Backyard progress

Patio is almost done.

As you can see, we are making progress on the backyard landscape. I'm really pleased with my choice in flagstones, and the fire pit (with safety grate -- no brush fires here!) will be a very nice addition to the entertaining space. Today they are adding the border and sand to fill in the joists, plus bordering the fire pit (we will be bringing in the gravel ourselves in order to save some money).

We have dreamed of doing this since we moved in three years ago, but there were other priorities for the house that took precedence. And then of course,we had to save up some bucks, so we could pay cash for this and not incur any debt. (Maybe I should just have done a kickstarter campaign instead lol)

Future fire pit.

The next steps will be waiting until the rainy season and using a sod-buster to level some areas where there is dead turf so we can add bark without making it higher than the patio or fire pit. So we have a bit of a reprieve until the rainy season really gets going in earnest. 

One thing the landscaper told us is that the type of soil we have is almost impossible to grow a healthy turf on. From looking at the grass he had to remove, he said the roots were very shallow and the grass was just generally unhealthy. One more reason to stick with native plantings.

But we're well over halfway done at this point, and it's easy to see how its all going to look once its finished. And with only cosmetic stuff plus some planting going on, the bulk of the hard labor is over, too.

Good luck omen over the site?