A Tad Bit of Gardening

The weather has been so great lately...alot of days it's in the 70's which is amazeballs. All the warm weather makes me crazy for anything having to do with the garden before we acually get into full on summer which makes me feel more like an ice cube on hot pavement...not good.  Since it's been so nice my dad decided it was FINALLY time to start on my bakyard and shut me up so I could have parties out there during the spring & summer. This is the photo that was the inspiration for the backyard-

It's an old Italian grotto with a basin...it's unbelievable. The brick, the stones...everything about it is so wonderful to look at. There used to be an inground pool in our backyard but the previous owners filled it in and left behind a semi-circle hedge  that used to go around it which was perfect for enclosing the area.

So this is ugliness of the backyard before...

and this....

The bleakness of it all is painful, not to mention the little terracotta birdfeeder someone stuck in the hedge when we moved in like 4 months ago...we have been MAJOR slackers! It's almost embarrasing :)

Our last house had a dirt pit for a backyard because there was so much shade the only thing that would grow were dirt and gnats so this time it had better be good or I'm not going to be allowed another chance.

This is when they first started and you can see the center will have the grotto and either side will have statuary (to the left and right)

This was the progress from the first few days and you can see the foundations for everything going in and the brickwork starting to curve for the arch....and below is after a little over a week of work-

If you look at the base of the grotto you can see the basin for the water and the black tarp where the water will pool and re-circulate, and where the wood braces are standing on the right is another column that it's supporting. In between those columns and the brick will be tabby shells to fill it in.

The grotto is further along than the statuary but you can see the left side statuary grew a little bit

It still has a bit to go but once the 3 features are done he is going to put either a small water feature in the center or a firepit or seating area. I cannot wait! I think I will move outside and live there once it's done but at the very least I will have as many parties as possible to enjoy it!