Before and After - firepit area, what we call "Middle Earth"

The last 6 months has been a blur of activity and contractors. The inside of the new house is finally up to speed and we have been working steadily on the outside with bulldozers, work crews and garden stuff for about 2 months. We are on Eld Inlet of Puget Sound, west of downtown about 10 minutes from Mark's office, and 15 from mine. There were small maple and alder trees, fir trees and an abundance of horsetail in the lawn and yard. We spent the summer weeding and mowing the "lawn." The low bluff was sloughing off into the sound with heavy rainstorms and needed some grading, drainage ditches and low walls for terraces. We couldn't start without permits from the County, since we are on the water. In addition, a beautiful rock-sided stream flows out of a cedar grove on the south end of the land, under the driveway, through the middle of the property, and out to a lagoon. (It absorbed 150 goldfish for the summer) The whole lot is therefore within a critical area watershed, subject to ordinances (here's where that masters in environmental sciences comes in handy) and necessitating more approval permits for landscaping. No pool possible so we bought a swim spa. ( I really love it! - Mark not so much!) We have now built retaining walls, drainage ditches, new decks, graded the lawn, planted gardens, laid sod and planted (so far) more than 1000 plants. Another 1000 came today - then it snowed... We will wait a day or two for planting. The final batch will arrive in spring when the new perennials are available. Everything is edible (the deer certainly love that), most are native, and we have high hopes for how gorgeous it may be in the spring and summer. Quite the competition for the horsetail. The landscaper supplying the plants was a bit stunned at the list of plants I wanted to put in...and where I wanted to put them. ! The soil is concrete in the summer and wet slurpy, cow-pie consistency clay in the rain. Careful where you walk as you sink in up to your ankles - or above! Mark planted about 40 plants late last spring and the place just kind of swallowed them up - and with the cement ground, he wasn't doing anymore. Hence the landscape company is planting the rest, thank heavens! Middle Earth make-over

Lots of weeds

and a lawn that "flows" into the sound in a heavy rain!

Middle Earth

There's a rock wall in here somewhere, or should be!

July 4th with the old set-up

And then, to work!

The new fire pit, rock seats and native plants for the first 30 feet from the sound (requirement under new laws)and a new retaining wall to stop mud slump into sound

After