When we first moved into our house back in 2001, the backyard was in pretty bad shape. The previous owners had rented the house out for the last couple of years and the renters had not taken good care of the yard. Couple that neglect with a steep slope down to an intermittent stream, or as we call it, a wet-weather creek (it's actually Walnut Creek), and we were losing soil every time it rained.
Here are some shots of what the yard looked like when we moved in: (click for larger images).
We decided the best way to gain back some of the yard was to build a retaining wall and level out the yard to the tree line. This would stop erosion, and provide an attractive delineation between a slightly more manicured lawn and the wilds beyond. (Well, as much wilds as you can find in suburbia.)
As luck would have it, a couple of friends were on their way through town with no commitments for a few weeks. They are quite handy, and were pretty excited to undertake such a project.
ditch diggersThe first step was to provide a footing for the retaining wall. A 8" wide trench was dug across the entire property line. The soil around here is rocky, so this was a larger job than first estimated:
