The front lawn has become the longest and most drawn out of any project I’ve worked on – it’s also the most labor intensive. Almost every Saturday, we find ourselves outside working in the yard…for the entire day. And much of the time it’s been back-breaking labor. Digging a hole in our clay/rock soil to plant a bush is a long and tiring process. And we’ve planted a lot of plants so far.
Steve and I had a date (with Briggs and Hunter in tow) at the nursery to pick out our plants. Steve wanted an easily maintained hedge to line the walkway and patio – but a hedge is made of many plants…that’s why we’ve been digging holes (which ended up being a trench) for days. Not only did we have to dig holes, but we had to run individual water lines to every single plant. Steve’s shoulders were burning from the digging and my thumbs and fingers were cramping from running all the water lines.
Another Saturday was dedicated to running low-voltage wire and hooking up LED landscape lighting.
Another Saturday was spent breaking up concrete from a previous garden bed that just so happened to be exactly where we needed to plant.
Another Saturday was spent picking out the rocks from our lawn area. I’m pretty sure the kids are tired of hearing us say every week, “Go get your shoes on, you need to go pick up rocks.”
I keep trying to convince Steve that we’re nearing the end – but then he lists off all the things we have left and we’re both discouraged once again. I’m not sure if I’m more excited to finish this project to get our Saturdays back or to be done tracking crazy amounts of dirt throughout our entire home.
We’re crossing our fingers that we’ll be ready for sod in three weeks – I think all of our neighbors are crossing their fingers too!
Hey I found your blog through your sister in law's and I love that you do so many projects yourself! I'm from Boston so it seems crazy to me to put in sod in your climate. No judgment though! Did you consider doing a desert landscaping?
Thanks for stopping by! The sod is a desert grass – to many that still may seem crazy – but it's the norm for our area. In fact our neighborhood CC&Rs state we can't have desert landscape in our front lawn area.
It's looking good. My kids weary of hearing we will do "x" when the house is done. It's hard work that seem to last forever. But they are building character right?
I'm sure my kids would prefer no character at this point!
OMG. What does your husband do for a living that you can afford FIVE children and such a HUGE mansion of a house?? Plus, don't you have a pool out back?? And WHO (no one I know) runs waterlines to plants? Um, yard sprinkler or hose, anyone? I just don't get it!
Running waterlines to each plant individually allows us to put an emitter at the end of each line to ensure the plants get the just the right amount of water for it's specific needs without over watering. It's connected to our sprinkler system at a controlled rate. And we're proof you don't have to be rich to have five kids!
Most houses in the Sw have irrigation systems. I can't think of anyone I know that doesn't have one. Your plants can't survive well without it.
I love reading about your landscaping overhaul. We need to do ours and it's not going to easy!
Thanks! Don't ask my husband about it now – he'll likely say, "Don't do it!"
I found your blog thru Shawni's. I have never commented here before, but WOW!!!! This is AMAZING!! You have done an awesome job. Good for you and your hard working family! You and your husband make a wonderful team (in all areas of your family life). Keep these landscape updates coming. Note to unknown commenter….I grew up in Mesa more people have pools than not, and we have water lines running to all our plants. I think that is what you do to insure they are properly watered. I mean, you wouldn't want to go to all that work and have the plants die. That would really be sad.
Thanks for finally commenting! I didn't realize running water to plants individually was a foreign idea. But I suppose I can see why it's seems crazy – when we lived in Wisconsin, we never watered our lawn or plants. Never. It just rained every three days and our lawn was magically green all the time!
Craaayyyyyziness…. you live in the desert! Embrace it, be gentle on your incredibly delicate environment, and don't try to convince your fragile soil that it is Kentucky loam. (However, the pool is understandable. In fact, having a pool uses WAY less water than watering the equivalent amount of lawn all year.)
I can see how it seems crazy. One of things that drew us to this neighborhood was the green landscape and many orange trees. Come to find out it is in the CC&Rs of the area that you can't have desert landscape in your front lawn – in fact we're flood irrigation lots. (the whole area used to be orange groves). In order to handle the heat and dry climate, the plant varieties and even grass we went with have been engineered for desert climates most of which require minimal watering (aside from the two orange trees we planted that still require a flood type watering system.)
Kara! This looks so great so far. I love me a good before and after. I can't wait to see all of your hard work come together when it is a done! Congrats on your new baby. He sure is adorable.
I'm sure it makes you laugh and wonder why this post brought such controversy! It did me! It is looking great. I especially love the landscape lighting. I also love before and afters. It's fun to see what people decide to do! Thanks for sharing your creativity and talents with the world!
I live in northern Il. Even I can't water whenever I want. It's every other day which is nice if I'm laying sod and need to keep it wet at the beginning. A few years ago it was banned entirely due to a drought that year and we have a substanial water table and are near the Great Lakes. Most years no watering is needed. We have all read about what California has been expected to do, reducing 25% of their water use. Most people like myself just assumed all the southwest avoids a lawn whenever possible and surprised it's allowed in any new landscaping/development. If it's in the rules she has to have a lawn she has to have a lawn. Not everyone lives in Arizona and would know some communities require a lawn. I think the questions were genuine curiosity about the landscaping. I'm glad others asked, I was curious why they did a lawn.
I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and now live in Las Vegas. To the person who commented about an irrigation system and pool- Everyone has an irrigation system and at least half of the people I know have a pool. Your plants won't make it without it an irrigation system. As far as the sod goes we have had sod at our last house in Phoenix but have artificial turf in Vegas. Did u think about turf? It is so much easier than sod, overseeding in the winter, mowing, etc. Our turf looks like real grass but with no maintenance. It's a bit hotter than real grass but when it's 100+ in the summer who wants to go outside anyway.