I can't believe this is my yard....

I can't believe this is my yard...

April 29th -- The landscaping is really coming together and way beyond my wildest dreams!

They are pretty much done with the flagstone and worked on the fencing today.  Here is the new front view of the house with the privacy fence up.  They will put in the gate and hardware tomorrow.

I will need to decide whether to paint the fence with a colored stain like the pergola or just use a clear water sealant over the cedar.

Here is a view of the front privacy fence from the deck and patio:

The walkway from the patio to the garage and rear-entry is done and now has mulch on each side.

Now there is also  mulch around the back of the house for a future shrub bed, with a few flagstones serving to mark a path to the backyard.

I started to build the frames for the raised beds, and here is the first one that I completed.

There will be another one like this one (4' by 8') in front of the rear fence.

I got about half-way through this raised bed frame (8' by 8') and tomorrow I will complete this one and a second one just like it that will be near the back fence.

I will build one more raised bed frame tomorrow, which will serve as cold frames with my old windows.  I haven't decided exactly where I'll place that bed yet . Around these raised beds there will be pea gravel, which will be delivered tomorrow at 7:00 am.

This view shows the progress that the crew made on the back privacy fence.

At the request of the landscaper, I turned on the water line for the sprinkler system, which I had shut off last fall to avoid freezing over the winter.  Tomorrow they will also lay down landscape cloth in the alcove (shown in these photos) between the greenhouse and east end of the mudroom and cover it with pea gravel.  They will install the rest of the sprinkler system to the raised beds and install the clock that controls the irrigation system.  The clock will live in the greenhouse.

Pretty soon I will move the gas grill into the alcove along with my potting bench.

On Thursday the landscaper will plant lemon thyme between the flagstones so that eventually there will be greenery in between the flagstones that make up the patio.  The landscaper will also drop off a mound of potting mix that I will use to fill each of the raised beds.  

I can't believe this is my yard, and I can't believe that all of this landscape work will be done in time for me to plant my garden this year!

The painters were here for almost the entire day working on touch-ups and second coats on the trim in the stairwell and second upstairs bathroom.

I'm still waiting for the fabricator to install the counter top for the second upstairs bathroom.  As soon as that is done, I'll get the plumber to install the bathroom fixtures.  On May 10th, the floor guys will come to sand and refinish the floors in the living room, foyer, front bedroom/office and the upstairs sitting room.  Hopefully, then the finish carpenter will return and the painters will spend one more day doing exterior touch - ups. 

 I'm not sure we will get this project done before the one-year mark, but it will be close.