Relocating plants, putting in an entirely new sidewalk, sounds like a plan doesn't it? It is, but I admit, not looking forward to the work. I am looking forward to the after glow.
Below is what my poor backyard looks like now. If you want to see the reason why it looks like a sad sand dune you can visit that post HERE.
This is a start to my diabolical plan to give myself and "G" a backache that only a gardener knows.
Showing the mock up of moving 5 or 6 evergreens to the back of the house. (away from the garage)
Taking a look above the last evergreen on the far right may not end up there. That spot has a downspout, which the previous homeowners thought was a good spot.
I say no, but no one asked me.
That area has a plan too for an update to help divert the water away from the house, but that's another post and another weekend project.
Now to add the sidewalk. FULL DISCLOSURE the concrete pavers I used as a mock up are crooked, but it helps give me an idea on how it will look.
After the sidewalk will come sod and possibly some flowers being relocated. But 2 things happen when I look at this.
1. I get excited to get started
2. I feel the need to run to the drugstore for backache meds.
We are going to buy the larger 20" square concrete pavers and use those. I want the sidewalk to be at least 5 feet wide.
So the choice we have to make is to:
Either use 3 large pavers in a row for a 6 foot wide sidewalk, or use 2 pavers and add border it with 12" concrete pavers.
Hubby likes the larger pavers saying that yes they are heavier than most (60 lbs each) but once the area is prepped, laying them will go much quicker than laying smaller pavers.
He's the one who is going to carry them, so I let him make the call. I am just the pain in the as*, who demands a new sidewalk to keep the sand trap outside and not inside.
Knowing all this digging is coming, I was happy to see a garden surprise when I was cleaning out my front beds.
Look what the birds or Pisser left me
I didn't plant that.
It's a nice gift, now if the critters could start helping with moving all those evergreens I'd be ecstatic!
Below shows another mock up of using the last 2 arborvitae and relocating them to the front. As you can see this time of year things are pretty sparse.
I'm going for a little bit more symmetry this year and hopefully this will help.
If you look closely, things are starting to poke up, which is the fun part.
This side of the bed has a new plan as well. It's going to get enlarged and squared off with the East side. Plus the pipe that we had to redneck farther away from the house is going to get Blonde makeover.
The sump pump really does it job, and the water comes out with such force that it shoots past the river bed we created. Which causes that area in front of it to become muddy and soggy.
SOOOOO
I came up with the plan to turn the pipe at a 90 degree angle towards the driveway. Thus slowing the water down and we will then make a larger creek bed and are going to sink the pipe into the ground using a french drain system.
aka digging a large trench, embedding it with rock and having a larger pvc drain pipe filled with 1,000 holes to allow the water to drain.
and adding more tons of rock on top so it looks like an extension of this creek bed, only the water won't be pouring past the border.
Think it will work?
I hope so too!
Well that's the plan!
XO,
