Turning an unused side yard into a new garden area.

We've been talking about our upcoming outdoor projects around here over the last few weeks. Or I should say I've been talking about them and trying to convince my husband of what I think are some great ideas. We both know we have to replace our side fence, it's practically about to fall over. The side of the house it's on has been the dumping grounds of our yard, it's where we keep the yard waste can, compost bin, plants with no home, and empty plant containers. It's also home to a very ugly metal shed that came with the house.
When I took my husband out to show him my newest ideas for the side yard, it wasn't long before he was loading up the back of his SUV with two big stumps, a broken concrete fountain and other things too big for the garbage can and off to the dump he went. The poor guy doesn't always know what he's getting himself into when he joins me on a "garden tour". After he finished the last job that required his muscles, which was removing a fence post that had been set in concrete, he went off on a bike ride. Sweet Pea and I took it from there.
Off to the home improvement store we went for compost and brick pavers. It seemed everyone else in town was there for garden supplies as well. I wonder how many of the men were there after the women in their lives convinced them of garden projects?
We had perfect weather to work in, sunny and clear skies and the temperature close to 60.

Gracie, our little white dog, soaked in the sun on the deck. Occasionally people have asked what breed of dog she is, she's a Bichon Frise.

I wish I would've taken some before pictures, but I guess I was too excited to start the cleanup on this part of the yard. There was a lattice panel attached to a fencepost and to the fence. The whole back area was gravel and stumps, broken fountain, etc. Earlier in the week I took stacks and stacks of nursery pots to a pot recycling center at a nursery near us.

Sweet Pea dressed for gardening. The area she is standing on was about 3 inches deep of crushed gravel. We removed the gravel and finished edging with brick pavers about 8 feet back and 7 feet toward the fence. After the fence is replaced this Spring, the metal shed will go and we'll be putting a cedar potting shed just behind where Sweet Pea is standing. I'd love to find one with a few windows and add shelving inside for tools and other garden supplies. I've wanted a potting shed since we moved here 10 years ago.

The fence post to the right of the cement cat is where the lattice panel was. The whole yard already feels bigger with that divider gone. Most of the plantings in front of the fence were added this past fall, so they are just starting to grow a bit now with the mild weather we've had.

This is where the potting shed will face out to. We used hoes, rakes, shovels and my favorite: a pickax to cleanup here. Then we added many bags of compost to the clay soil here. Look at all that open space to fill in!

And while we've had such clear skies recently the Littlest Gardener has been just fascinated by the moon being out all day. Each time I looked up from the digging I was doing I saw the moon right above us.

When my husband came home from his ride he was quite impressed with what we got accomplished over the weekend. I hope that in a few months the fence and shed will be up and this unused side yard will be another pretty part of the garden.