Our Yard

Our yard remains an issue of frustration for me and Brian. The size of it is great. And our yard would be fine if we could get it under control..so really I guess the frustration truly boils down to our landscapers.

We did go ahead and get the sod done and re-did the irrigation system. We are still glad we did both things but right now the results are not what we were expecting.

We have had to get the irrigation people out twice already to fix issues which they did and those are fine but now I found another head that is permanently in the up position so we have to get them out to fix that and do a walk around and make sure all the other heads come up as they are supposed to and go back down as they are supposed to. They also had to create trenches to bury the wire/pipes/etc. It really feels that they did not even bother to fill in those trenches. I have been going out and filling them in but they never get full. At this point we are going to have to go to our landscapers and ask them to fill them for us as we cannot rake or get anymore dirt into them. Theoretically we could get soil and do it ourselves but with me being 9 months pregnant and soon with a newborn and Brian who hates the outside....it is not something we can do. We spent over an hour yesterday and barely made a dent with what we can do. You can see the lines from where they dug up everything and the landscaper says the grass will grow over that with time especially since they are fertilizing the lawn and that there might be some unlevel-ness which is fine but I am worried about trenches. As it is it's a liability. The trenches we have are 4 inches deep...an adult's foot could get stuck and cause injury...lets not think what would happen to Thor! Once the irrigation heads get fixed and the trenches get properly filled in I will be much happier with that aspect of the backyard.

An example of the 4 inch deep trench

I am not happy with our landscapers. Really not happy. We have tried to find others but they are all  A LOT more expensive and don't offer the same services. You get what you pay for but our current people have AWFUL communication. Last year our yard looked great. Our biggest issue is that the landscapers would not respond to us. I would have to email and send multiple notes with bills back to them letting them know that we want to change something and threaten not to pay them if they continue to do it. This year...I don't know what happened. The communication hasn't gotten better which I expected but I really feel our yard is going back to its natural state. The new sod is the worst. Either they didn't clear the easement like they were supposed to and just mowed it and placed the sod over it or they bought awful sod. Even the front and the side yards are falling apart and going back to how it was before we even built the house. The culprit? Weeds. Weeds are everywhere...and not weeds that I can pull out. A) it would take days and B) it would literally pull the sod up with it...even in the front/sides of the house where the sod has been there for a year and a half or so. The landscapers are supposed to take care of the weeds too and I just don't feel like they are. I refuse to let our yard go back to natural but I am concerned with what the landscapers are doing. We are still early in the process but I am really concerned about it. We did not spend all this money on the house and the new sod to have it ruined by weeds. We have thought about going out and getting our own weed killer and spray that around but we don't want to kill the grass and we don't want to put too much chemicals in the yard. Brian is going to call them and talk to them, they do not want to talk to me at this point, and hopefully we can get this under control. All I want to do is pay someone to come mow the lawn, throw pesticides down in the grass and make sure there are no weeds. Right now we have someone who cuts the grass really well, we haven't had any pest issues in the lawn so that's great but they are really falling short regarding the weeds. Ugh.

The one good news about the yard....the bunnies are back!

Easement

Easement

Easement

Front yard

The front yard is not as bad as the easement but it did not look like this last year. It is also harder to take pictures of. Hopefully this will be fixed soon