Movin' on down...

farther south in Brooklyn.

After losing a 4-year battle with a leaky window, my husband and I decided to move out of our beloved 350 sq ft apartment. When I say “decided to move,” what I really mean is that in a moment of frustration I did a 5 minute search that resulted in finding the most amazing apartment ever. I have 1 word that sums up why our new place is so completely rad: backyard. Yep, that’s right. In a city filled with concrete, KJ and I have our own, private outdoor space.  No more suffering through mediocre meals just to dine al fresco. We can grill our own feast in the privacy of our backyard.

While the apartment was move-in ready, the same couldn’t be said for the outside. After being neglected for years, it was completely overgrown with weeds and poison ivy. One little detail that I forgot to mention was that we moved 2 weeks before our wedding. As expected, the move was stressful and expensive (we hired movers). But for me, the hardest part was not being able to plant a garden. Because of the close proximity of our wedding, I didn’t want to risk being covered in poison ivy on my big day.

Fast forward about a month and we’re back from our honeymoon. After 24 hours of travel, I was energized and ready to get the garden project underway. I’m pretty sure my husband wanted to kill me when I insisted that we spend our first full day back in the states at home depot, but I couldn’t help it. I was actually looking forward to leaving Fiji so I could go home and play with dirt in my yard (sick, I know).

I had a vision. I knew that I wanted grass, an herb garden, and a fire pit. It was also important for me to have mostly perennials so I wouldn’t have to spend money every year on planting. I wanted to make sure that the yard was green and growing as quickly as possible, so I decided against planting seeds.

Before we got started in the garden, we had 1 little thing to take care of first—the ugly chain link fence on the right side of the yard. Our landlords ran out of money and couldn’t afford to finish the privacy fence, so it was up to us to find a solution. We opted for bamboo fencing to give us a little more privacy, and crossed our fingers that one of the random vines that were growing would eventually do it’s thing (and it did, yay!).

Our first project was digging out the dirt in the back and planting grass (ok, so I guess I did use a seed). We opted for EZ-Seed because it’s guaranteed to grow in any condition, even shade, which we have a lot of in our yard.  And would you believe that grass was sprouting in less than a week? Amazing.

Then we followed by digging up the dirt on each side of the yard which would eventually be the home to a variety of perennials, boxwoods, and of course, an herb garden. I was very careful when curating my perennials to be sure that I picked plants that would thrive in semi-shady conditions. If you don’t give your plants the right kind of environment that they need, they’ll turn on you and self-destruct. Then your left with dead plants and a broken heart—that’s not fun for anybody.

Our last project was to create an area for the fire pit. For this, we (OK, my husband) dug out a patch of dirt and filled it in with stones. We figured this would be better in case of falling embers, and the light colored stones also add a nice contrast to the fire pit. If you are ever placing stones over dirt or grass, be sure to put a weed guard down first. This thin sheet between the dirt and the rocks provides a barrier that keeps weeds from poking through. If you skip this step, you will waste your days pulling weeds and kicking yourself for not putting down the weed guard. So just do it right the first time.

Our last project is to dig out the front section of the yard and replace it with flagstone. We have been putting this off because want to start enjoying our outdoor space with friends and family while the weather is still nice. I’m thinking that might have to wait until next year. We also needed to prioritize the indoor space, which I will be posting about in the coming weeks.  I’m living in a giant work-in-progress and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Stay tuned for the final reveal of the backyard!