Almost done!

The landscaping is ALMOST DONE!

While I was in Phoenix, my landscaper's tractor got repaired and they were able to do the re-grading. The good news is that because the foundation had been dug next door, we didn't have to bring in any dirt. We just used some of the dirt that was piled up in what will beome their backyard. I don't know if it was 100% legal, but that's my landscaper's problem, not mine. They were also able to do all of the curbing, so when I came home, I came home to land that was graded and had curbing. They had also done MOST of the sprinkler system.

While I was at camp last week (mayble I'll blog that later), they did... well... almost nothing.

But on Monday of this week, the day before I woke up with a kidney stone, they finished up most of the sprinkling system and the sod was delivered.

I originally had planned on laying the sod myself. I thought it would be a good experience for my boys to help out and would give them some "ownership" of our yard. But with business trips and scout camp and other things, we decided to have the sod laid for us. It cost a little more, but it turned out to be an EXTREMELY good decision. I wouldn't have been able to lay the sod. I had a freaking kidney stone!

The sod came later than expected because the sod truck was stopped on the freeway for being overweight. Then they made them replace four tires before they would let them continue. Normally, I'd be happy about this because I'm all for highway safety, but this was MY SOD! The landscapers stayed until almost midnight, laying the sod under floodlights. The next morning, they finished up the electrical work for the sprinkler system. (I assume. I was semi-conscious on narcotic cocktails meant to make passing a kidney stone somewhat less miserable.)

While they were waiting for the sod to arrive, they laid the flagstone path and surround for the firepit and installed the firepit itself. Woohoo! They also planted several baby blue spruce, red Canadian chokecherry, and flowering pear trees. We still have plans for some maple trees, but they didn't have the Trident and Norway maples we wanted at the nursery, and the columnar maples we're going to shade the house with in the afternoon didn't have any leaves, so we didn't really want them.

At this point, we are waiting for a little more flagstone to be laid and for the garden boxes to be built and for the rest of the trees to be planted. And then we're officially landscaped. Of course, there's always the fine tuning. We hated where one of the baby blue spruce trees was planted, so we moved it before it took root. Hopefully, it won't die from the shock of re-planting. I've been putting the emitters along the drip irrigation systems. And when (if?) our budget ever recovers from all of this landscaping, we'll want a bunch of shrubs and a rock/gravel path along the top of the rock wall and flowers and... It never ends, does it?

I'll take pictures when the sod takes root and looks a little more even and post them. But the transformation has been AMAZING. I love the result! It's MUCH more beautiful than I would have imagined it could be. It's a great design and it has worked out well.