Lovin' the Landscape

I mentioned that while my parents were here my dad helped us out quite a lot in the yard.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a "before" picture, but anyone who has been to our house in the last two years is probably familiar with the rocky hole that used to be adjacent to our front porch.  This is the best "before" picture I have, taken two years ago right after we bought the house.

And here's the "after":

I'm really quite thrilled with the way it turned out.  I dreamed it, and my dad and Adam made it happen.  I love it when it works out like that!

As part of the design, I really wanted to add LED landscape lights in the flower beds and along the front walkway.  It didn't take too much to convince Adam, and I really think it was completely worth the extra cost.  I love the way they look.

My family ended up staying one more day than they had planned, so that last day my dad also helped us put a raised bed garden in the backyard.  Unfortunately, the weather was not particularly conducive to outdoor work that day.  It rained through the late afternoon/evening, so when it finally stopped my dad got to work!  By that time, it was dark, and the work site was a mud pit.  My dad, not having a spare pair of shoes, worked barefoot until the late hours of the night!

This picture is so classic.  My dad, no shoes on, hard at work, and my mom in the background holding a flashlight to help him see.  My parents are the BEST!

And here's the finished product:

We planted tomatoes, peppers, and several herbs in one side, and we put seed in the other side (carrots, beets, cucumbers).  We are not entirely hopeful that the seeds will actually come to fruition, being that we planted them so late, but it was worth a try.  And if not this summer, then we will definitely be back at it next year!  It will be so nice to finally have a place to plant our own veggies!  There is nothing so wonderful as a fresh tomato straight from the garden.  Can't wait!