...to back

... and progress with the rear steps from the bottom terrace out to the park area. It's a tad bigger than Drew initially envisioned, but eh, doesn't matter! When it's only 2mm out overall, he was pretty happy with it.

front...

Work has started on the front vege patch with Drew tilling up the soil with his new eBay-purchased rotary tiller - rahrrr, more power tools!!

another catch-up pic...

Bottom terrace...

Catch-up pics!

I've missed posting a few pics of our progress - a result of smartphones / Facebook as I forget about the blog! So here's a few catch-up pics:

Cats relaxing in the backyard, on the newly-laid turf. Hard work for some!
The turfin' surfers at work! Vlad and Drew breaking their backs laying turf on the newly-levelled bottom terrace.
 
Drew spent eight hours on the dingo - and has the blisters to prove it! He levelled the bottom terrace section - enabling us to get a start on getting some plants in the ground!

Back fence...

Next up was putting up the rails and the shiplapped palings for the back fence. The fence is set back a bit from the boundary line, so we can soften up the back retaining wall with some pig-face (Carpobrotus glaucescens) or other trailing plant. The house side of the fence will eventually be hidden by all the plants and landscaping.

All of this progress enticed us to go fruit tree shopping on the weekend, and we've got a bush lemon (Citrus limon), tahitian lime (Citrus aurantifolia), blood orange (Citrus sinensis), imperial mandarin (Citrus reticulata), and an angel peach (Prunus persica) tree all ready to be planted along the back fence line - exciting!

Second retaining wall goes in...

Well, 2012 is certainly going to be Year of the House [revisited] as we make good progress into some long-awaited projects. Drew found some likely lads - Mark and Jay - who were keen to earn some weekend dosh in exchange for blood and sweat and muscle. Under Drew's direction for his landscaping vision, Mark and Jay knuckled down and have done some big hours which has seen some really positive development in the backyard.

First was the posthole digger action to set posts for the second terrace retaining wall, and the eventual fencing all round the back end of the block. Then the boys started on the retaining wall, three sleepers high...

Maggies give seal of approval...

Nice to see the local maggie family (mum, dad, juvie) enjoying the garden too (eating our lawn grubs!)