So Here's the Dirt

It has been awhile since the last post, but we have accomplished a lot! I attended the High Point market for the store (be sure to stop in and see some cool new stuff!), we put out a beautiful exhibit for Design MMOCA, and on top of all that we have been working on the house!
In only seems fitting that on the hottest day of the year to date that we should head outside to blog about the backyard.
Let's take a look at some before shots: Well.. before-ish. We don't have shots before any of our furniture was out there, but you'll still see the process.

      This is the view from the dining room window. The furniture is from our old house.
We started with the bar and the grill area in this space, but when you are having a nice dinner with friends, who wants to look at the back yard? So we moved things around to connect the two areas: dining in and dining out. Manger à l'intérieur et de manger en plein air!

This is the view from the [future] master bedroom/ upper level deck.

The future vegetable garden will be straight back from this view.  After we tracked the sun, we are sure that the location is perfect for a bountiful vegetable garden.

In this shot you can see part of the table and chairs (on the left) from the first picture.  That window is the dining room window and the doors on the right of the house lead into the [future] master bedroom.

Grill and Bar on the second level deck platform.We plan on having a patio screen built behind the grill to clean it up and define the area. 

      We have always wanted a little walk out deck off our master bedroom.  I was thinking that this house has everything (or will have everything) that I wanted in my last house that I couldn't have then. I have this, I'll have an awesome master bedroom, I have a raised bed garden...

Here is an "in progress" shot of that raised bed garden being constructed in the backyard.

We will use the tin platforms that the mossed pots sat on at Design MMOCA to create a cool element for the iron trellis "arch" entrance to our garden.

This is the left of the yard.  It needs lots of work but I have a thought, or should I say a few, I get a little sleepy thinking about it.

      We made the master bedroom deck more private by adding these sheets of galvanized roofing. Just the thought of being able to go out on the deck in my PJ's and have my coffee sounds fabulous! Maybe I should put a clock out there so I am not late for work; I could easily lose track of time.

      We also changed the built-in benches slightly. We recessed parts of the bench so that outdoor cushions could fit in nicely and look more custom and of course more comfy. It was also a little tall to begin with. We are far from giants over here.

This is the deck pre-stain after the power washing. I love the power washer it makes outdoor clean up so easy. We picked up some wonderful translucent Sherwin Williams deck stain and transformed it!

So here is the deck after the stain. Wow! What a difference! It looks like black walnut I LOVE it!! I found a stainless sink and counter on one of our shopping trips and I wanted to get it for the area to the right of the grill... but hubby said I was nuts! Ok, so maybe it was 12 feet long... I will keep hunting for the perfect one to add at some point. Things just seem to work out.

So here's the dirt!

      We had a whopping 12 yards of dirt delivered to put into my raised beds in the garden. Of course it was delivered to a pile in my front yard leaving me to find a way to get it to the back. I could hire someone for this for $500, but $500 can go a long way. We decided we needed to do the labor ourselves this time.

      My dad was very concerned. He proposed that I go stock up on brats at the local grocery store sale and invite my friends to help with the promise of food. However, my friends don't move dirt, they hire people to move dirt. We were going to have to man up and figure it out.

      My dad's next great idea was too fill up 5 gallon buckets with dirt, load them onto my tractor trailer and dump them into the beds after driving them to the back. And that is what we did!

I started with the 12x4 bed since it was the biggest. Getting that bad boy done would motivate me, and then the others would not seem so bad. Remember, if you think this seams like lot, I did too until I thought about it as one bucket at a time. I also did it at 7 am so it was cool and peaceful and then when I get home at 7 pm, so again, even cooler!!! I also had my buddy Johnny help too when I went to work on Friday! 

Dirt. Dirt. Dirt.

And my dad didn't think I would have enough!

We will either wait for rain or get it wet so that it will compact and I can start planting some vegetables pronto! I was saying I was going to miss the Monona farmers' market this year, but I will have a little market of my own! (And I will probably still visit it anyway)

What do you think?

      We want the ground in the garden to be pea gravel. At least that is the plan for now. We will kill the grass and do either that, or maybe some sort of ivy ground cover. Did you know that laying wet newspaper on the grass and covering it with mulch is a natural grass killer? Well that's a thought, we could do mulch... but I kind of don't want mulch. Well, the verdict is still out, all we know for the moment is that it won't be grass, I purposely made it so you can't get a lawnmower in there, I didn't want grass. I'm not too fond of grass. It's bd for the environment among other things... Hmmm, what do you think of peat moss?

The beds are faced with that same steel that we used up on the deck by the master bedroom. We also made a ledge to sit on out of reclaimed barn wood my dad had in his shed.

 Garden gems just waiting to grow!

I came across this wonderful piece from an Author Court Aluminum Table. The table is so sculptural to begin with that, without the top, it makes a beautiful sculpture for the garden.

We needed to give you a quick shot of the front; our wonderful "grass hedges" from Design MMOCA make an appearance. :) And don't worry, we are far from finished here!

Please let us know what you think! Do you have any good vegetable garden tips to share?

Have a wonderful weekend!
-Iconi