Good-bye to Mowing the Grass

Lat weekend Gary, Ben, Matt, Kevin, and Erin put a new roof on our house. It was a big job and they did great work. However, some of us (Keren, Megan, Me) were not needed on the roof so I arranged for a different activity for us. I had 1 ton (2000 pounds) of stepping stones delivered on Friday, and the three of us spent the weekend laying out paths in what will someday be my woodland garden. The picture below shows the large flat rocks leading out toward the opening in the fence. For each stone we had to outline it's shape, dig down about 3 inches into the soil, make sure there was an inch or so of sand at the bottom, drop in the stone, and then backfill around the stone. It was dirty, tiring and lots of fun. Between the mud and the mosquito spray, we all looked (and smelled) pretty bad by the end of the day.




The next picture shows how Keren and I laid out moss between the stones to make them look like they'd been there forever. Most of the moss was laid on Sunday with Keren's aid, but I've put in a bit more since then. The shredded leaves fill in other muddy areas to hold the soil in place until there's enough moss or groundcover to do the rest of the path. I suspect it won't all be done this summer, but I plan to recruit more free labor in the future to finish the job.






The last picture is another view showing how the path also comes down off the back steps to the deck. Try to imagine all those grassy and leafy areas filled with low growing ground covers.

Oh, and kudos to Grady for moving that big rock in the background for us.

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some more pictures from that weekend are here