Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Wightman Back Yard Metamorphosis - Part 2

to do our sprinklers.
Here is Daniel (in the Fully Invested shirt - which is not the entire reason we hired him but
of course it helped) with Hyrum, his right hand man.
Incidentally they go to school with Mackenzie at BYU.
And the work began.
Digging the trenches, etc.
Then, just like that, all of a sudden,
we had a working sprinkling system . . . 
in the front yard.
Not quite so quickly in the back.
First we needed some grading work done.
To fix some imperfections in the back.
Daniel did this work for us as well.
Flat (check), trenches covered (check), ready for trees and curbing.
And a bit more mess.
Then on June 27th so much stuff happened all at once.
Seven trees were delivered and planted
One Ash, three Hornbeam, one Locust, and two Linden trees.
Accent Curb-n-Edge came out and did our curbing.
Scott and his crew were great!
And quick!
It was also an interesting process.
It is beautiful.
I asked if I needed to know anything or do anything for the curbing
and Scott said, it just needs to stay dry for 5 hours.
So then it rained.
So we covered the curbing with plastic. Which didn't really help.
The girls wanted to carve something in the wet cement.
I was thinking initials or something, but my 2 missionary minded daughters
carved a scripture reference.
This whole process has not been inexpensive
so at one point we were going to plant the trees ourselves.
But now I am very glad we didn't.
 It was hard work!
Before Daniel returned the Bobcat he used to grade the yard
he hauled off all the fluff/grass. Yay!
 And at the end of the day, it looked like we might be getting somewhere!
July 5th = time to dig those large bags of dirt into the soil.
So glad we have good helpers.
 Barely visible here, we planted tomatoes, cucumbers and squash
as soon as possible. Still hoping for a little produce this summer!
Fingers crossed.
 The grass in the trenches is starting to come back in the front! 
 And we have started to plant other things in our border - lavender!
 We also put our rocks back in the perimeter interspersed with some lantana.
We were told that you have to order sod about 2 weeks out.
So when we were ready I called to order the sod.
Their next available delivery time was July 18th
4 1/2 weeks away!!!
So then we waited.

Finally July 18th arrived.

And so did the sod.

Emerald Turf was wonderful. They cut the sod that morning
and delivered it to us by 11:00 a.m.
A little while prior to the delivery I went outside to move the patio furniture.
And discovered a problem.
This green box was gushing out water - not cool!
I was so blessed though, because only a little water got into the basement and
thankfully Josh (our neighbor/friend) was home to rescue me.
The culprit. A cracked connector for the hose bib.
Then the fun really began!
We had lots of helpers.
Linda, Paige, Reegan (Daniel's son), and Josh. 
 Linda kept the sod moist.
 While most everyone else helped lay it.
 Except me, who mostly took pictures (I have been pretty consistent with this).
Really I helped. I was the cutter.
And there was lots of cutting to do. 
 Tony and John came to help as well. 
After it was all down, we had to roll it, to get it in better contact with our dirt.
Daniel was there to support, fix, and instruct.
He has been invaluable in the whole process! 
 At the end of Friday it looked wonderful! 
 Saturday we bought a bunch of shrubs to plant along the fence.
We were very impressed with J&J Nursery in Layton.
 And even on Monday evening
 we thought it still looked
 fabulous!
 Here are some close-ups
 of the plans
 for those who asked.
The final product does not look exactly like the plans
but we are more than thrilled with the whole thing.

Now it just needs time to grow
and lots and lots of weeding!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Wightman Back Yard Metamorphosis - Part 1

We have wanted to redo our back yard for years.
And 2014 was the year!
In March we had Mackenzie (my very talented niece) draw up some plans.
 There were many opinions on how to get rid of an established lawn. 
 We chose the RoundUp route. So we sprayed the lawn
sometime in May because we had to wait until it was consistently warm.
Then we had to get bids on sprinkling systems.
 On May 17 we cut down our trees. There was a fish in our apple tree! 
 More cutting.
 And some very skilled wood carving!
 
 Why is it that when there are power tools around
everyone wants to get involved? 
 Paige wrestling her downed aspen.
  We took out all our rocks.
 It took brute strength!
 Seriously! 
 We removed all the ties and cement. 
  
 And piled it all on the patio.
 We also took out the big mugo pine in our front yard. 
 and on May 23rd hired someone to drill the stumps.
  
 It was money well spent.
 Then we bought some Dirt Bags!
 
 The day we planned to till the grass
 it rained, a lot
 
 and I was mad! So we tried tilling anyway.
It did not work, unless you like mud.
 Luckily it was Memorial Day weekend and we had Monday off
 and it didn't rain that day.
 
 We rented this 500 lb. monster tiller 
and Mark Hamilton came to help. 
Then we were left with this fluff.
 That needed to be raked up.
 
So on May 31st, Mark's birthday, my brother Tony came to help rake.
We had other helpers too.

We piled all the fluff into a big mountain on the patio.
Then the sprinkler work began.
What a mess.
Front and back.
But after living here for 25 years
dragging the hose around to water this vast expanse
it was well worth the pain and suffering.
 
Then we bought some spray paint and went to work
deciphering Mackenzie's vision and transferring it on to our dirt.
Mark is painting where we want the curbing and trees.

With the planning and preparation done
we were ready to start the real work!!!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Wightman Back Yard Metamorphosis
when it gets finished!!!

We can't wait!