Backyard renovation

[Steve C]

Thought I'd share the fruits of my labor for the past couple weeks with you guys. I found an old thread here on the site about a month ago where some people showed pictures of their yards/bonsai gardens and that really inspired me to work on my backyard.

I really wish I would have taken a before pic because you guys wouldn't believe what it started out like 2 weeks ago. Nothing but 1-3ft tall weeds, a cyclone fence, and uneven ground.

Over the past 2 weeks I have leveled a lot of the ground, removed all the weeds etc etc, patio blocks/gravel, landscape timbers, mulch, all the plantings you see, canopy, monkey poles, reed fencing, lattice fencing, brick pavers and walkway, basically everything you see.

Still have the pond left to do which will go in the small 3ft open spot in the pic, then make a small waterfall for it, and a few more plantings/pavers, but it's been quite a change and is now a nice relaxing space for me to enjoy my bonsai thanks to the post I found here that motivated me to do this

 

[GrimLore]

WoW! Lot of labor for the Love of Bonsai! My current new yard is a "train wreck" as well and I am in the midst of removing it. PHEW! I know first hand what you went through and appreciate your hard work. Very nice use of a smaller space which I am working with as well.

Grimmy

 

[Lazylightningny]

Very nicely done! You may inspire me to get something going, too. There's an area of my yard that I've been contemplating making into a potting/work space.

 

[Paradox]

Very nice Steve
What is the tree with the reddish leaves (the second one posted, not the azalea)?

LOL@ Grimlore You think your back yard is a train wreck. My back yard doubles as a run for my 3 big dogs. Trenches and landmines everywhere!

 

[JudyB]

Very nice job. It's really worth the sweat in the end, and that will look great as the plants get bigger and fill in. Good for you!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Congrats! Looks like a nice place to enjoy the hobby.

 

[lordy]

Also looks like a nice place to enjoy an adult beverage. That's a lot of work right there. Nice work.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks everyone. Paradox- that one is a Crepe myrtle I got about a month ago.

 

[GrimLore]

Thanks everyone. Paradox- that one is a Crepe myrtle I got about a month ago.

What is the first one? I seem to have 2 similar at this new property that I need to chop/move and noticed they have the same leaf and bud. Thank you!

Grimmy

 

[Neli]

Very nice plan and execution...I used broken tiles to make the path in my garden...is cheap and fast to do...Just in case you might like it I am posting a picture for you.
Also I planted flowers under my concrete pipes stands for the bonsai.

 

[Steve C]

I like the pathway Neli that has a nice look to it.

Grimlore the first one is my Azalea. I just got that one about a month ago as well from HD and root pruned/repotted it so I'm pleased to see that it is starting to open up and flower now. Seems to be opening more each day so I think it will be in full bloom within the week hopefully.

 

[Steve C]

Still have to pick up a few more flat slate pieces to finish covering the edge of the pond with but got it all dug and running today.

 

[Neli]

You can wrap the pump with mosquito netting and put some guppies in summer for mosquito control, or maybe some other small fish that can survive the cold.
Looks cute!

 

[Steve C]

Yep I plan to pick up some feeder fish (12 for $1) from the LFS to toss in to keep larva under control. It was REALLY hard for me to keep it small and not make it much bigger and put koi in it, I'm an avid Cichlid/aquarium keeper so the temptation to "go big" was hard to resist lol

 

[Neli]

Good for you you managed to resist the temptation...I could not and ended up with two huge koi ponds.

 

[Steve C]

For the past month now I have been wanting to find a Pagoda statue to put in the yard because there's just something about them that just looks "right" in front of some bonsai trees. So I've been watching online ebay/CL but just couldn't bring myself to drop $80-$110 for one on there.

So was out today and decided to stop at a garage sale a few streets over and see what they had, needless to say I was shocked to see the people were selling the exact pergoda I have been looking at online for ($104 on ebay). The price they had it marked for? A whopping $10!! So I snatched it up and gave it a new home in front of my monkey poles I built.

 

[ml_work]

You have done a Great Job on your yard Steve!

 

[Wee]

Nice job....I have been tempted to put in a small pond.....But I figure the dog would just eat the fish.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks guys. I've been enjoying it since getting the yard into shape. Still have one big thing to do this year. I want to build some sort of cold box/storage for the non tropicals this year. Still have some time before I have to do that though. I've been searching/reading some of the posts on the site on cold storage some guys here have built, so will probably start on that project late summer.

 

[herzausstahl]

Yep I plan to pick up some feeder fish (12 for $1) from the LFS to toss in to keep larva under control. It was REALLY hard for me to keep it small and not make it much bigger and put koi in it, I'm an avid Cichlid/aquarium keeper so the temptation to "go big" was hard to resist lol

If it's deep enough or you can stop it from freezing solid, you can put rosy red minnows in it & they will be able to handle your winters. But if it's shallow you just might have to keep an eye on the summer temps so they don't bake in the pond.