The "before" pictures of the backyard

Steve found the pictures we took of the backyard area in early March. (I had him take the pictures because I was trying to win a contest with a local TV station called, "Best on the Block".) The area around the drainage ditch actually looked worse when we started the project because bulbs popped up over the Spring and Summer and it looked really overgrown.

View from the street. You can see how the backyard slopes in the picture.

This is actually a picture from our master bathroom window. You can see the deck below and the drainage ditch in the middle. You can also see all of the gravel that we had in the backyard.

Another picture from the master bathroom window. You can see the drainage ditch went all the way to the end of our yard and it also goes through our neighbor's yard.