Our front yard is now an actual front yard.  The biggest elements that we completed were

• stepping stones
• flagstone seating area
• lawn
• parkway

We always wanted a friendly, inviting front yard, hence the large porch and the lack of privacy hedges.  We also added a little seating area at the edge of our yard so we can sit out there when the kids run around and play.  Neighbors often stop by and say hi when we are in our front yard, and I can imaging it will be more so now that it is actually done.

Once the flagstone seating area was done, they added the irrigation for the lawn.

Our property is irrigated differently than I’ve ever seen done before.  Rather then irrigation pipe with emitters stuck in, we are using all irrigation pipe with holes in it.  Reminiscent of the older seeping hoses, they deliver a fixed rate of water per hold depending on how far you open the valve.  You can control the amount of water by adding more loops (like around a tree) and through the valve volume control (how far it is opened).  What you lose with this method is the ability to water things with drastically different needs on some occasions, which you could do through different emitters.

But you also gain efficiency, as all the irrigation pipe is all buried under the soil, or at least the mulch, which lessens evaporation. That means the lawn gets entirely watered from below.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any good pictures of the lawn watering going in, other than the feeds.

The front yard with the lawn in looks just fabulous.

It really looks like a finished property with the lawn in.

The parkway is the strip between the sidewalk and the street.  We used to have just grass, which was overgrown and patchy.  Looking around our neighborhood, there are lots of different water wise options; gravel seems to be a common choice, or just bare dirt with a few plants.  But none of those appeals to us.

We planted dymondia, a low type of spreading daisy that can cover an area like a lawn.  A house near us actually replaced their lawn with dymondia.

It will take a while to grow in, but when it does, it should look great and should withstand some light traffic.

The only remaining work in the front now is finishing up the rock wall – a few stones that need replacing and grout the whole thing.