Talked about taking out side garden, optionally leaving the stretch along the back fence. The side-to-side pace is more valuable to our needs than the last 8’ anyway
Suggested mulch, like the school playground. Cost effective, low maintenance, soft (but tamps down over time so it’s not squishy)
Would require occasional topping up every couple years
Can track into the house, but that seems like a reasonable considering the upsides
We could sod part or all, but doesn’t recommend based on our use case (kids playing on it) and still a bit iffy growing conditions. It would cost more and require additional labour, like removing all the small gravel
They would do from the far edge of the deck and back. Don’t want to impact the neighbours back gate entryway
They don’t do sheds/etc but agreed ours wasn’t doing us any favours but otherwise wouldn’t be affected by any work they do
The pergola is good, still seems solid despite being a bit crooked now. Removing the hard surface around it would be no issue
Recommends killing and ripping out the vines on the pergola even though they provide shade. Would suggest leaving if not for the proximity to things like cable/utility wires
I’ll check with Joanna to see if they have any concerns with that, but I don’t imagine they will
Will use Round-Up weed killer to kill everything in the backyard. Seems like the stuff growing back there is invasive, so simply weeding it would be a lot of effort for short term gain
We can decorate using potted plants, the back garden, or planting directly in the mulch. If we want a path to the shed door, that’d be easy enough by putting some stones down, but said the mulch would be good enough to roll bikes/the mower/etc across. I’m wary that I won’t be able to open the door in the first place, so that’d have to be taken into account
$600 ballpark to do the front yard path properly, which I think is worth it. We’re not equipped to do it ourselves
Backyard