We had saved up a sum of money to put in a patio under our deck this fall and we now realize that was better than leaving it in the market! For the past week or so we have been doing our little bit for the economy by employing almost 4 men full time to clear grass, put in drains, set paver stone, aerate the lawn and seed the destroyed areas. It was supposed to take a little less than 4 days, but I think that with economy slowing down the landscape firm was in no rush to have staff return to the store and sit waiting for another assignment and so the crew was actually here for 7 days which did not increase the cost of the contract.
During that time my husband and I began clearing the garden and moving ALL of the soil (he did most of the work as I have been fighting some illness) and now we will level the whole area and put in a series of raised container beds. We spent the last of the wad of money on cedar boards--the worst grade they had which is stunningly beautiful even so---for the walls of the beds. Hopefully with landscape cloth and mulch on the paths between the beds, we will get some control over the weeds next year.
They had to tear up the lawn with the little bulldozer, but also aerated and reseeded the areas and now we wait for the lawn to come up once again. We also had them take down some dead trees on the edge of the lawn in the front yard, and now, guess what? I get to put in ANOTHER flower bed. (I still haven't gotten the deer fence up but I tend to be more optimistic than realistic!) The far side of this bed will be for cut flowers. I love cutting flowers and bringing them inside the house to enjoy as I do my chores.
The new patio provides a rather large sitting area beneath the deck that will be handy during the hottest part of summer and also nice for fall when we want to sit around a small fire pit. Right now a fine layer of dust and dirt is everywhere --- on the window sills, the deck chairs, the potted plants and the brick. Thus the project today, if the weather stays warm enough, is to wash all of the outside before the grandchildren show up on the weekend. S'mores anyone?
Tabor this is going to be absolutely beautiful. For years you will enjoy this. Every year it will become more like you want it to be.
ReplyDeleteGet Well wishes are being sent you.
I am wiped out from all that is been going on in my world for a number of weeks.
Your yard looks lovely. Isn't it a good feeling to improve your environment? I know this project will be rewarding for many years.
ReplyDeletewhat a nice patio! how exciting to have a new "room" outside and a new lawn to adorn it! please post more photos when the lawn comes in. our veggie garden space is very limited, but we want to make some raised beds next year, too. it is a bit depressing to plant veggies in this northern climate with so little hot sun and have only a few plants really produce bountifully. peppers are our biggest harvest. i am so unused to this issue having lived in the hot south so long.
ReplyDeletelandscape fabric, mulch, and keeping "preen" sprinkled around the pathways and beds all year got rid of most of our weeds. so nice not to have to deal with that anymore. we also laid 2-3 layers of newspaper under the original mulch in beds we planted. of course, that disintegrated and became compost. it has helped keep the densely planted beds weed free as we add mulch each year and keep preen in the beds. (he has added more newspaper along the way, too, as he has added mulch) this has helped protect some of the more sensitive plants from winter's cold - dahlias return each summer.
It will be gorgeous and I hope you will show us photos when you finish.
ReplyDeleteGreat minds! We have done a flat stone and moss patio for our firepit. The cost certainly helped the economy so we did one section per month. I'll have pictures soon.
ReplyDeleteI Love what you guys did!
Looks like it will be stunning when completed Tabor. Like most of us when completing something, you will wonder how you ever did without it lol.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog BTW
Blessings:)