A flat yard and other news

It took one dump truck and one excavator and one Saturday morning and we finally have a flat yard with no extra dirt. We figure that we got rid of about 30 yards of dirt from this tiny Seattle lot which is amazing. The yard was pretty flat to begin with but it was about a foot higher in most spots than it is now. We'll be bringing in some quality soil to use for a top layer so that our garden can thrive but it will be a lot less than 30 yards.

Here's Dan loading the truck up one shovel at a time. Thanks Dan!

After the dirt was long gone, Justin got to work on framing up our walkway to the alley and tamping the gravel into place. Meanwhile, I busied myself digging up weeds in the yard. I'm a bit concerned of what lies beneath this lovely bare soil. Just two months ago, this was a thriving weed patch and I'm not so naive to believe that scraping off the top layer will do away with the former crop. I'm especially wary of the morning glory that has been poking out of nearly every corner of the yard despite my futile attempts at eradication.

Here's the tamped down base for the future path to the alley. Where the gravel stops, we'll be installing concrete the total width of the lot to provide a small parking spot, driveway into the garage and pad for the garbage cans.On Sunday I wanted to get some plants in the ground. I've been busy picking up plants here and there over the past few weeks and I was anxious to arrange them and plant them. After raining all night, the soil was heavy and muddy so I quickly made a mess of everything traipsing through the dirt. But, I got the east side of the patio completely planted, save for one hebe that I still need to find and buy. I can't wait until these plants grow up a bit and fill in.

Here's the spot on the north side of the stairs to the deck. The featured plant is a variegated red twig dogwood which should get as tall as the deck.

Looking south, I've got a ninebark plant, privet, yarrow, several barberry plants and a few daylilies. I'll be looking for an exciting clematis in a hot color to train up the trellis.