In fall of 2007, I moved into my little piece of paradise, a single-story house on a lot that's not quite an acre in size. The backyard was fenced by the original owners, and was immediately given over to my 4-legged roommates, who delight in running zoomies back there, and pawing at the dirt in hopes of finding tasty treats just below the soil.
The rest of it was mine, to mold into whatever I wanted it to be, as long as it didn't annoy the neighbors or violate any city codes. Happily, our small subdivision has no HOA and no covenants (a key factor in my choosing this house - almost as important as falling in love with it as we drove up, and feeling at home as soon as we walked in the front door).
Originally, I planned to just buy a self-propelled lawn mower, but as I was walking across the front yard taking photos after we closed, I realized that the yard was too big for me to be able to mow quickly without a riding mower. So I started with a riding mower, but set myself a five-year goal of not needing one. I might reach that goal sooner than I ever anticipated, even given the fact that from Nov 2007 to Feb 2009 I was only a renter, and not able to make major changes. But in Feb 2009 I transformed myself from tenant to owner, and beginning last March, began transforming my front yard.
I took photographs, of course, and shared them with my friends on various internet message boards, but have not shared them elsewhere, other than the occasional email, or pointing people towards my online photo gallery. Last month, I did a "then and now" retrospective post on the message boards to mark my yard's progress over the last year, and have decided to repost those entries here for the convenience of my friends who are not members of the same message boards I am. So the next series of posts are merely re-postings of what I've previously shared elsewhere online.
UPDATE: The following picture is a Google Earth image of my lot. The lot lines I drew on it are approximate. The front yard is 50x150, according to the survey.
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