Pathways

The landscapers have been hard at work, so there are a lot of photos to show this time.

So last week, the crew spent days hacking through the concrete-like dry sand, digging out the bases for the paths and patios we will have. This will help with drainage (good) and also will help keep the paths from sinking and getting all uneven (also good).

The view into the back yard from the side path feels pretty nice. That narrower trench on the side is for a dry creek which will take water from the gutter downspouts and distribute it into the garden.

And down the side yard from the driveway. Those brown bags are full of pulled/hacked out weeds, and they are heavy as HECK. I've been tossing a few into our green bins for trash night every week which has been an experience.

By Friday, this was where they had gotten:

In the front yard they've marked out a patio and dug out all the plants, but not much else. There will be a stone bench here under the magnolia which I am looking forward to enjoying.

The path down the Fern Walk was marked out but not started yet.

But the path down the side was pretty much all dug out and looking good.

And the back yard was starting to take shape.

The real excitement was that it rained on Saturday. And actually a little on Sunday and on Monday.

I was a little worried because a lot of water ran into those dirt channels, but the landscapers assured me it actually helped them see where they needed to work on their sloping better. So that was good.

This week is the week I am calling the Week of Stone.

Monday afternoon three trucks brought us an enormous pile of gravel.

Sitting next to the pile you can see the five-yard dirt box filled with dirt. This is the second one they've filled up.

Most of the day Monday they were hacking out the path down the Fern Walk, but the later afternoon was taken up by hauling gravel.

By this evening, the dirt box had been taken away, and the pile of gravel was about one third the size it had been.

The gravel is the drainage layer for the paths and the dry creek, as you can see here. They used a compactor to really pack it in there.

The back yard is really taking shape. They've been using these pop-ups to get shade. The landscapers we hired are a coop so they actually treat their people well. As you can see, an enormous amount of gravel has disappeared into this back yard.

And yet, even more gravel was delivered today. I'm pretty sure this is not a situation approved by the city, but they assured me it would be gone soon. Given how fast they went through the other pile, that seems likely. This is a final gravel for some areas.

And here's the overhead view. It's a little hard to see what is going on under the pop-ups, but they have started working on the water feature that will be in the center of the yard. They also moved my bog garden tub which is very impressive because Noel and I moved it over there with great struggling before I filled it up with peat and water, and did I mention the struggle?

In the meantime I've had a tiny house guest. Meet Nuggin, who is five days old. The shelter asked me to babysit little Nuggin for a few days while they find a foster placement for him (I think he's a him; it's a little hard to tell at this age). We've been having fun doing things like drinking milk, rolling over, and sleeping on a warm blanket. You know, baby kitten things.

posted by ayse on 09/21/22