Tearing Out Hedges
We took out a few more hedges in the front yard because there were still too many. We took out the hedge left of the walkway and it really opened it up.
We conquered that BAD BOY!!! It was a tough one. 
We planted a Xylosma and when it grows it will hide the sprinkler valves and piping. We also brought in 10 HUGE moss rocks and distributed them around the front & back yards. Well, we didn’t place the rocks, we had two strong guys do it! You can see a couple of the rocks in a picture below.
On this side we shaped some plants, added a Purple Pony tree, and planted a few more decorative plants. You can’t really see a big difference in these photos though. 
Two Small Fixes
The threshold of the front door was chipped and it needed a face lift. It’s amazing what a little sanding and paint will do. I got a very inexpensive outdoor paint at Walmart for $1.50, can’t beat that price!
We have two pillars in our driveway that were chipping and had a lot of mold on them. Again, a little sanding, a good scrubbing and fresh paint and they look great.
Repositioning Slate Walkway
The stones were too far apart and didn’t go all the way to where we have our hose, so we were just walking on the bark to get to the hose. This is before the clean up.
This is after the clean up. This summer we will be planting several plants in the dirt area and will add a couple decorative moss rocks.
These stones are VERY heavy and hard to get them level. It took us longer than we thought to reposition them. Sand works quite good for leveling them so they don’t wobble.
Here is the finished product. We added more stones, changed the curve slightly, and moved the lights. 
Building the Retaining Wall
We wanted to build the wall ourselves and started to do so until we ran into problems. We did a ton of research on how to build a retaining wall, as well as talking to several experts. To make a very long story short, we decided to hire it out and so glad we did. The first two pictures are the before & after; the rest are the preparation and building of the wall. The next step is to plant some trees/bushes along the fence line. We hope to finish this whole area before winter. We’ll plant more trees along the right fence and add plants/bushes in the open area in front of the wall.
This was back in April when we thought we were going to build the wall ourselves. We were off to a good start getting the base dug out and trying to level it out for the first layer of stone.
Fast forward to July… delivery of the materials. Check out this HEAVY stuff… we would have killed ourselves just shoveling the gravel and carrying the stone to the back yard!! These 2 guys built the wall in about 5 hours.
We also had the HUGE moss rocks delivered with 4 yards of good dirt for the back fill in the wall. The rocks weigh anywhere from 75 pounds to 1,000 pounds (give or take). They put the rocks in the dirt so when they dump it nothing is damaged by the rocks, such as the street or the walkway.
Our job was to dig out the 10 rocks… that was a job in itself and it took Hank & I about an hour to do that. We dug until we found each rock, then dug out the dirt until we could get a grip on the rock enough to move it away from the dirt pile so the guys could later move them for us.
Meanwhile the wall was starting to take shape. After the base was level (which is the hardest part), the build goes faster.
Weed barrier was installed behind the wall and more gravel poured to make it secure so the wall won’t shift… it’s done!!
Hank & I moved the 4 yards of dirt behind the wall in preparation for the trees.
DONE and we’re excited to get the trees/plants in so they can grow and protect us from that nasty sun that shines directly into our kitchen.
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