The front yard wasn’t much to look at, and the back was worse.
the Front Garden
Judy got right to work. The shaded front garden got, first, some rocks and some transplants. then, later, more rocks to create a path, and a fence.
Eventually, the evergreen was replaced with a Japanese maple. Today it looks like this
the Side Garden
The narrow side garden gets morning light. Judy planted bulbs
the Back Yard
The back yard was a mess. For starters we just mowed it, and Judy planted small vegetable gardens. You can see the slope is pretty steep.
My father presented us with a flowering crabapple. In his younger days his nick-name was “Buster”. The tree was instantly dubbed “Buster Crab”
Judy’s gardens were productive, but they couldn’t be made level and the ground was rough.
By May, 2012, it was time to…
Bring in the Bobcat
I decided to try to level the yard a bit, to create a terrace for the garden and smooth out the rougher areas.
Lesson number one: there are few things more helpless than a rubber-tired Bobcat on wet grass.
I sorta figured out what I was doing, moved a bunch of dirt around, and managed to create a terraced spot. No extra points for expertise.
Over the next few years, the chain-link fence came down, our neighbor Martha (a dedicated gardener) put in a stone retaining wall, and Judy’s vegetable garden expanded.
In 2020, Judy added another retaining wall, and the garden expanded
Several trees along the South side had come down. We added a fence across the back, and a smaller one for climbing plants. Along the right side you can see the lilacs Judy planted to screen the property from the parking lot next door.
This year, Judy went for raised beds. They were made from sections left over from the back fence, she calls it her “scrap-yard garden”.