When will it be in stock?

I think this is the year we get patio furniture!

Except, when will it be in stock? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39898474/

Good news/Bad news

I went outside this morning and got some good news and bad news:

The good news is that the french drain is definitely working. This is the sump pit which is a garbage can buried in the ground with the french drain perforated pipe flowing into it. 

I did have some concerns that perhaps the french drain wasn't draining into the sump pit and that the reason the french has worked thus far, is just because there is now a gravel trough that runs the length of the yard and that trough was holding the rain runoff. Now, it's fairly obvious that the drain is working well. 

The bad news is that because the sump pit is fully filled, water isn't draining in the trouble areas of the yard so that this is happening: 

Rachel's Grandpa had given us a sump pump and it worked, but not great when I first tried it. It seemed that perhaps the 1/3 horsepower wasn't enough to push water through the 4 foot hose I had connected to it. This morning, I hooked the pump up to a 50 foot hose with no expectations. I need to pump the water out to the front yard so that it can drain into the gutter. 

Luckily, the sump pump worked! Perhaps it was the hose I was using before? No idea. Hopefully, now that I am pumping the water out of the sump pit, the standing water in the yard will drain into it and we'll have a dry yard again. 

Plants and mulch

So here's what we started with:

Then, we tore some rose bushes out and got to this: 

Most recently, we tilled up the dead and live grass and tore out some more random plants as well as the tree stump: 

This weekend it was supposed to rain like crazy, so didn't think any progress would be made. But after seeing that perhaps it wasn't going to rain, Rachel and I bundled up Adeline and made a trip to Home Depot and bought this: 

http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=420 

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/2506/golden-variegated-sweet-flag.php 

http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/new-zealand-flax-coastal-flax/index.html 

We wanted drought tolerant/low water plants. Unfortunately, somehow we missed that the Variegated Acorus "likes damp to wet soil". So I guess we'll see how long it lasts before dying and then being replaced with something less thirsty. 

We ended up with this: 

We still need to put some sort of rock/brick border between our lot and the neighbors as well as add a path that goes to the backyard. But it's getting there!

Total investment so far: $215

it rained

Those photos are from a year ago, prior to the french drain, that now runs along the side of the backyard and empties into a buried garbage can.

After last week's rain, we had no standing water in the backyard! Good to know that my back breaking sweat equity actually worked.

More sideyard progress...

Now that the weather is starting to get nicer, we decided to tackle the sideyard, especially after seeing the quote "the best gift you can give your neighbors is a well kept yard."

I posted back in September about where we left off, here.

This weekend, I tore out the stump, the other living plant on the side (other than the tree). Then, rented a tiller from Home Depot and spent 3+ hours tearing the dirt/grass apart. The tiller made quick work of the area, but it wasn't easy at all; going to feel it tomorrow.

Then we put down some landscape cloth which will help prevent random plants and weeds from popping up in the future. The next step will be buying some drought resistant plants, and some mulch or rock.

 

Thinking of using something like this for the walkway $2.48 per stone at Home Depot:

 

we've been busy

So as you might have guessed, having a baby can take up time otherwise spent working on a home.