Progress is my middle name!

Drizzly day yesterday; rainy overnight; cool overcast day today... perfect conditions to grab a shovel and start my big re-landscape project! Can't wait to get started!

Flashback one year ago, February 2011:

Not exactly great conditions for gardening. 60 degrees today, clear skies and warm sunshine... Luv-erly.

OK, so two years ago I built my raised bed "potager" garden and had some issues (scorching sun and hungry bunnies) which caused me to re-think that area of the garden. Just as well it wasn't overly successful: ants and woodrot, yikes!

I felt bad that after all that hard work building those beds, they didn't last very long. However, launching a big sledge hammer to them was WAY fun! I'm feeling better already!

A "before" wide-shot from the back deck looking down to the back yard:

And today's progress:

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl... I think a perfect day to visit The Home Depot and get some edging to define the path and patio area for the bistro table. I've left an open area for my stock tank pond, so I might pick up some bags of sand to make it level.

Then to order the garden soil and gravel. I'm thinking pea gravel instead of crushed granite for the path. There's a slight slope down to the gate and I'm worried about run off and puddles. I so love the look of a gravel garden.

I went to The Natural Gardener nursery  two days ago and bought some pretty blue and white pansies to go in the flower boxes on the club house. I can't wait to get back there to buy some nice perennials for those back beds. And of course, I'll have to do some research and figure out which water lilies will be appropriate for this area... exciting! Any one have any good suggestions where I might go for those?

So much work to be done, I feel a little overwhelmed with the size of this project. Hubby just took off for four weeks for work. It's a great time to get this done, just kinda wishing I had the extra set of hands and strong back.
It's going to be slow progress.
I can do this.
Any progress is good, right?

Oh, and I even pruned the roses in the front yard! Phew!

And now my shower beckons!