4.22.2011

{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! :)

10 comments:

  1. This is hilarious. At first glance I thought "hey, there's nothing redneck here." Then I saw your gutters. Awesome. And the Shanghai sign? More awesome. What the heck are you going to do with that!?

    I can give you some yard ideas if you want!! You definitely need a tree or two, at least. Or so I think.

    PS: I totally yelled at Ryan the other day when he called to tell me he was weeding the front yard. I said "No! You can't! I need it to look bad for the Redneck Yard party!"
    He was baffled.

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  2. BAH HA! THE SHANGHAI SIGN!!! Usually this works the other way in my family... the hubs says "heck no" and I say "it's already in the yard." I can't really tell from the picture, but it looks like there is some sort of metal or wooden gutter behind the words - wouldn't it look awesome with Zinnias planted in it?! Not to be insensitive to a relationship issue, but, want to trade husbands?

    Jane, I also told my husband to stop weeding (since you posted after he had already finished about 7/8 of our yard... crap.)

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  3. Shanghai??? Why? I'm dying to know what was going through his head.

    Our main plans for the yard... try to bring it back to its previous green glory. The front is primarily brown. And the back has got more bare spots than grass almost.

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  4. Ha! I like that sign. It's unique! I bet you'll find something cool to do with it and then when it's your favorite element of the yard, you'll have to thank him for his purchase. :) I love this post... shows our imperfections. What a cool link party! So unique. I know I appreciate yards so much more after buying our home as a short sale and moving in to it only to find a VERY neglected back yard. I have a stack of before and afters from last year if you want to email me. haha. We've spent countless hours pulling weeds, bringing in rock, planting plants and trees, redoing pool equipment, redoing sprinkler lines and so on... and it's still far from perfect. At least we are to the point of thinking about a garden next season!

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  5. Um.......great 'before' pictures! You are going to feel SOOOOOO proud when it's time for 'after' shots!

    I'm working on the back porch right now. Mostly to keep myself out of the garden.

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  6. your backyard looks exactly like my old yard. I used to live on Bell drive and I had this big backyard and on the other side was a high way. It was totally redneck. We even lived within walking distance of an apple bees and a max station.

    -yours looks like it has lots of potential though and judging by the your previous projects I bet you are going to make it into something amazing.

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  7. Since we rent an apartment, we don't really have a backyard to speak of. There is grass behind the house but we are not responsible for maintaining it nor can we really store stuff back there. Now our basement--that is a different story and a place that is quite messy :)

    I've heard strawberries are pretty good at coming back year after year (and onions too)..can't wait to hear more about your garden this year!

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  8. Lol! Where has that 'Shanghai' sign been my whole life? I HATE gardening, I can't stress that enough! So yes, our garden is a little redneck, it's small so I guess we're lucky. I begrudgingly did some weeding over the weekend (with not-so-silent curses) and dug up a small piece of glass. I have now officially declared weeding 'dangerous'. Matter resolved.

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  9. I was reading your post again, then I saw the comment that I left and thought, "huh?!" I was meaning "this is so cool" in terms of the redneck contest. Your new sign cracks me up!

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