Unless you can afford to hire professional landscapers and pay them big bucks to do all your landscaping at once, the other option is to do-it-yourself, year by year.

Well, let me tell you, it’s a big job and it’s not cheap. But, every spring we have added, subtracted and changed our outdoor property to get it looking pretty and inviting. And, we still have lots more to do. But, hey, it keeps us busy and it’s great watching our work take effect as the season goes on.

It all started with a big, old, ugly and rotten tree in the middle of our backyard. We had that cut down in 2013, our first summer in this old 1972 ranch style house. There was no grass anywhere on the property. Ugh!! Here’s are a few photos from 2013.

Here’s our work-in-progress..

The new deck from two years ago looks great with the gazebo on it. At 16′ x 12′, the gazebo gives us plenty of shade and a nice breeze, too.

Beside the shed there is a lovely hosta garden.

When little Holly takes a break from exploring the yard, chasing the birds and chipmunks and hiding the hedges, she likes to have a rest in her bed.

We were trying out our new “patio lanterns,” and Peter caught me scooting by in my old pajamas.

The scent of our lilacs waft into our bedroom as we’re drifting off to sleep at night. By the way, this is a new variety of lilac that blooms three times over the season. It grows about 4′ high and 4′-5′ around. I just planted it this spring, so it’s only about three feet high, but it has already burst into glorious blooms. In one corner of  our yard we have some really big lilac bushes. Yahoo!

The stump of our Norway Maple that we cut down in 2013. It’s sort of interesting, don’t you think? We hollowed it out, added earth and planted some perennials in it. I added a birdbath to it and planted some awesome plants around it.

There’s so much more going on since we took these photos. The plants are going crazy and the grass is beautiful and lush, thanks to a nice big bag of grass fertilizer.

Anyway, that’s it for now, with lots more to come later.

Thanks, so much, for dropping by!