Of course, it really started with working at home in 2020 and trying to get the yard to be a place that I would enjoy spending more time in. I think that happened to a lot of people in 2020 for obvious reasons.
Not the best image, but it makes it clear that the yard was very plain and very small. I didn’t spend much time in the yard until recently. I did spent time on it before 2023, just not nearly as much as I have since than. (I can’t get over how small that blue spruce tree is.)
I need to dig up some from when I bought the place four years earlier. This was all just dirt. There wasn’t anything but the side walk, the back brick wall, and on the right side was a split rail fence. The neighbors added the taller fence, it really wasn’t anything pretty to look at. I added the boards to the fence in an attempt to get a bit more privacy from them. I now have it since they and I have blocked off the access to the area directly in front of the house.
I started to work on the flower bed and garden plots I have in local Community Garden at the end of the road. I have a few goals for adding gardening areas to the house/yard. Driven by my corn being stolen from the community garden this year.
My yard has changed quite a bit over the years, here it is in 2014, when I first decided to stop ignoring it while I was focused on my road racing. For the record, I did all the landscaping, including putting down all the gravel and flagstone. I also built the deck the hot tub went on, that I’m now using for a fire pit/sitting area. I do miss the hot tub, though.
There were still periods that I let things go much longer than I should have.
The next few are from 2018 or so.
That flower bed next to the walk has had as many bad as it has had good years. The soil is not the best, I’ve been adding to it for years now to try and improve it. The main issue is that I’ve had moles and or gophers (I was recently told they are pocket gophers. Doesn’t really matter, they are little rodents that destroy my plants and they must go!) in it way too many times. Once there are tunnels, it’s impossible to keep them out permanently.
With the addition the family, In 2019 I was forced to make more updates to the yard and remove a lot growth. (read that as clean up)
2020 or so
In 2023 marked the start of the biggest changes. The yard became my outlet for frustration I was experiencing at work. I decided it was time to update the table to give more entertaining options. The year before with all the rains, had give me a serious weed issue that I had to deal with. I spent countless hours pulling all those weeds out.
I also started to play with how to add light to the yard at night so it could use it more after dark.
I moved the tall table out to the front, so I could use it when I was doing things around there and in the garage.
The other huge change was adding that upper part to the wall. The lot behind me was starting to be developed. I didn’t want people to be able to hop over the fence. I also wanted privacy while they were doing that construction.
As you can see this is why I was worried about someone hopping the fence. I’m just standing in the area there they are doing dirt work.
It was pretty easy to get here and check out the house and yard. This was also when I added all the cameras that I have around the yard.
The next year the whole thing started to really come together into what I have now.
2024 was the year that I had to have a great deal of exterior work done along with a roof repair, the install of mini splits, repairs to the water damaged interior, and some other maintenance
Painting these troughs was a great idea, not just for looks, but they stayed cooler and the plants were much happier. Yes, the new trim paint and the troughs are pretty much the same color. I didn’t plan it that way, but it worked out great.
With the fixes outside, I updated a few other things, like the seat cushions. That of course meant that I was going to the same for the other area once it was set up.
With the work on the outside trim, that trumpet vine that was dying had to be ripped out. I really liked the shade it gave the portal area. I hadn’t really realized just how much shade it provided the area until it was gone. That is what lead to the curtians.
This in turn lead to painting the deck, and adding some pots to the side area. I really like the new cushions, too.
The area came together nicely
Over the summer I added more plants/pots and got more into the flower bed. Easy to do when it was growing so nicely.
The first snow of 2024 hit us hard and early!
I didn’t have time to prep anything for the snow. Okay, there was some time, but there wasn’t supposed to be this much snow. It did some serious damage to my umbrellas, trees and plants.
In typical NM fashion that was our last moisture for MONTHS!! I had time afterwards to clean things up and get started on some of the other changes I wanted to make for 2025. They didn’t work as well as I wanted by the sliding door, but I have some ideas for 2026.
I moved more things around in the yard, to get a different look.
I also added some light features new umbrella, and a fire pit. This kind of how I ended up with the hot air balloon theme in the yard.
It has worked out quite well. I already am working on some other changes that I would like to make to the yard for 2026 or 2027. Overall, I’m really happy with how the yard has worked out.
I ended up with more visitors to the yard/house this year. In addition to people…
2025 was a good year for my yard and all the plants I had. It became a mini jungle and was really pretty. I have some ideas for refining it this year. Including changing the firewood pile. Most of those logs are no longer suitable for burning, but they will work great in the bottoms of the new raised beds I’d like to put next to the garage where there is currently just some plain gravel, the neighbors occasionally drive over the moss rock boarder. It’s plain and needs some spicing up to make it as nice as the rest of the yard.
Now all this was stepping stones to the community garden plot(s) that I know have. Next post this one got way too long.