Yard Work and Landscaping

We have finally finished landscaping our backyard. When we bought our house last year, we decided to remove the large above-ground pool in the backyard. The lovely Nebraska weather only allows us to use the pool for about 3 months out of the year, Andrew is gone for 2 of those months, our dog would be in the pool every time we let her out in the backyard, and with a baby on the way, we decided removing the pool was the best option. Plus the pool and deck took up most of the yard. We hoped to use the added space to do some creative landscaping and maybe increase the value of the home.

Unfortunately, the pool sat on a large amount of sand and was surrounded by landscaping bricks. With the pool and deck gone, we realized the size of the challenge ahead of us. Over the next year, we began hauling out sand to level the ground and moved the landscape bricks around to create a new look. We didn't think it would be a good idea to plant new grass in sand, so we hauled in dirt to mix with the sand. We also had to mix in peat moss to help the ground retain moisture better.

With grass finally growing, we focused on filling up the newly created planters with soil and designing a pond to sit in the top planter. Once we had all of the planters filled with dirt and the pond in place, we brought in some plants to finish the project off. It was a lot of work, but we are very pleased with the results. This was a nice practice project for a much larger plan when we finally settle down for good.