Pretty Yard Space

Monday, October 10, 2011

I love pretty spaces in the yard. One area we FINALLY finished is pretty much a focal point in our backyard. The triangular shape of our yard leads your eye right to this point. This area holds our deep pit and if you've seen one you know it's not much to look at. They are handy to have but they are not pretty. I wanted to hide it!

Wish I had a before picture but I only got a during and after. Picture if you will, a deep pit, dirt with the wood fence behind it, all retained by railroad ties. The railroad ties were pretty cool but having small children they were a health concern due to the chemicals used to treat them. So we tore those bad boys out and replaced them with retaining wall bricks. These are so easy cause they literally just stack.

So here's our during picture. So far what we've done here is add the new 2 foot retaining wall, a fountain and a section of rod iron fencing to hide the deep pit. We planted jasmine on the rod iron and it filled in beautifully! Deep pit hidden! Now this area actually sat this way for a couple of years. 1 year for the rod iron fencing one year for the fountain and finally...

...the after and I LOVE it!!!

We added stepping stone pavers and gravel around the fountain. Due to water splashing from the fountain that area was constantly wet and muddy! We packed the gravel a few inches deep so the water now sits below the gravel and the muddy water problem is solved! We added two potted plants that we already had at each end of the jasmine wall.

Next we planted the ground cover from seed which you can see starting to grow over here. This ground cover is awesome! It's called dichondra and here is what I love about it. It grows fast, handles full sun, it's hardy (you can walk all over this stuff), drought tolerant, can take the heat and it's BEAUTIFUL! Just look at that bright shade of green but pay no attention to that weed!
Isn't this a lovely space?
 It's nice to look at, has a lovely sound from the fountain, and it's doing a fantastic job hiding that deep pit!
We need to restain that wood fence and I still want to add a sitting area here but that's another story. I have the perfect iron table and 2 chairs that I need to refinish. Another project for another day though!
So this is one lovely space in a yard that I love that my husband works so hard at maintaining. Thank you sweetie! You do a terrific job!

Linking to:
Funky Junk Interiors

4 comments:

  1. Very nice! I really like the way the ground cover is spilling over through the blocks. The fountain is lovely.

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  2. That turned out beautiful. I love the pots that the trees are in. Bronzey, coppery? I just have to ask what the deep pit is for? You would definitely never know it was there.

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  3. Yea Gorgeous but what`s a Deep Pit???

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  4. A deep pit is a bbq. It's a deep hole in the ground that you burn wood in and then when the coals from the wood are burning red and the big flames are gone you place your meat in, cover and cook. Sounds crazy I know! But we do our Thanksgiving turkey and several turkey's for others this way every year. We can get about 5 turkeys in there at once! You can see a photo of the top of it on a thanksgiving post here http://blog.capscreations.com/2010/11/happy-turkey-day.html

    Ours is a large concrete pipe that is buried to the rim at ground level. The meat is wrapped in an oven bag, several layers of foil (4 or 5), then in burlap/gunny sack that has been soaking in water overnight. You place it right on the burning coals then cover the top of the hole with a lid and bury the entire thing with dirt so that no air can escape. 12 plus hours later your meat is done! We usually place our meat at night and it's done the next morning. Deep pit beef is the BEST! Many weddings around here have deep pit beef for their receptions. I wonder what others call it??? Shredded beef, is what it ends up being and oh so tender.

    So that's the scoop on a deep pit! lol!

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