Tobacco Baskets

 I am looking for Tobacco Baskets to use in a home decor project.  I have looked all over the internet, but I have been unable to locate any that are reasonably priced.  Please leave a comment if you know where I can find some.

Front Yard Transformation, Part 3

Saturday: Irrigation install, fill trenches, level ground, start laying the sod.
Sunday: finish laying sod, rest, rehydrate

Saturday began with miscellaneous projects while the irrigation system was being installed. From digging trenches a little deeper, burying the drainage pipes underground, leveling ground, and spreading topsoil.
Once the irrigation was installed, tested, and adjusted, it was time to focus on filling in trenches and leveling the ground.  After having most of the front yard leveled, we started to lay sod around 6:30 PM while it was nice and cool.  We tried to lay a good bit until dark to minimize what was left for Sunday. (This was also the hottest weekend of the year, so working after the sun went down was much better than at noon.  Kelly even helped out at this point.)

The top soil arrives

 Emerald Zoysia

We woke up Sunday and began laying sod around 6:30 AM.  Again, with the cooler weather we were able to get more done and not be so exhausted from the heat.  With the sod down and beds defined we could better test the irrigation.  Sunday was the shortest day as we finished around 11 AM.

 Testing the irrigation.

 Final photos of the finished product and updates coming next week.

Front Yard Transformation, Part 2

Friday's task: digging trenches for the irrigation, cleaning up and hauling off waste.
With all the old sod removed, it was time to dig trenches, another labor-intensive job.  By the grace of God and through some friends' recommendations, I was able to find 2 necessary people: someone who owned a trencher and someone who was adept at hand trenching.  Because of the Georgia red clay and gravel near the sidewalk and house, hand trenching was awful.  The trencher was used for areas far away from the lines and then we hand trenched near the lines.  After hand trenching for almost 8 hours, it was time to clean up, another load of yard waste in each truck, and time to rest up for the weekend.

 The only line cut: the cable.  Luckily, it was an easy fix.  The line was marked incorrectly, being a good foot and a half off from where the line actually was, plus, it was only buried 1.5 inches deep.  Thanks, Comcast and you're welcome for providing you with a free trench to use and properly bury the line.

 The side yard

View from our front door

More to come....

Front Yard Transformation, Part One

Now that I have had a week to recover, I will post a little about our recent yard transformation.  After sitting vacant for over a year, our house and yard were in need of some work. As for the yard, there was a mix of grass, weeds, and bare spots that just did not look good.  After planning for 4 months, we decided on the last weekend in April to take on this small massive project.

I started the yard transformation on a Thursday afternoon.  The overall plan was to remove all the old sod weeds, dig trenches, install irrigation and lay new sod.  Thursday's goal was to sod cut and remove the yard waste, all while maintaining the painted lines for trenching on Friday.  Though advertised as a simple process with this machine below, the self-propel function was non-existent and the advertised 9000 sq ft per hour was more like 1000 sq ft per hour.  It made for a terrible and exhausting day.

This is how the yard looked Thursday morning:

 Near the walking trail:

 The side yard (this tree was later removed because it was diseased):

 More of the side yard:

With the sod cut, this is what it looked like when Kelly got home from work:

 

Sod removed and loaded up.  The yard waste totaled 5 truck beds filled to the top. We pulled out those boxwoods, too.

More to come...