Another Rock Wall

The second retaining wall project around my driveway came to a close this past weekend. I spent lots of time in the sun, and a bit of time transporting a ton of rocks in the trunk of my car (literally a ton, in two trips). I back filled as I went and leveled out the hill, so the rocks had something to retain.

Here are the numbers:

4 tons of rocks
2 yards of fill
3 yards of top soil
100 lbs of class 2 base
10 potted plants/flowers
1 sunburned back





Still need to get 200 or so square feet of sod, but the heavy lifting is done.

Midway update

Time for an update on the driveway rocks. They're coming along, but slowly. I haven't been able to get more rocks for a couple weeks because of the hours the landscape place is open and I don't want to pay the $55 delivery fee for $140 in materials. Anyway, here's where it's at.

Before:


Midway point:


Kinda hard to tell from the pics, but the hill has been raised quite a bit. previously the yard sloped down from the property line to the driveway, but now it levels off at the top of the short retaining wall. I used my entire compost/mulch pile in back to fill it in plus three yards of dirt.

Eventually there will be plants/flowers among the rocks, and grass and border plants on top... Hope to get another load of rocks this weekend and put them in!

Fixing what ain't broke

Super awesome weekend! Best yet this year.

I spent the weekend doing nothing but working in the yard. I moved some boulders, put a few in place on the west side of the driveway, bought mulch and put it around my trees and shrubs in the front, watered everything, stirred my compost pile, stacked wood and sticks, mowed, and then did a sort of unnecessary thing - I tore out a perfectly good built-in rock fire pit.

Actually it wasn't perfectly good. I had wanted to redo it and get the fire a bit further away from the patio - don't need more heat playing thermal expansion games with my new concrete. Plus I think someone called it "cute" and/or "litte". And that just ain't right.

So I tore it out.



And rebuilt it.



Now it's bigger, deeper, wider, and probably hotter, too.

Working on it

I'm kicking off the landscaping season with a couple of projects: the remaining area by the driveway and the backyard. I'm still in planning phase, and these pics show the current state and my wireframe blanks...

This area by the driveway will get some boulders and some more dirt.





The Northeast corner of the back yard needs some work - several shrubs and trees coming out, and some new trees going in.





Let the mess-making begin!

Planters all done

Before:


After:


Close up:



And good thing I got it done, too. The driveway guys are coming 2 days early! Tear out is Tuesday May 8, pouring Wednesday...

Work in Progress

Inspired by my soon-to-be-installed new driveway, I decided to spiff up the rather neglected area by my front steps. So right now, somewhere around half done is a retaining wall and a couple of planter boxes. I need to patch a step before I finish adding bricks, but after that, a few more layers and voila...

I'll post before-and-afters when it's done.

Shawn the Thatcher

A little yard clean up goes a long way. I rented a power rake yesterday to dethatch the lawn. The buildup of clippings, mulched leaves and junk was 1/2 to 1 inch thick.

First I clipped the lawn very short, and bagged the grass. Then I set the power rake to the second-deepest setting and it dug into the thatch very well and loosened it up, pulling up dirt in some spots. But those were spots where the lawn was pretty much just thatch anyway.

Next came the clean-up. I spent the rest of the afternoon raking the junk into rows and picking it up by hand into a wheelbarrow. The mulch pile in back grew quite a bit. I suppose I should have been bagging the grass every time I mowed, but I've only mowed about 4-5 times this summer, as dry as it's been. Anyway, it's a big job, sore muscles, blisters, etc.

And at this point the lawn looks like crap. I planted some seed and fertilizer and will water for a week or so, but honestly, the front yard could maybe use an old Trans Am on cinder blocks to improve the looks a bit.

I'll let you know if the lawn bounces back next year...