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Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Ongoing Backyard Landscaping

I took care of a fairly minor project today.  I didn't have a lot of time or I would have accomplished quite a bit more.  Even though it was pretty minor task, I still got pretty hot and sweaty.
Ever since the back sidewalk was poured (in this post), I've been annoyed by a few stones that remained.  Also the fire pit in the back yard had to go.  The septic tank guy said that no fire should be that close to a septic tank.

I decided to kill two birds with one stone.  I would dis-assemble the fire pit, and use those masonry pieces as a border between the grass and the gravel.  This line of stones between the sidewalk and the boulder needed to go.  It's impossible to weed whack around each of these things. (click to enlarge)

Opposite view.  In the background you can see the fire pit.

Never-used fire pit, surrounded by gravel and weeds.  This will soon be grass.

Removed all the stones and put them in the mini trailer.  It looks like a dental extraction.  Creepy.

I've pulled away some of the adjacent gravel and removed tufts of grass and weeds from between the stones.
Laid down some barrier cloth to prevent weeds and grass from coming up between and behind the border.

All the masonry is in place and the gravel has been replaced over the cloth.

Looks much cleaner now.  Also it should do a better job preventing grass from growing between the blocks, and the gravel from migrating into the grass.  The blue-green stuff against the sidewalk by the mower is grass seed in a mulch mix.
Not gonna lie:  I won't miss the stones or the dorky fire pit.   Below:  Before and After.

I still need to go down the side of the shop and remove those stones.  It'll probably be next spring before I get to that project though.

I've got a little outdoor metal fireplace that will probably be safer anyway.
This is the second segment of a three-part post.

Part 1 is here.
Part 3 is here.

2 comments:

Marc said...

Great job! I did run across a recipe for weed killer that supposedly kills the weeds and won't allow for anything else to grow there, ever. Gallon of white vinegar (from grocery store and not the expensive vinegar), plus tablespoon of dish soap, and one cup of salt (can be rock salt if cheaper). I have a couple places I want to use the mixture.

Mark said...

I'll try that - thanks for the tip! I'm not a fan of Roundup or the insanely litigious company that makes it.