Monday, July 3, 2017

backyard rant

Been working on getting the backyard in shape. It is a two tiered tiny monstrosity that refuses to keep anything alive.
The issues:

  • It has two tiers: upper is a rectangle of clay and lower is a slab of cement
  • Previous owners gave up on doing anything with it, so they dumped a metric ton of rock anywhere there is dirt.
  • Fence is threatening to fall over
  • Side yard has plastic underneath a bunch of dirt and rocks. The weeds have managed to wriggle through it, which makes it a bitch and a half to get rid of 
  • Most of the dirt in the back area is just straight up clay. What can you do with clay? Not much. It is also a pain in the ass to dig up.
  • New neighbors cut down the trees in their yard so now we have no shade from the sun for most of the day, and everyone can stare into our yard from inside their two story houses that we are surrounded by. So no sunbathing for me, which is kind of what hose back areas are for.
  • Damn crab grass is everywhere!
Soooo, we have some challenges. Trying to dig in that upper area is extremely difficult. Once you have holes up there you are then faced with other issues. Clay soil shrinks and swells which is going to end up warping anything we might to try and build up there unless we take proper and expensive measures. What this means is that built in decks or pergolas are not going to happen. It would just cost too much, take too much time, and probably cause more problems down the road. That means we are left with the option of a floating patio, because as stated earlier grass won't grow up there. It just dies or tries to crawl out of it in an attempt to survive. Just....ARGH

getting th backyard in shape is driving me nuts and making my inner minimalist cry because I have to buy stuff. Granted, it is to make it possible to use the back area but still...