Seasons #4 - Tackling Problems
I mentioned before that our back yard is a work in progress. We have had it graded and sloped away from our house, then we put in a retaining wall. We amended the soil every time we planted bushes or flowers. It has taken several years but we are finally beginning to see rewards for our efforts. Our side yard path and our back yard path meet in the back corner of our yard. Several years ago we put a small fire pit in that corner. It was surrounded by mulch; needless to say, we had to be very careful when using it. That was the first problem we addressed. We didn’t remove the red clay when putting in the fire pit, consequently when it rained it was a muddy mess. That was the second problem we needed to tackle. Last fall we began work on a small patio, using pavers. Although we are planning on adding two more rounds of pavers, we very much like the look of this new addition to our garden.
The first two photos here are the before and after photos. The first photo shows the patio as it is now; the second photo shows what it looked like shortly after we put the fire pit in. We have removed as much mulch in that area as we can, and added plants, which aren’t as flammable as mulch. The last photo here is a close up of the finished project.
This series of photos shows how we went about installing the pavers. The first pic shows the size we determined would be big enough (it isn’t!). We thought maybe we could use bigger pavers but it quickly became obvious that wouldn’t work. The next photo shows our beginning point. The third photo shows how nicely that project was shaping up. I used the green spray bottle full of water to keep the paver sand damp; it is much easier to work with when damp.
This photo is of the project, lacking the final row and the pea gravel. The center photo was taken just after I swept in the pea gravel. We bought a fire pit screen and used it for our inaugural fire later that evening.
Final thought:
This was one of the most labor intensive projects I have ever done. While my husband did the excavating, which was a job!, I laid all the blocks and had to do it all on my knees. But it also was one of the most rewarding projects I ever did! So don’t be afraid to tackle the hard projects; they are so very rewarding!!