{renovate} the back yard

I was so excited when Jane, from The Borrowed Abode, announced she was hosting a back yard redneck link party because, well, our back yard is pretty darn awful. There's a reason I never show it here! It was also perfect time to show you the *before* of our garden beds, because they're getting planted this weekend. The funny part is the day Jane announced the party, I came home to a freshly mowed and edged lawn ... and was so annoyed! HA! The pre-edged pictures would've been soooo much better, but our yard still screams redneck regardless :).

Here's the yard. It's full of weeds, and full of holes. But, it's a nice size and has lots of potential. I'm going to take you on a tour around the yard to give you a really good idea of its (our?) sad redneck nature.

I don't know what's going on here. I know there are normal ways to hang gutters, so I just don't know why ours is this long. Oh, and if you look close, you'll notice that it's not even connected right now. Again, I don't know.

This is where I spray paint! As you can see in the first picture, it's right in the middle of the yard. Before Chris moved in, someone had chopped down a huge tree, which is just soooo sad! So, he removed the stump and had a huge hole. Obviously we made it a fire pit, which made for a few really fun parties. We filled the hole in last year when we thought we were going to get around to doing something with the yard. You can see how well that's going for us :). At least it gives me somewhere to paint.

Let's move to the back of the yard. So. Many. Weeds. Ugh. When I moved in I tried to keep this area weeded, but it just grows back so quick. I've semi given up. Which basically means at this point, the yard is winning :).

And, garden bed one. Just waiting to be cleaned out and replanted. And yes, those are dead tomato plants in the cage. Don't judge.

Garden bed two is actually worse!

But, as I was taking these photos, I discovered that my strawberry plant came back this year ....

... and somehow I have onions. Yah!

Along the back fence. See earlier comment about the back yard winning.

Behind the fence cracks me up. Um, outdoor storage area anyone? Usually Chris keeps tires back here too, which obviously just adds to the lovely decor. Luckily, you can't really see back here from the back porch.

And, to round out our tour is the Shanghai sign. Chris was at a swap meet last month and texted me a picture of the sign. I said, um heck no. Where on earth would we put that? He said, completely uncharacteristically (we always discuss big purchases), that he already bought it. Um yeah. Now we have a 14-foot Shanghai sign. In our yard. She said bitterly. :) We really don't have a wall big enough to hang this, so I'll keep you updated about what we do with it. Or, more realistically, how long it sits there!

So that's our redneck backyard! The problem is that I'm not a landscaper, or plant person really, and I have NO ideas for the yard. So our backyard will most likely remain pretty close to this until inspiration hits. If you'd like to see others redneck back yards head on over to The Borrowed Abode. You know, to make you feel better about your own yard! :)

So I'm curious .... any outdoor plans for you guys this summer? Any landscaping projects planned? And, how are you gardens coming? More on ours soon! :)