  The Cypress hadn't fully grown in yet in this photo. They are huge now!  


My immediate plans for this area are to replace the stairs which were built as temporary to the kitchen sliding door.  They've held up well (6 years) but aren't exactly attractive.  We are still adding plantings here and there, I'd like to incorporate more into the bed.  On the other side, from where I shot this, is our grilling area which could use some work also.  We replaced the ugly garage side door, and put in some slate pavers leading to the door.

Overall I'm really pleased with the appearance, especially from what it used to look like.  Our landscaping guy is going to replace our front walkway with the same pavers sometime this summer.  Very excited about that!

Edit: Found a more recent photo which is black and white (I was being artsy) which shows how big the cypress have grown and how lush it's grown in.

 
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Draco

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I don't really have a back yard since I live in a co-op.. however, they allowed me to use the plot at my back stoop for gardening. So I consider that as my back yard!

I have to take updated photos of my garden. it's growing in nicely.

One side I have 3 large pots, hostas, alysums, and some form of impatients (I forget what variety)

the other side of my stoop, I have day lillies, mixed flowers, then I have iceburg lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, string beans and tomatoes growing.
 

cassiopea

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Technically my backyard is 75 acres! Half for growing and the other for the equines 
 it's nice to be able to regularly see them. They often come over to say hi over the fence when I'm in my formal backyard too.  Which is really nice.


But sticking with the formal backward, I also like it because it is private, a picnic table and has a nice garden and some trees. And still pleasantly roomy. I could never live at a house unless the backyard is private! 


What I would like to do new is to secure a proper tall fence on the sides of the house and secure the existing paddock fence further. I have a Great Pyrenees, and many of you would know they are roamers and don't care too much about listening to commands (And can be savvy with fences. 7 Feet is the recommended min height!) so it would be nice to be able to let her out without having to tie her on a long lead when all she wants to do is have a quick wiz and some dutiful watching and barking. Plus I am hoping for another doggy in the future, so it would be nice to have that in mind for it too. A small dog, like a Pom, so I'd be more inclined to supervise moreso.

 

When my JRT and my parents German Shepherds were alive they had free range of the whole property. They behave fairly well and would always come back when called - but now with the mentioned GP, and other factors like my new neighbours building a new house across the street on what use to be a large vacant field and forest, that option has ceased. Which is actually fine, I hardly mind being more safety conscious with the doggies. Beyond roads and neighbours, there is of course wildlife to consider like coyotes.
 

MoochNNoodles

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I love my backyard!  It was a big reason we bought this house.  Our lot isn't huge; it's half an acre.  But around here if you buy in a development your lucky to get a quarter of an acre.  So it's bigger than a lot.  We have 1 mature maple and one about 3/4 of the size of the bigger one and 3 others we planted that aren't big enough for shade yet.  The back of the property is lined with a mature privet hedge and a couple smaller trees mixed in.  We had to cut down the pines that lined one side of the property.  They were dying rapidly.  I have my garden on that side since it gets the most sun.  My kids swingset is on the tree shaded side.

Right now we have a small cement patio.  Its shaded in the afternoon so between that and the trees I have plenty of places to put a chair and sit where the breeze will help cool things down.  

I dream about putting an addition on the back of the house and adding a covered patio there.  I'd love to sit out in the rain and enjoy the sounds.  I still want an uncovered patio too because we sit there with our fire pit.  

In the fall when the leaves are down we can see through our hedge line to a property has horses and I think goats.  There is another property between us; but it's mostly open field so we can still see them in the distance. I love living in a more rural area like this! 
 

micknsnicks2mom

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i used to love my back yard, and had wonderful plans for it. i'd love to be able to say i still love it, but that's just not the way it's turned out. 
  but...onward and forward, and am looking forward to the back yard at our new house -- will be years from now. 
 

foxxycat

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I love my back yard. Its the reason I bought the place. Its in a park but I have a big brook down out back. Some day I would like to dump a truck load of dirt in the gully and grow pumpkins because its so wet.

The yard itself is built up on big boulders. They put dirt ontop of boulders then leveled the land and plunked down the cement pad and my house on it.

The cats love the gardens I put in-and I yanked all the lilies and foxglove.

I grow strawberries and tomatoes. Nothing else for edibles. Too much work. I stick to perenials. Everywhere in my yard is a view of flowers or trees or water :)


this is the left side of the lawn


the right side of my house

in front of my house is more small gardens. I will post the brook pictures when I get home-tons of photos on my other puter :)
 

Mamanyt1953

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MY "back yard" is just a space between two apartment buildings.  SIGH...may I daydream a minute?  the space is about  60 feet wide and maybe double that in length.  There is a depression that runs the length of it that fills up with water every time it rains.  IF I owned the complex, I would dig out the depression, line it, cover it in rocks and put a little arched bridge over it.  I would then plant willows along it.  We get lots of rain, and they would thrive.  Then I'd put nice picnic tables (not ratty old wooden ones)  and park benches out there, with stone paths, to invite the residents to wander along, and to sit and chat in the sun or shade.  BUT...it is going to stay a hunk of grass that floods every time it rains.
 

Norachan

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I love our back yard. When we first moved in here the house had been empty for years and the land all around it was an overgrown mess. Just clearing out the dead leaves and wood and cutting down a few dead trees has let a lot more light in, so we've now got native forest plants coming up everywhere.

This is what it looked like a few years back.


After clearing to allow things to grow we got loads of these big ferns and wild flowers too.


I want to encourage more native plants to grow. I've transplanted some tall reeds from other parts of the woods into the yard this year. I think they'll make great ambush plants for the cats to play around.

The yard is mainly for the cats, so I'm planning on making lots of outdoor climbing trees and towers for them. We've got two so far.



I've got lots more ideas. The Forestry Commission have just logged an area not far from here, so I'm going to see if there are any trees stumps and logs going free that I can make something out of.

It's definitely a work in progress, but it's fun watching it grow and develop over the years.
 

AbbysMom

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I've posted plenty of pics of my backyard before, so I won't bore you again. :lol3:

Lots of gardens, a vegetable garden, a deck off the house.... This time of year I get aggravated by it because tere is SO much spring clean-up to do. I'm still doing it and mulching the gardens.


I would like a patio or pergola or somewhere more sheltered to sit.
 
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