2017

Very little was done on the garden railroad itself except for fixing all the bent/broken tracks as a result of the deer constantly trampling through the yard.

However, my son Jason did a major enhancement to the sandy area in the middle of the raised beds by digging out a lot of the sand, hauling in topsoil, and planting grass!

My wife and I helped some, but he did about 80% of the work, and has continued to maintain the lawn by fertilizing, watering and mowing.  It was nice being able to sit inside the house while watching him mow:

Sitting in the chairs outside and looking at the pond is a nice, relaxing way to end the day.  Our daughter likes to lay in the grass.  After having nothing but sand since we moved in, she probably enjoys the grass the most and spends the most time just hanging out.  One of my improvements was finishing the rock wall to the right of the pond, adding soil between the pond and the new wall, and getting plants in later in the summer.  The huge era to the right of the new wall needs many cubic yards of topsoil brought in.

One of the other improvements we put in a couple cisterns around the house to collect rain water which we use to water plants and top off the pond.  I’m still debating whether this was a good idea or not, as heavy rain will cause the water to overflow near where the downspout meets the cistern, causing water to pour out near the foundation of the house.  Some things were not meant to be done by homeowners and a professional should be called to do the job correctly:

Yes, the junk to the left of the cistern has been cleaned up.