{Back Yard} Containers and Edging

Yesterday I showed you where we started in our back yard makeover and how we've basically ended up with the above photo. So now I'm back to show you some step by step photos of how it actually happened. And give you some background as well.

For awhile now, I've wanted to do something with our back yard but it's always taken a back seat to other projects. Now that most of our yard is fine, I thought I'd put some focus back to this area of our yard. The biggest issue we have to deal with is that this back yard is home to our two dogs, or it is at least when they are outside. Plus, we have our two kids and I needed this area to be kid and dog friendly. Most gardens, I think, can be both kid and dog friendly but I also didn't want to have to stress out about it, so I kept thinking of container gardening. And not just any containers but large, galvanized containers! I posted here to show a pretty picture of what I kind of had in mind. Now, I could have gone out and spent hundreds on new ones but we live in the middle of farming areas so I figured I could find some. Plus, due to being used for gardening, they didn't need to be able to hold water so holes would be fine.

Long story short, my parents found the three you see with the help of some people they know. The smallest, square shaped one is actually from my grandmother but the three larger ones are from local farmers.

So, we had the containers but they sat under our deck until recently. Doug and I played around with them one day, getting their placement right and he dug the holes. By digging down some, it gave us dirt to fill them in with (well, some, but that's a different issue) and it gave them some stability. Plus, it allowed us to make sure they were level as our ground clearly is not!

Now, I could have left them be and we would just have to mow around these but that's just not what I had in mind! I wanted a true little garden area that could be an accent to our pretty bare back yard.

See the tree stump above? It has some big plans for that area! I can't wait to show you (once it is done!).

My parents had these edging stones leftover from one of their projects and gave us a bunch. We had 40 to start with and have at least 20 more. But this project maybe took 30, so we're good! As shown above, I created an edge to the flower garden area by going off the corner of our patio and going towards the fence. There's a natural line there from the slope of our yard and years of dogs running it that I kind of went with. I actually went a little wider than where the dogs run because there will be stepping stones on the inside of the edge.

Zoey, my old brindle baby, is showing off the patio. The blue thing above her is our giant trampoline that'll move to the other side of our patio. But the edge is complete and now waiting for mulch. It's not done on the right side due to the next project that'll be happening over there. I'm thinking a trellis may be needed to break up all the white vinyl of our porch siding. What do you think?

Here's an iPhone collage to show you some of the steps so far: