An industrious husband, a backyard that’s “getting there” :)

Our backyard has come a long way. It still has a long way to go, but at least now I don’t keep my kitchen and living room curtains closed just so I don’t have to look out at it. 🙂

Michael has done more than the lion’s share of the work, and much of it really back-breaking, like pulling up plants and trees, and building a small patio. He is so strong and hard-working!

Posing on the new bench

Poor old banana plants (?). The went up against The Great Frost of January-February 2011… We ended up ripping these up last year. Well, Michael did. 

Ugh. These are now GONE. 

Ugh. Take Two. The crape myrtle on the far left is now pulled up, along with all of the flagstone and the birdbath. It’s just smooth grass here now. 🙂

I have a feeling I overwatered the ixora all the way on the right. The three little pots are some rosemary, impatiens, and a valiant tomato plant that Gabriel keeps pulling the baby tomatoes off of as soon as they appear. 

There used to be a big pile of rotten wood and weeds here. We cleared everything out and planted three pink jasmine vines in the back and two gardenias in the front. We still have to line the outside of the bed with the rest of the small flagstone, and we will sod where the sand and debris in front of the bed is right now.

Our two gardenias are happy! They bloom constantly and smell SO nice.

Michael built us a wonderful swing for our tree! 

Michael built this for us this weekend! The two side tables are not attached, so we can move them around if we want to. I love the storage for toy and yard equipment in the big bench! Michael still has a few tweaks to make on it, as well as staining it. 

I love this picture 🙂

It took four trips from the garage to the backyard in the Radio Flyer to get all of Michael’s tools ready to build the bench today…