Yard Renovation 2010!

We are embarking on an epic journey of destruction and, hopefully renewal. We are planning to remove almost everything from our yard, which consists almost exclusively of invasive species, and replace them with natives that will reduce the need for watering and significantly reduce runoff to the Anacostia River.

We are working with the District of Columbia Department of the Environment's RiverSmart Homes Program, local non-profit Casey Trees, and D.C. Greenworks to make sure our plans are sustainable, include native species, and reduce runoff to the Anacostia River.



BEFORE photos

If you want to see how bad it was before we started...




Getting a Plan!

We worked with Toni Bailey of Gracefully Green to come up with a sustainable design for our yard that would be both beautiful and also appropriate for our high level of laziness, forgetfulness, and carelessness. Toni listened to our incoherent blatherings and somehow came up with a design that we are really excited about.

The Master Plan
(detailed drawing)

The Planting Plan
(plant names)


Tree Removal

It was a long time coming, but once work commenced, things rapidly started looking different.




Site Preparation

We are working with Barbara Balman for the installation of our garden. Work commenced on 8/23/10 and we have been REALLY impressed with Barbara and her hardworking crew.




Hardscaping

Hardscaping has begun. We will have several patio areas with irregular flagstone drylaid in stone dust.




Installing Fats Waller

To reduce the storm runoff from our house that would otherwise end up contributing to sewage overflows into the Anacostia River, we have installed a 650 gallon rainbarrel called the Fatboy Waterwall, or Fats Waller for short. We will document our saga here.




Plants!

We have plants! Barbara and her crew have magically transformed the yard in only a few days!




Raised Planters!

Installing raised planters along the patio.




Fencing in the Yard!

Putting fences back around the property.




Trees!

Casey Trees planted seven beautiful trees for us in connection with the Riversmart homes program.




Early Spring 2011!

We getting ready for spring and planting our garden!




April 2011!

Things are really starting to pop!




May 2011!

We've had a lot of rain and the plants are loving it!




September 2011!

It's been a great summer but both the plants and the humans are looking forward to slightly cooler temperatures.






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