Posts tagged landscape

Sadly I can’t find any ‘before’ pictures of what this side yard looked like when I started on it. Suffice to say it was mostly mud and moss and was, in a word, ugly. Seriously ugly. No one wanted to go here. Then about a year and a half ago, we had this brilliant idea. Big stone steps. But they would have to straddle the property line, so we had to get our (amazingly wonderful, totally awesome) neighbors to buy into the deal. Turns out that was the easy part.

We bought the stone steps — two 6 feet across and four 3 feet across — and had them delivered. They then sat in my driveway for a year or so. Staring at me. Mocking me. So I finally dragged then around to the side hill where they would eventually live. No easy feat, as the big ones weigh in at 1,000 pounds each, and the small ones at 500 pounds. They lay there in the dirt for 6 months. Still mocking me.

But while we were out at the stone yard buying more rocks for yet another one of my water features, I noticed this wonderful small brown pea-gravel in their “Bargain Pile.” So I bought 1.5 tons of it. It was all coming together. Time to start seriously working.

A week with me, my pick-axe, a shovel or 3, a couple of come-alongs, an iron pry-bar, and … Voila!

I almost forgot … the fountain/water-feature. Four years ago, while remodeling a bathroom, I took the old tub and sank it in the side of this hill so that I could make a water feature out of it. So while they were delivering the 1.5 tons of gravel, they also delivered another 2.5 tons of rock, and I finished that little project too!

Looking up the hill. There will be lots of planting to do, now that we have some actual soil over there, rather than the clay and gravel that is what passes for soil around here. My ribs and sides are still hurting from all the pick-axe swinging I did to dig drainage trenches, level out the areas for the steps, etc.

I love my new fountain. Mostly I built it so that my neighbors can sleep with their window open and snooze to the sounds of gently falling water. At least when the frogs aren’t screaming at full volume.

There is still some debris up under the deck to be removed, and a little more clean-up along the side of the house. I also have some lights to install on each step (once they arrive), etc. but it’s basically DONE.  6 1/2 tons of stone and gravel moved, installed, etc. That’s a lot of rock.

I’m thrilled. Exhausted, but thrilled. Now, all that’s left is the back yard. And the other side yard (which is larger, muddier, and going to need even more work). I want to build a pond at the top, a larger pond at the bottom, and a long stream running the entire length with a path — and bridges over the stream — down the whole thing.

That project will have to wait a few years until I replenish the savings account. Rock isn’t cheap. For now I think I’ll go buy a nice comfy Adirondack chair to put up there near the top of that fountain so I can sit there and read a book.