I posted a while back about what to do with the backyard in the house I rent. I took a bunch of your suggestions and I present to you roughly 6 weeks of hard work! (Chicago, US) — videos of before and after in comments
I posted a while back about what to do with the backyard in the house I rent. I took a bunch of your suggestions and I present to you roughly 6 weeks of hard work! (Chicago, US) — videos of before and after in comments
I acknowledge that the very back patio isn’t really much better, except for a couple plants. But in my opinion, this yard has too much paved area, and I wish this were grass or some other open space. The new tenants on the third floor expressed a desire to put a patio table in the very back, so I’ve decided to just leave this space for them.
A couple of you said to use cardboard boxes as weed barriers, so I did. You also advised me not to plant edible plants directly in the ground, so I had some cedar planters built for those.
There’s a blackberry bush that came up, too, and I’m certainly curious how the fruit will be given that it grows in the urban ground soil. No one was even aware of it because in the past, the landlords had hired someone to just cut everything green down. They were excited to drop that expense, and helped me cover some of the costs of restoring the yard.
Some of these perennials were split from neighbors’ plants (and stuff that came from my Buy Nothing group), which helped keep the cost down some. Quite a bit of the decor, including the fountain (I think it’s just a cheapo Wayfair fountain, but still), came from yard sales.
It was really fun to put together, though, and all my produce is doing very well. Really happy to get to share this one! Thanks for all your advice!
tiiiiii_85
I like the green growing through the stones, it makes it so colourful!
Appropriate_Okra5189
Oh my gosh this is so vibrant! The hard work is paying off.
3 Comments
[link to before and after video tours](https://imgur.com/a/FvigZlA)
I acknowledge that the very back patio isn’t really much better, except for a couple plants. But in my opinion, this yard has too much paved area, and I wish this were grass or some other open space. The new tenants on the third floor expressed a desire to put a patio table in the very back, so I’ve decided to just leave this space for them.
A couple of you said to use cardboard boxes as weed barriers, so I did. You also advised me not to plant edible plants directly in the ground, so I had some cedar planters built for those.
There’s a blackberry bush that came up, too, and I’m certainly curious how the fruit will be given that it grows in the urban ground soil. No one was even aware of it because in the past, the landlords had hired someone to just cut everything green down. They were excited to drop that expense, and helped me cover some of the costs of restoring the yard.
Some of these perennials were split from neighbors’ plants (and stuff that came from my Buy Nothing group), which helped keep the cost down some. Quite a bit of the decor, including the fountain (I think it’s just a cheapo Wayfair fountain, but still), came from yard sales.
It was really fun to put together, though, and all my produce is doing very well. Really happy to get to share this one! Thanks for all your advice!
I like the green growing through the stones, it makes it so colourful!
Oh my gosh this is so vibrant! The hard work is paying off.