February 2008 in PIttsburgh

Snow covered burlap. I'm just waiting for the ground to thaw to begin my landscaping.

I've never lived on a hill like we have here in Pittsburgh. I grew up in Hawaii; lived in Cleveland, OH and Ann Arbor, MI. Hillscapes are very new.

Just ask friends and colleagues, I've been thinking about what to do about this hill for the last three years.

What do you do with a hill?
What do you do about that ugly retaining wall?
What do you do if you don't have much money to spend to hire a landscaper or someone to rebuild that ugly retaining wall?

One thing good about this hill, this challenge has become a hobby that has occupied my thoughts, resulting in reading 30-50 books from the library, bought another 20 more, scoured numerous websites, took a summer community college class, and endless hours playing with different ideas in Photoshop.

Definitely more to come....

Fall of 2007

When we moved in, the front hill of our house was an overgrown jungle of weeds. Some of the weeds had even become "trees". By brute force the weeds were pulled. A black tarp was laid on the soil for three full summer months. Then burlap was laid to prevent weeds from growing, as best as it could. That lasted for about 18 months.