Thisd is great timing for this thread LL! Its wonderful to see the beautiful things we are all doing on our little piece of earth. I was feeling insecure about posting my pictures (makes me feel like im posting the before picture of myself in a bathing suit before a diet! :) but hey, were all friends here! lol this is the earliest pic i can find, probly 5 years ago. Before i got it to this stage, it was seriously 6 ft tall weeds, shrubs and jagged thorny row of overgrown mess. there was just the chainlink fence. We had to put up privacy panels because the community pool and tennis courts are on the other side, and there was no privacy from people. I was very proud of my little area then. I had just began my gardening hobby and had no idea it would take over my life! then a few years later we brought home this little guy after our rottie passed away. Who after we fed him turned into this... So i had to build a fence around my garden, because he was crazy and would run through the plants, dig one up and run back to me with it! like a sick game of fetch... i really didnt get much else done last summer.. but this spring ive been busy. It has alot of tweaking needed.. And honestly everytime i go back there i panic and leave! I have so much work to do!! but its coming along. I really want a border of the same plant variety on the edge where all the rocks are, but i cant decide.

I was up very late last night contemplating this very thing. I was visiting Moosey's website. Spent hours there looking over her old garden areas and how she changed them over the years. I am sending Mary an email to talk to her about it. I love her gardens and she and I garden alike and think alike about gardening and animals, so I know she will have some good ideas that fits my lifestyle, if she will. I made a list of some shrubs she grows that I want to get. I want to open back up my patio area with a spans of lawn and perennials and shrubs around the sides and against the house. I want a central path through an arch or several rose covered arches or perhaps a pergola to the back yard and do away with all the crisscross paths. It is too much! I want to replace the pickets and wire edgers with the farm-style post'n'rail type fences. Too much of a pain to trim around those danged wires. The string snags the wires, yanks them out and twists them and sometimes breaks them. Sick of those things. Also my trees are growing well now, so want to reposition the perennials now that they are getting big. I may have to just force myself to make drawings of what I want and play with that, and list what needs to be moved and where. The immediate backyard is the target. It is just too congested! Ugh! The rest will be okay where it is now. I just don't know if I (myself) can dig out some of those big shrubs in the way and move them to the side areas or something. I may have to take the Maddox to them. I don't know where I want to move them, but I do know I want that area opened back up the way it was originally and more people friendly. It will be easier for me to take care of it too. Moving those big shrubs is my main obstacle. After that, it won't be a problem. Right now while we are having all this rain would seem like a good time to move them and get my lawn growing. I am going to plant St. Augustine, not that awful Bermuda crap. I have St. Augustine growing on the south side of the house. I love it. I had it for lawn when I lived in Louisiana. Isn't it funny how so many of us are thinking of making some big changes in their garden right now? ~Annie

I went earlier today to the real nursery and bought ten bags of their good topsoil and five bags of their good compost. I could have gone to Home Depot and get cheeper but inferier product. Plus the nusery loads my car just like that and you have to struggle at home depot. Then when I got home I put out the topsoil first and spread it out and then the compost spread out on top. I wish I had thought of taking pictures of the bags all ready laid along the garden to be emptied but all I wanted to do was get it filled with my bagged goodies. Did take after pictures of the empty bags laying around and the iris garden now full of good soil and compost the way I wanted it. Its pretty much leveled out but I will let it sit overnight and tweek any imperfections tomorrow. I have pictures of it now but too tired to download. So will download after I take tomorrows daylily shots and post my update pictures then.

@suzi: Since move-in-ready houses around here are quite affordable, we don't have the high COL dynamic where young buyers have to jump on fixers because that's all they can afford. @jewell: I ballparked $25K in my OP, so that leaves 50K "profit". Obviously needs to be borne out by an in-person inspection. I stopped by the house on my way home from work. Some things I could see from my walk-around: -the brick work has had some tuck-pointing done. -the vent chimney looks like it needs some tuck-pointing (or else that stack could be removed). The fireplace chimney looks fine. -it's got what I think are asbestos cement shingles. They look like this. Can anyone advise? -some of the windows (all original, with storms) have broken glass or torn screens, and some of the outside paint is flaking. -the driveway is cracked and the part in front of the garage is overgrown with grass. It's fairly steep going from the road over the sidewalk, then it's a bit flatter. OK backing out, because there's a clear view of the road when the car was on the edge. Hate that steep part, though. -the back yard opens onto an alley. It's fenced, but there's plenty of room beyond the fence to build a garage. Maybe bust out the driveway, plant grass, and move cars to the rear? -the tiny garage is full of junk. -the neighbor's garage looks to be right on the lot line. The 2 lots on the other side are vacant, and currently for sale for $10K each.