Project Completion!

It sure does feel good to type that title.

With the incredible strength of Dan the project was completed this afternoon.  He surprised me last night and finished the pathways that I had not gotten to.  I was out at book club so that was quite a very nice surprise.

Today then he would fill the wheelbarrow and push it to the spot where I then could shovel the gravel out where it was needed.

We still have gravel left so it is being used to build up a berm to correct the swale along the driveway.

Here are the finished photos at dusk tonight.
[To see the Before photos go here.]

Looking out from the deck.

What's left of the 5 tons of gravel.

Dan removed our rain barrel that was rotting out.  We built a catch basin.

Standing on the wall at the end of the house.  

The stones need a good rain to wash them off.  Some were coated with clay.  They came from Southern Maryland.

Looking down from the wall I'm standing on.  

A's Garden.

Iris is in full glory.

First clematis bloom.

...............

Had to take this photo of the pond garden.

Next project is to have the cattails removed.

Muscles are stiff and sore.  But nice to have this major project completed.

Project Update #2

Spent the entire day moving gravel.  Maybe I moved 2 tons but pile still huge.  I went light at first so the first spokes of the pathways will get more once the rest has been put down.  Here are some progress shots taking over the course of today during my frequent breaks.

The patches of green are the creeping thyme patches that I want to spread.

Two spokes yet to do plus area right off the deck.

It will wait till tomorrow.

Project Update

My wonderful husband volunteered to move the flagstone.  There were some huge ones to move, too.  The pallet is emptied and gone to the woodpile for firewood.  The pathways have been laid.  Next it will be my turn to move the gravel.  It won't be that hard.  I've saved some money this way.  Besides the young man who came by this morning said he couldn't get to this project for a week.  Too long for me.

So here's the pallet this morning.

Now it's gone this evening.

Paths laid out.

Here's the first gravel in to see how it will go.

Thank you, Dan!

Project Awaits!

I've been struggling with the pathways in my perennial garden for sometime.  Originally I expected the creeping thyme to take over and until it did that mulch would cover the soil.  Well, mulch washes away and the creeping thyme has not been as cooperative as I wanted it to be.


Several years ago to halt the erosion from the runoff from the roof I put stones down in the pathways nearest the house.  That worked well and in fact the creeping thyme loved growing in there.




So I had the inspiration to put stone down in all the pathways.  With the help of some inheritance money I now have a project awaiting me.  The pathways will have the flagstones and the gravel will fill in but the creeping thyme can still grow.  I'm hoping to contract some labor to help me with this because the stones are larger than what I worked with before.

Truck with 5 bins of washed gravel.  Each bin contains 1 ton.

Forklift is putting the old pallet back on the truck from when I got stone from them before.

Forklift had to come up next to the glen.

I had a large tarp for the gravel.

This is 2 tons of flagstones.

5 tons of washed gravel on the tarp.

I'll post the finished project when its done.