I am now, however, able to report that the work has begun. This past weekend was a long one, involving some serious labor on our part. We tilled up huge areas of grass and dirt, moved loads and loads of topsoil, built a thirty-foot long bed edged by landscape timbers, planted thirteen new shrubs and twenty-seven English ivy plants, and then had the fun of hauling and spreading a giant pile of mulch. Suffice it to say that we now quite clearly understand why they call it "sweat equity."
While the process was tedious, the intial improvements were completed by Sunday and the change is already fairly remarkable. Feel free to compare the look of the bare fence, above, with the way it looks now that a tidy bed of yews has been planted alongside. Behind the row of yews (or Taxus, if you prefer the Latin) are the starts of English ivy that, in time, will climb the fence and serve to disguise its hideous appearance.
Similarly, we are tickled with the difference made along the back of the garage through the installation of shutters on the windows and the addition of a wide bed of boxwoods in front of the brick wainscoting, also evidenced by a comparison of the "before" photo above with the one that follows.
While it would be nice to rest on our laurels, these changes are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of those still to be made. We next need to attack the dirt and weed patch that exists at the back of the house's other end, shown below.
Our intent there is to install a wide expanse of flagstone, a terrace of sorts, that will be both dog and people friendly. We also need to camouflage the ancient air conditioning unit (or, seeing as it does not work, perhaps actually replace it!), and then find a way to beautify the ugly little well casing that sticks up right in the middle of the area.
It will take some doing, and it won't happen overnight. Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing the results and to writing about them here. Stay tuned for the next installment of this saga...
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