My next project....

So I am hoping to tackle this project before the end of May. I don't want to do much yard work in the dead of summer in Vegas, so I am on a slight time constraint. I was very proud of myself for getting the sprinklers working two weekends ago, and this past weekend, I picked out the plants that I am going to plant. Three of them will be cacti that I get from Cactus Rescue. The great thing about their company is that all the cacti are native to Southern Nevada, and since they are rescued, I will get a cool adoption sheet for them too!

I really cannot wait to get the cacti and get them in the ground. Two that I have picked out, called Beaver Tail, apparently need to be installed using tongs because of the spiky's.

Jarrett and Adria the couple that run the Cactus Rescue, are not only very good friends of mine, as I have known Jarrett since about 7th grade, but they are incredibly knowledgeable in their work. And they just work so well together, it is amazing to watch them go when you start talking desert plants. I love it! They are also going to help me find some other native plants to put in the front. I will be very proud to day that my front yard will be all native....somewhat like me...

So now everyone is caught up. However I did leave out the part where I busted my sprinkler line in the back yard in early April, and my most awesome dad came and fixed it.

But now, you are where I am, in the side yard.

I am trying to get all my outside honey do's done before it gets to hot to do anything. But once it does get to hot, I am going to move back indoors and work on my honey do's inside.

Once I am at that point, I will probably create a list on my side bar of what needs to be done, so that I can cross them off as I go.

So here is my final project. I still have to run a sprinkler line to them. I tried to just tap into the pipe that is right there, but apparently it is also the main sprinkler line to the back yard. This means that I need a new valve and I need to create a new station for the side yard. I am not going to do that until I finish the rest of the side yard in a few weeks.
here is a close up to one of the pretty roses


Because we have such a fabulous builder (and I say that with the most sarcasm that I can drip from my pores) all this concrete was just buried under the rocks right there in my side yard. It was not easy trying to remove. At. All. And I am a little annoyed that I had to do it in the first place. Anyway, it's gone.

And here is a picture of my next challenge. Please ignore the boxes of trash that need to go out. The pile of dirt there is going to be my new rose garden. I am trying to find a good deal on Windsor wall bricks that will match the back yard. Then off to the left there we are going to get some more concrete pours to create a walk way from our front door to the backyard, because one would think in the planning of the exterior, our builder would have said "you know, our homeowners will probably one day need to move things from the front to the back so we should make it easier on them" But no. The decided to save the $100 per house, and not pour a pathway. So no we have to do it. Lame.

This weekend I started working on the side yard. Before I started, there wasn't anything here, just rocks. It was very ugly and what I like to call "conformist" since it looks just like everyone else's in the hood.

So I changed it up a bit and added some super pretty roses. Here is when I started, and Lucy helped a bit too :)

So after a lot of work and a few additions, including a new veggie garden, this is the final result:

After the winter and the dogs....this is what I had left...

And here was the finished product: