In recognition of the upcoming summer heat, the Supreme Household Commander issued an edict. Resources currently being employed in our battle with the ants were to be redirected to the Backyard Reclamation Project (BRP). As I posted a few weeks ago, we have an
Ugly Garden.
The irrational exuberance of Bermuda grass easily overpowered our weeding prowess primarily consisting of visualization exercises. (We were using our imaginations to see the patio garden without the Bermuda grass encroachment, but reality overcame our fantasy on this issue in the past few months.)
So the stage of the BRP described in the
Ugly Garden post was the finishing touches on the demolition part of the project. The next stage was bed preparation.
Bed Preparation.With the help of a significant downpour, the leveling of the bed became incredibly easy, as the supersaturated mud turned to soup, leveling became very easy. We also took this opportunity to dig a french drain.
We admired the future patio and decided we could accomplish the project for about $500.
Once the bed was leveled, I worked my way to the local dirt store and purchased a truckload of sand. The whole family got involved in spreading the sand (About 1,200 pounds). Sand was everywhere. The dogs were rolling around in it, the kids were playing in it, Sue and I were trying to level it. I had sand in places I shouldn't mention. Three days later and I am still finding sand in the bottom of the shower.
Once the sand was spread, I built a retaining wall around an area that included a shrub that did not get removed during demolition with about 30 large bricks made of natural stone. Voila, a flower bed! (Another 600 pounds)
That was Friday.
That evening I dreamt of patio design.
Before the sun rose, I did. I had an idea. In my mind the patio was to be framed by two additional flower beds. A small one to the right and a larger one at the edge of the patio in the center. So at 6:45 am I was off to Walmart to buy some more retaining wall stones. 60 more stone bricks and 1,200 pounds later, I had two more beds completed.
Next, I was off to get the flagstone for the patio. These stones were quite large. I bought 1,000 pounds of them. The boys carried them to me one by one as I laid them in place. The stones were natural and came in a variety of shapes and sizes, so I had to piece them together to fit in the space I had. This is what I came up with:
As I inspected my work, an awful realization came over me: the patio stones were too low. I needed 2 more inches of sand! The sand store was closed by now, so I quit for the day and went and played paintball with the boys.
That was Saturday.
Again, I was up with the sun.
Starting my morning by carefully removing the stones I had so carefully laid the day before, and placing them on the existing patio in approximately the same position I had laid them in the sand (1,000 more pounds of lifting). The sand store openned at 7:30 am, and I was there when they openned the gate. Another truckload of sand (1,200 pounds) to spread in the patio bed. Once the sand was spread again, I placed the flagstone...again! (1,000 pounds). With just enough time to get to the sand store again before they closed, I bought 1,200 pounds of decomposed granite to fill the cracks.
Maybe I overbought, since I still have about 800 pounds remaining. But I figure we can extend the patio out with the excess if needed.
Total expenditure: $575.
So here is what the finished product looks like:
I am estimating I'll need another 1.5 yards of soil for the raised beds (another 3,800 pounds and $100), and I'm told plastic surgery will help with the garden nymph ($5,000 to $7,000). So I guess this home improvement project will experience some cost overruns, too.
