Gardening
Speaking of nicer weather. We did a lot of gardening in the warmer temperatures because we were so tired of grass not growing in our small garden. We have lived in this house for 26 years and have failed every year. Even if we were somewhat successful, when the drought set in late summer, we were already at the end again.
So at the end of last summer we decided to take out the grass and add pea gravel in the spring. We also thought about grass, but that’s far too expensive.
Just look at this hot mess! I don’t want my garden to look like that.
Many plants are no longer doing so well after another hard winter. Adding mulch is also always very time-consuming. I purchased about 75 bags of mulch from Lowe’s.
Before I started the big project of removing the grass, I pressure washed the paver patio, which is always satisfactory. But it creates so much dirt and mud, which is why this had to be done first.
While I was adding fresh sand to the pavers, I decided to add polymeric sand to the stairs leading from the patio doors. Normal sand tends to wash out through the cracks. Unfortunately the ivory sand ended up being the wrong color and looked terrible! I panicked a bit! So I scraped off the top layer and bought another expensive little bag in camel brown. It looked much better. Now I wish I had done the entire patio. Maybe I’ll do it in sections while the new play sand is loose.
Here you can see how much better the camel brown looks. I just wish it didn’t make the pavers so blurry. I hope that this goes away.
Let’s talk about the other side of the terrace where we have a leaning wall with dying bamboo. So far we have not been able to fix the problem despite trying our best. I think we’ll have to live with it unless it falls over.
Since we had already messed everything up, we decided to also address the drainage issue, which was probably the reason the wall was leaning in the first place.
To remove the grass, we were going to rent a sod cutter, but then my husband decided to do it by hand since we didn’t have that much grass and mostly soil.
We had a very important supervisor who oversaw the entire process. Frank has come such a long way and we love him so much. He used to be so scared when he saw us looking at him through the window. Now he comes running when he hears our voices, wags his tail like a dog and rolls over on his back to have his belly rubbed. He also loves sleeping in bed with my son or me. I wish he could tell us his life story because I feel he has been through so much.
All of the rock walls had to be replaced to ensure that the weed barrier fabric runs behind the walls and dirt cannot wash onto the new gravel. Another challenge for me was laying the fabric smoothly. So far only half of the farm is finished. But at least we can walk on fabric instead of mud.
While my husband worked on some of the walls with the heavier stones, I installed some new hardwired path lights. We only had hardwired plastic lights and they were falling apart. You can see one of them under the lilac bush in the photo above. Frank’s girlfriend sits on the landscaping material. The cats love it.
Frank’s girlfriend is Pixie (that was the name I gave her), although my husband insists on calling her pretty, and honestly, that’s the name most people remember too. She is still mostly feral and refuses to come indoors no matter what, even during this winter’s brutal cold. I saw her approach Frank’s cat door and look through the window. She has her heated outdoor houses scattered all over the yard, and it seems to suit her just fine. However, she loves watching us from afar and she has clearly chosen my husband as her favorite, which he absolutely loves as all the other cats have decidedly chosen me.
(She looks a lot like Jeff, more about him later!)
But back to the gravel…
We want to add 1/2 inch thick Maryland pea gravel that was almost sold out so I took a photo of 3/4 Maryland river gravel that is the same color.
In areas with heavy foot traffic, we will also install gravel pavers underneath the pea gravel to hold the stone in place and prevent slipping.
I know this was a lot of rambling and weird, messy photos, but that sums up this project, which is a bit overwhelming and not good for my back. I definitely don’t have the money for more physical therapy.
