Front Yard - Circle landscape (excavation)
2006
Sunday, September 24
I've had sketched a landscape plan of what I wanted the center area of the circular driveway to look like a couple of months ago. I've been patiently waiting for the yard to be graded so that I could carry that plan out.
The center will be made up of different shapes and levels of natural wall stone. The center-most being a square/diamond and the highest point. That area will be home to a Star Magnolia tree, that Mom wants to treat me to. It's 8 square feet and will be at sitting height. Instead of typical mulch, am considering having decorative pebbles there. And I chose to incorporate a diamond shape into the landscape in order to continue design elements from the interior of the house to the exterior.
Each of the other shapes will be separated by wall stones and varying height as well. There will only be one area of grass. The other areas will either be mulch or decorative pebbles. The grass will be the lowest level and I'm going to plan my Japanese Maple that's been patiently waiting to be planted.
Since the yard is now graded and flattened, we got to work today with our excavation of the center. We started by drawing the lines of the design with landscapers marking paint. We then could use those guides to start digging trenches for where the stone walls will be built.
As I've read, when building a retaining wall, a trench needs to be dug out so that the stones have a lip to keep them from slipping. Then a base of gravel goes down before the stones are placed.
My Dad was kind enough to lend some manual labor power to help me dig out the trenches, while Tim scraped off some of the top soil, from the back yard, to build up the center and grass area of the plan. It was a lot of work and were were definitely pooped afterwards, but I felt that we accomplished a lot in a short period.
Also..... last week, Tom's crew did stop by and install those septic extension hatches for easy access. They look ok..... not too bad..... considering they'll save us effort when we need to use them... I don't mind them.
Sunday, September 24
I've had sketched a landscape plan of what I wanted the center area of the circular driveway to look like a couple of months ago. I've been patiently waiting for the yard to be graded so that I could carry that plan out.
The center will be made up of different shapes and levels of natural wall stone. The center-most being a square/diamond and the highest point. That area will be home to a Star Magnolia tree, that Mom wants to treat me to. It's 8 square feet and will be at sitting height. Instead of typical mulch, am considering having decorative pebbles there. And I chose to incorporate a diamond shape into the landscape in order to continue design elements from the interior of the house to the exterior.
Each of the other shapes will be separated by wall stones and varying height as well. There will only be one area of grass. The other areas will either be mulch or decorative pebbles. The grass will be the lowest level and I'm going to plan my Japanese Maple that's been patiently waiting to be planted.
Since the yard is now graded and flattened, we got to work today with our excavation of the center. We started by drawing the lines of the design with landscapers marking paint. We then could use those guides to start digging trenches for where the stone walls will be built.
As I've read, when building a retaining wall, a trench needs to be dug out so that the stones have a lip to keep them from slipping. Then a base of gravel goes down before the stones are placed.
My Dad was kind enough to lend some manual labor power to help me dig out the trenches, while Tim scraped off some of the top soil, from the back yard, to build up the center and grass area of the plan. It was a lot of work and were were definitely pooped afterwards, but I felt that we accomplished a lot in a short period.
Also..... last week, Tom's crew did stop by and install those septic extension hatches for easy access. They look ok..... not too bad..... considering they'll save us effort when we need to use them... I don't mind them.
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