When we were in Albany, we bought a house with absolutely no lawn. We were able to turn it into something we really liked. It was quite a bit of work, but it was very rewarding to us. It is one of the things that made us saddest about leaving Oregon.
Back patio
Side view
View from the front
Although the climate and soil where we live in North Carolina is not quite as optimal for growing a lawn, it is pretty good. We have a lot bigger lawn now than we did in Oregon so the task is a little daunting. Nevertheless, we have made our start. A fertilizer service came last week for the first time. We plan to put down bark dust this on Saturday. We all want to do some gardening, so Christian and I are going to construct some raised beds toward the back of the property for both flowers and vegetables. Kelly is investigating seeds and tomato starts. Lorena has been hard at work pulling weeds in front. The good news is that the front of the house will be in pretty good shape after the fertilizer/weedkiller starts working and we get some weed barrier plastic and bark dust down. The back is another story. We have to decide how much we are going to manicure and how much we are going to maintain. We have to put in a bunch of trees (when we can afford them). We have to put down some contour barriers. The other good part to all of this is that it is good exercise.
