Last year I took this photo showing the two massive trees in our front yard (very bottom pic). Yesterday some work was done and this is the result. 
Now I like trees just as much as the next person but these were out of control. After laying sod twice in two years, the grass is still dead. The window on the far right looks into my bedroom and every time we got a thunderstorm or are under tornado watch, those branches would sway like crazy and I just knew if they break and fall in the wrong direction I’m dead. You may think I’m overreacting (and I probably am but I’m OK with that) but in fact, both trees had lost large branches that cracked during thunderstorms and thankfully fell away from the house. So while that’s been going on in the front, I’ve been doing some cleanup in the back.
Last year I put together a makeshift garden on a whim. You may remember these: 
I didn’t really know what I was doing (as clearly demonstrated by my digging a random hole and putting a plant in it) and though it was time consuming and went better than I thought, I really didn’t do it the right way. This year I still don’t know what I’m doing but have put more thought and effort into the prep work and even though I’ve still got a long way to go this is so far the result.
My dad helped me till the ground and my mom helped me lay all the steel edging. Then it took 5 bags, nearly 6 hours, and what feels like 2 broken hands to clear out the debris from the bed.
Because this is what part of it looked like:
I THINK I’m ready to buy the plants and actually plant them which is by far the best part. All the plants you see are left over from last year which is kind of nice, especially a few that I had no idea would come back…surprise!
Nandango 