Part 3 - Spring 2015 How It Looked Then

 To say that going from this Hydrangea filled Garden Wall to almost nothing in the garden wall right now has been easy...wouldn't be the truth.  It's been very hard, heavy and sometimes back-breaking work, but I'm so glad to see it progressing.  The first photo is the back end of my Courtyard Garden.  There is a concrete patio there, surrounded by concrete patio pavers...and the walls are stacked concrete blocks.  This is a huge Courtyard...and at night, when...
I let the Pups outside, they would run everywhere in the courtyard and all the way down to the gate at the sidewalk.  Bad thing was, I couldn't see them.

I knew that I had to make some changes.  They certainly didn't need the entire courtyard to potty in...so that made it simple to think I could shrink the area they used to a portion that I could see from the front door and porch - using only the porch light.  Difficult thing was trying to figure out how to cordon it off, since everything was concrete...no place for fences or gates or anything like that.  So, here, I just dragged their old crates out and stuck a gate up against them, using a zip tie to keep it up and against the crates.  I certainly didn't like the looks of it...but it worked.

So on to figuring out other possibilities. 

This is the other end of my courtyard.  

***NOTE*** If you look close, you will see that the wall is 4 blocks high, plus the cap block.  I'll tell you in a bit exactly what happened to that entire wall.

You can read the other posts I've done about it and the garden HERE...you'll see measurements and square footage and many other photos too.

Here you can see the changes taking place.  I chopped all of the 17 lush and pretty hydrangeas down and bagged them up for lawn waste pick-up.  Then I got rid of other stuff in the garden.

 I did replace the cap block that you see missing here on the front wall...after I dug out ONE of the hydrangeas myself.  That is the only one I will be digging out.  My lawn guy, Josh, is sending out 2 guys later next week to dig the other 16 out and haul the waste away!  Yeah!!

Remember a couple of photos up...my ***NOTE***?  

The wall all around the courtyard used to be 4 blocks + a cap block high.  I removed each one of those blocks.  Why?  Look a the next photo!

 This is the "Pup's Pen".

I moved 70 concrete blocks that weighed 38# each...some from the near wall...and a bunch from the far end of the wall...to build this enclosure, complete with a gate.  The concrete patio drains nicely and never has standing water.  With the blocks set down so you see the "windows" of the blocks, there is good air circulation too.

 The "Pups Pen" measure about 18x13 feet.  It's wonderful.  It's located just off the porch, under the living room windows and porch light and the hose - just outside the back gate.  I'll be replacing the plastic grey gate on the porch with a black wrought iron one...soon.

 The new wall of the pen will be a handy place for container gardening of herbs next year.

 I sprayed to get rid of ants on this end of the wall, so there are still a few things there that need to be removed.

 The rest of the wall is rid of all plant material and pretty things (except the glow ball laying there) and the hydrangeas will be gone by next weekend, weather cooperating.

 Those few blocks on the patio will be going in the garage and will be used to keep a few things off the floor.

 These hydrangeas...Endless Summer are my oldest hydranges (about 8 years old.  They aren't blooming like they used to...but I'm going to give them another try next year.

 Next year the wall garden will have much lower plantings...and will look much airier.  I'll also be able to see out of my courtyard.

More to come on the Courtyard and Wall Garden!