Outdoor Project No. 1 - Extend Driveway

Outdoor Project No. 1

Ok, yes, I know. we have not even closed on the house yet, and we are already acting as if it was ours!  But, my hobbies include Researching and Planning (and Facebook!), and so here I am, Planning. 

Took this picture on the day I met the home inspector at the house.  From the street, the driveway goes up the side of the house and then makes a small rectangle of parking area in front of the garage.  Actually, for most people, it makes a fairly big parking area - 4 cars can fit OK in it.  For a True Mopar Enthusiast, professional diesel mechanic, and hobby dirt track racer, however, this is a tiny driveway and parking area.  Can't even turn around any of our trailers. So, before even moving in, we have to extend the driveway.  Like, 100 feet.

Remove the fence from the left all the way to the X to the right of my truck, salvaging as best as possible, as I have designs on painting it and using it in my garden.  The red X's represent things that need to go - like the fence and several shrubs.  After working so hard in the desert to keep trees and shrubs alive, we are loath to remove them; however, we have a few acres worth of trees at this point,  and these ones have to go.  :(  I'm not good at rooting shrubs yet, but I may take some cuttings and stick them in the ground in our "forest" and see what happens.  Double wide driveway between the dotted yellow lines about a 100 feet from the fence towards the back of the property.

Of course, that makes my husband happy about this project, but what makes me happy?  Thinking about extending the tree line on the left out parallel to the new driveway.  Pink and White Crepe Myrtles?  Besides Magnolia and Lilac not much else says, "I love The South" like Crepe Myrtles.  Ok, maybe Honey Suckle and Jasmine, but I am talking trees, here, and fairly rapidly growing trees.  Showed the handsome half of this team some pictures of Crepe Myrtles lining a street.  He didn't look impressed.  Never let that stop me before, so, the thinking is still Crepe Myrtles.

Now, what would really make me happy is to plant plums and peaches and other fruiting trees, but this close to the driveway, they are probably not practical.  They also don't grow as fast as, say, Crepe Myrtles; however, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't put a few dwarf fruit trees in, just for diversity's sake.

Dreaming of Spring Time and Summer; however, everything is looking rather gray and brown right now. Still, all of that grass will turn emerald green and start growing at a rate of 6 inches a week once the sun returns around March or April.  And that brown oak tree - once Spring Fever hits it, the new, green leaves will push the brown ones out, and we'll have a mini-Autumn Fall.  Google Maps showed the line of small trees on the left as being dark red (the photo was from April), so maybe they are cherry or plumbs (fruiting or not)?  Can't wait to see what secrets Nature has in store for us here.

Mystery Trees Along the Existing Driveway