Status: Work In Progress
One may not think that there are a ton of changes to be made to a backyard. Then again, one can be completely wrong. The backyard has been one of our biggest projects, since we decided to put in a wooden fence.
Backyard Fence Addition
Since we live on a corner lot, the fence provided tons of much-needed privacy. Our neighbors behind us are awesome, but I’m pretty sure we all love having the 6-foot privacy fence in both our yards now.
Unfortunately, when we pulled the permits for this project, the village informed us that we would not be allowed to have the privacy fence anywhere other than between us & our neighbors’ backyard. The rest of the fence had to have a 4 foot maximum height, with a 1-to-1 opening to slat ratio. Though this wasn’t ideal, we plan to plant fast-growing evergreen trees as a privacy screen, just outside of the fence.
Fenced-In Backyard for Dogs
Most importantly, now our dogs have room to run & play. We were on the “fence” (hah!) about whether or not we would fence in our backyard when we first moved here. Our Border Collie is pretty good off-leash, and we figured he would teach our puppy to stay on the property as well. Unfortunately, he has a bad habit of chasing the UPS truck. After one particularly bad episode of running down the street, we knew it was time to fence in our backyard.
We don’t regret it a singe bit. In fact, although it’s not the trendiest home improvement, we both believe it may be the one that brings us the most joy. We love watching the dogs tear around the backyard with tongues hanging out, running and wrestling. But most importantly, they’re totally safe from the street. Every time I see their carefree play, I can’t help but think “this is what a dog’s life should look like”. The dogs love the fenced-in backyard, so we love it too.
Backyard Chickens
The chicken coop was another somewhat “spur” of the moment (I’m on a roll!) backyard addition decision. Even though the backyard chickens haven’t laid any eggs yet, we (I, Kathleen) get a ton of joy just from interacting with them. There’s something rewarding about feeding your vegetable scraps & weeds to little creatures that gobble them up, knowing it’ll turn into delicious eggs.
Japanese Knotweed Removal
When we offered on this house, the previous owners had been diligently cutting back & hiding a nasty Japanese Knotweed infestation. This is a notoriously near-impossible-to-kill beast. Thankfully, I finally found a way to beat it. (Read about how I did it here!) This dirt area in our backyard was formerly totally overgrown. Now that we’ve got it back to a blank canvas, we can work with it next season.
Future Backyard Plans
Originally, I planned on making the dirt area a patio with pavers. However, that was before the chickens came along. Creating a patio the size of that entire area (roughly 800 sq ft) would be extremely costly and labor intensive. Now that we have the chickens, I’m thinking of opting for a more natural lounge area. I want to be able to go out and sip my coffee while listening to the chickens in the morning. We’re thinking more of a small, overgrown french courtyard style (like this or this). We also plan to put in a much more organized garden system for next season, as well.
