Landscape Pics

[mborman]

Yes we did it ourselves. Not too hard. Have a very handy hubby. When your concrete is just about set you then place the stamps down and throw on your color.

[lupinfarm]

Well here are my pics, we have been here three years but progress is slow when you are trying to carve civilization
out of the wilderness.

[coldwater]

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[lupinfarm]

Love your garden coldwater...what a dreamy little pond with the fish.

[coldwater]

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[Park Ave]

@coldwater, I love your back yard! You're more then welcome to come and do my backyard up anytime

[Kansas. 1911.]

Park Ave, you must post more. That's a great house, and your front walk isn't too shabby either! Did it come with the house?

coldwater, I am admiring the brick patio and I'm assuming the bricks are individual ones laid into some sort of sand bed. I also noticed the stone wall with a wooden fence atop. How difficult was that to do/have done?

[coldwater]

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[DRJR]

coldwater, I am admiring the brick patio and I'm assuming the bricks are individual ones laid into some sort of sand bed. I also noticed the stone wall with a wooden fence atop. How difficult was that to do/have done?

Thank you! The patio is made of individual brick pavers. The bed is 8" of compacted stone dust, followed by 4" of masons sand, then the pavers are installed over that and plate compacted to bed them down. The walls are mostly made of 16" wall block, and is just under 100' in length. It goes from ground level to about 3' high at the tallest point. Being a stubborn and self sufficient kind of guy (read that as a cheap SOB ) I refuse to pay anyone for work I can do myself, so everything is done by me. The block wall is mindlessly easy to install, but like anything else, It has to laid on a good straight, and level foundation to start with. The trench is 18" deep with a foot of compacted stone dust to start, then there is one full block below ground level to lock the wall. After that, you just stack block. My neighbor filled in behind the wall, as his property is higher than mine in that area. So I installed landscape cloth behind the wall, and filled in against it with 3/4" trap rock, followed by another layer of cloth, then he filled in with fill and top soil. This way, the wall will never be forced out by hydraulic pressure from behind, and should out live me. The other stone walls are all made of brownstone, that originally came from the historic Portland quarry just up the road from me. I was able to use an excavator to pull thousands of tons of it out of the ground when a commercial building was erected near the center of town, and was given the opportunity to remove it and take all I wanted. I am certainly no stone mason by any stretch of the imagination, but I wanted stone walls, and wasn't about to pay the price! So it was a matter of learning to do it myself. I now have a hell of a lot of respect for a mason!!! between a 20 lb sledge hammer, a 3 lb hammer, a masons hammer, feathers and wedges, and a masons chisel, I managed to skin every knuckle, curse myself into a place in hell for sure, and finally build a pretty decent wall....over all...I was VERY VERY fortunate to have access to heavy equipment when I did most of this work, from backhoes, full size excavators, a mini excavator, bob cats and dump trucks. There is no reasonable way I would have been able to do much of what was done otherwise. I actually moved the driveway, brought the grade down 3' and laid 35 ton of stone, then laid the wall.

Here's a little of the constant landscaping work. I had to tear out and regrade the entire front yard after having to pay to have three big maples removed. But I was able to do all the rest on my own.


My neighbor making sure everything goes smoothly!:D

Me, slaving away on the wall.

Then some time on the mini!

Nice job on the walls.

[eclecticcottage]

I don't really have any good ones yet to add. I worked most of the summer trimming/shaping, weeding and planting free splits to add a little color to the place. I am going to get a cottage garden going with easy care natives because I do have a job and we own our own business, so I can't spend hours every day in the garden

I wish someone google images would have been around years ago, I'd love to see old pics of the Cottage, I KNOW someone, sometime had a nice garden here. I've got evidence, it's just all very neglected and some was so out of control I had to take it out. But there are a few heritage/old school plants around, like an old lilac, a hydrangea, some poppies (at least I think they are-they were under a tangle but the leaves look familiar), a wild rose, lily of the valley and a wisteria. Oh, and a few rose of sharon. I had to whack the rose back to the ground pretty much, spent a lot of time fighting with the wisteria to keep it from tangling into other plants, moved some hostas into a shadier spot where they were happy and flowered. I spent too much time wishing for a garden at the Old House (poor lighting, soil and worst of all-WAY too many mosquitos), I can't wait to have a great big one at the Cottage.

Marylou I LOVE your garden!!