when we first moved in, we had this holly tree that was both leaning
toward the house and shading the flower garden

this is what the yard looked like before we started building the wall

we decided to use a portion of the existing wall to start the new wall
and we used the new bricks as the foundation

lots of dirt!

at this point, Leandra took over building the wall while Eric started
transferring dirt from the driveway to the backyard

the stopping point on day one...

starting again on Sunday morning... more digging and leveling!

the raised bed filled with soil

the holly tree was removed in December, and it took Eric a few
afternoons of digging to isolate and remove the stump

Eric began by refilling the hole where the stump used to be

eight cubic yards of soil was delivered by dump truck,
most of which was used for the new raised bed

Leandra standing next to the dirt pile for size perspective

the wall is about halfway done at this point; we were unfortunately
interrupted a few times by rain showers

the view from behind the brick wall

done! the finished area will triple the available garden space

a view from the side, all filled in!