Our Backyard Before The Fence

I've never had a fenced in backyard. Is that common? Neither of my other houses needed them. I'm a fan of wide open spaces. Well, I was until we had the beast aka Peru. She has this lovely habit of running off and ignoring us after she goes potty if she isn't leashed. So...a fence.

We went through about 4-5 bids, and ended up going with the guy who has done two other houses in the neighborhood. We liked his work, and it was a good deal. Unfortunately, it's been raining (and one day of snowing) for the past week. The fence that was supposed to start going up yesterday won't be started until tomorrow, hopefully.

I have big plans for our little backyard. Fred and I haven't decided if we're going to do a deck or a patio. That's still up in the air. We'll be putting in a shed and my vegetable garden, which I've already staked out. I'd love a spot for a fire pit, and that's where a patio would be nice to have. We're going to have a new hammock, which I'll be reviewing next month! Now THAT I'm excited about.

Oh, and we'll be able to finally get grass in. The builder only put down sod in the front of the house, and seeded the rest. Well, the seed wasn't having any part of that, so we're going to have to take a different approach. Fred has seeded the far side of the house, so that's a start. We didn't do anything to the opposite side because the builder had to build the other two houses, and when he started the one next to us, it was just a mess. It still is, so once everything over there is complete, we'll figure that side out.

Of course, I'll get to do some gardening back here with plants, and maybe a bush or two, but that won't happen until we have the backyard mostly set up the way we want it. I'm not a fan of replanting because it can be a pain in my rear end. Don't get me wrong, I love being out there, getting my hands, dirty, but I'd rather plant whatever it is once, and be done.

And as you can see, the sewer line (I think is what it is) lines the back of our yard.  So no grass is growing there at all. Not sure if it will, but we'll give it a good ol' try. Something else I've never dealt with is sump pump runoff. Because we're so close to the Bay, it's constantly pushing water out, and it's eroding a small section by the house. Not only that, where it comes out is constantly wet.

At the corner of the house (in the shadow) is where the sump pump shoots out the water, and the erosion is happening. Where the grass ends, and it looks like it becomes dirt, is soggy ground. It hasn't dried up since we moved in. So, Fred and his dad are planning on diverting the water so that the ground dries up, and we can fill in where the water is shooting out.

I'm looking forward to making these improvements over the next couple of weeks! I can't wait to give an update, too!

What's your favorite thing about your backyard?