Landscaping Update: The Side Yard

Before I began my landscaping mission last spring, the side yard (between the porch steps and the back door, all by the parking area) looked like this:

I got about one-third of this area fixed last year, from the porch sidewalk on the right of this picture to about two feet to the left of the corrugated drainpipe you see in the picture above. That area has come back great this spring and is looking pretty marvelous.

While I was home for my Maycation, I broke out my new tiller again and finished breaking up the hard-packed clay and gravel in the rest of this area. I removed it wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, leading to a tremendous increase in the fill-dirt pile on the south property line.

As happened last year, my tiller managed to encounter quite a lot of debris that had been buried in this side yard:

My new pile of topsoil was delivered just in time:

And now that area is all finished, for the most part. It just lacks mulch or a cover of pine needles. I'm pretty darned pleased at how it turned out and hope in the coming seasons it will present a great display for folks pulling up and parking in the driveway.