When we had our children we decided to totally landscape the back yard to make it a place that would be fun for them to grow up in. Our goal was to create a yard that would be soft enough for picnics and fun enough for games like hide-and-go seek.
Our home is situated in an old neighborhood and is surrounded by trees and bushes. We love the shade, but the drawbacks of having trees surround our lawn were too great. We worried about the tree limbs falling on our home, for one thing. It was also a hassle to have to rake the lawn each autumn and then to worry about stepping on acorns and sticks. We want our kids to be able to play barefoot without hurting themselves.
So our first order of action was cutting back major limbs over the lawn. Some of the neighbors were upset with us for cutting the trees, but they all got over it eventually. When we cut the trees, were so surprised by how much sunlight entered our lawn! It used to be so dark that it was hard to grow grass and flowers. With the new sunlight though, our lawn became green again in no time and the moss virtually disappeared.
Next, we wanted to put a nice wooden fence around the lawn so that our kids could play and we wouldn’t have to watch them every second to make sure they didn’t run out into the street. We also wanted to keep stray pets out of the lawn, just in case they carried diseases or frightened our kids.
We then called a professional landscape company to focus their attention on the grass. The company rolled out new real-grass turf for us that was beautiful and weed-free. The turf then grew into whole new patches of grass that haven’t gone away even after about two years! Good choice!
After the grass was installed and the trees were trimmed, the next order of business was installing a playground for the kids to grow with. We boxed off a portion of our yard near the house (so that I could keep an eye on the kids during the day) using mulch and a tiny wooden ledge to keep the space all together.
In the center of the play space, we set up a really nice little playground, complete with a swing set, sliding board and fake climbing wall. The kids are still too young to play with everything but the swings and sand box.
One of my other favorite parts of our new backyard landscape is my little garden. While the kids are playing around the playground, I can spend some time planting herbs and beautiful flowers. This season I planted vegetables that we can actually use, like tomatoes and cucumbers.
When I think about what our backyard used to be compared to how it functions now, I realize that we have really done a lot to make the space a comfortable and fun extension of our home. I think that landscaping a backyard to make It exactly how you want is worth the investment for any family.