I don’t like to complain, mostly because no one listens, but seriously I had a heart attack a few years ago that caused in-operable damage and in an instant I went from a what I thought was a strong and pretty healthy guy to a guy with very limited strength and energy.

This has put a lot of extra weight on my beautiful wife but she has never complained. So I was thinking that we could do two things that would make life a bit easier.

1. Get an automatic garage door. This would mean we wouldn’t have to go outside to cold car.

2. Get an automatic gate opener. This would mean that my wife and myself would not have to get out of the car in nasty weather to open the gate.

This is our year for landscaping and the old fence and gate have to go. When we are done we are going to have the backyard garden we have dreamed of for the entire 25 years we have been married.

We know we can get our garage door opener locally but we had to look around on the internet to find some gate openers.

TurnstyleGates.com is a website that has the greated gate openers. They also have a video that is pretty cool where a young lady told us about Turnstyle Gates, so we had a little info before we even started reading. She also pointed out where we would find more gate opener videos. I am very visual and really like pictures and videos. I also like the content that backs it all up.

Take a moment and head over there and see for yourself.

First there is our backyard gardening and landscaping will have to come second.

The landscaping that needs to be done is mainly filling in the holes left by the previous owners. They must have used that area to park vehicles or to turn around in so they wouldn’t be backing out of the driveway.

Right now the area we are planning to put the garden is all grass. We can use that grass to fix up those ruts and any other uneven ground. Our yard is very level so when it rains it’s very easy to see the holes and any low spots.

Once the snow is gone and the water remains I can mark the spots that need to be filled in and we can get on with creating our first backyard garden. I am getting more excited every time I think about it.

I am reading a couple of books and figuring what size our garden should be based on what we want to grow. We may start with a small garden and see what we learn. Next year we can increase the size if we feel comfortable with it.

Once the garden is in and the lawn is level my wife and I can sit out in the backyard with our laptops and enjoy our life and our business right at home.

I have mentioned in other posts that my health isn’t the greatest but it’s a lot better than last year but I still can’t lift much or do anything strenuous. Because of this one of my guitar playin’ buddies has offered to help. We will split the rental fee and she will create our garden area and she will be able to do her own garden. Can’t turn down a deal like that.

For this year I think that’s about all the backyard gardening and landscaping we will be doing. Of course we will be looking forward to the second year.

If we do find that we have energy left after this we may start working on making the lawn more grass and less, well less NOT grass. Like the area the previous owners had their huge above ground swimming pool. It’s like a parking lot in that area.

One step at a time…

This being our 4th summer here we are hoping we have the time to plan a theme. The yard was bare the first year because the owners just mowed every thing down and sold the place.

The second year was a treat because we saw what we didn’t even know was there. A yard full of various flowers. But it’s not what we want but my health wouldn’t let me do any work at all for the past four years.

This year I have more energy and will be able to take longer walks to build my strenght in the next few weeks. So it’s looking like we just might start building a theme. It will take a few years to complete the entire property but it’ll be worth it.

I have a digital camera and will be taking pictures of what emerges from the ground as the snow disappears and life returns to our yard.

There are definitely plants we want to keep but they won’t be staying in the same place.

We would also love to get rid of the fence around our property and put up a nice wooden fence with nice gates. The existing fence is like what you would see around a swimming pool and has a vine covering it that grabs anyone that walks by it.

We have a lot of work to do and some landscape design that will help our property look nicer. And then we will work on some lawn care. It’s kinda dangerous to try and run across our property.

A good backyard landscaping idea is one that everyone can make use of. There are many different backyard landscaping ideas and most of them are pretty good but to find the one that is right for you and that is just what your yard needs may take some reading. This article will help you to find the perfect backyard landscaping idea for your home.

A good backyard landscaping idea is to use evergreens. The use of these fabulous trees will do o much for any yard. They will add a stately nature to the feel of your home while keeping it welcoming and warm. Many people like to use deciduous trees in the yard and this is always a good idea but it is the evergreens that will give the yard the structure and the stability that it needs for a good backyard landscaping idea and design.

You need to look for a backyard landscaping idea like the one above that will benefit you all year round. Deciduous trees will not be gorgeous in all seasons, most perhaps, but not all. Evergreens on the other hand are always fantastic and they look as beautiful in the winter as they do in the summer and this is why they make for such a great backyard landscaping idea. The key to any great landscaping design is to find a backyard landscaping idea like this that will keep your yard interesting no matter what time of the year it is.

Another good backyard landscaping idea is to use hardscape. This is the use of things like rocks, fences and walls. These can make your yard look very interesting during all of the seasons. You can have climbing plants on it in the summer and spring and pretty trees around it that will look great in the winter. When looking for a good backyard landscaping idea you need to look for other options besides just plants. There is much more to landscaping than just plants and trees.

Walls and fences can frame your property beautifully and using them is such a great backyard landscaping idea because they will just accent all of your other wonderful backyard landscaping ideas. They will frame your yard as a picture frame frames a gorgeous painting. Look at this kind of backyard landscaping idea as well in your search for the one.

Part of your backyard landscape design could include raised planting beds for a beautiful herb garden.

If you want to start a raised garden in a non grassy area, you won’t have much trouble. Just find some sort of border to retain the dirt you will be adding. I’ve found that there is nothing that works quite as well as a few two by fours. After you’ve created the wall, you must put in the proper amount soil and steer manure. Depending on how long you plan to wait before planting, you will want to adjust the ratio to allow for any deteriorating that may occur.

If you’re trying to install a raised bed where sod already exists, you will have a slightly more difficult time. You will need to cut the sod around the perimeter of the garden, and flip it over. This may sound simple, but you will need something with a very sharp edge to slice the edges of the sod and get under it. Once you have turned it all upside down, it is best to add a layer of straw to discourage the grass from growing back up. After the layer of straw, simply add all the soil and steer manure that a normal garden would need.

Planting your plants in your new area shouldn’t pose much difficulty. It is essentially the same process as your usual planting session. Just be sure that the roots don’t extent too far into the original ground level. The whole point of creating the raised bed is to keep the roots out of the soil which saturates easily. Having long roots that extend that far completely destroys the point.

Once you have plants in your new bed, you’ll notice an almost immediate improvement. The added soil facilitates better root development. At the same time, evaporation is prevented and decomposition is discouraged. All of these things added together makes for an ideal environment for almost any plant to grow in. So don’t be intimidated by the thought of adjusting the very topography of your yard. It is a simple process as I’m sure you’ve realized, and the long term results are worth every bit of work.