Area 52
We have a small 'area' in front of our house which has been problematic. When we moved in, four years ago, there were some small trees and large bushes and a few flowers. I think the previous owner hired someone to keep weeds out, but to us it was just kind of messy looking. Jessica and I spent a very hot couple of days digging almost everything out and starting over. We got a nice bench, a load of wood chips, and some small trees and bushes. Which we purchased from Roger the Shrubber. It looked much nicer.
Slowly but surely, all but one of our plants died, the wood chips blew around, and we couldn't keep the weeds out. Neither hubby nor I are into the whole gardening scene. We want our yard to look nice, we just don't want to have to spend a lot of time doing it. So when we were out one day looking at open houses, which we do for sport on occasion, I saw something interesting at one of them. Other than the fact that it was an 'area,' it bore little resemblance to ours.
Ours
Theirs
I decided that was what we should do with our problem area. We researched putting down the plastic with the river rock on top, waffled back and forth, would it really keep the weeds out? How would we keep crap like leaves and such out of the rocks? It might end up looking just as cruddy blah, blah, blah.
We have a friend who has a multi-faceted business, one facet being all things concrete. What we decided to do is a kind of stained or stamped concrete, thereby putting the whole weed question to bed. He brought some guys about a week ago to dig everything out in preparation for the concrete. Here he is with hubby. They like hard work. They can sit in the shade and watch it all day long.
They have to go to the city to get some materials before they pour the concrete. In light of our recent weather, however, we have since changed our minds about the area. We've decided to keep it a swimming pool.
Slowly but surely, all but one of our plants died, the wood chips blew around, and we couldn't keep the weeds out. Neither hubby nor I are into the whole gardening scene. We want our yard to look nice, we just don't want to have to spend a lot of time doing it. So when we were out one day looking at open houses, which we do for sport on occasion, I saw something interesting at one of them. Other than the fact that it was an 'area,' it bore little resemblance to ours.
Ours
Theirs
I decided that was what we should do with our problem area. We researched putting down the plastic with the river rock on top, waffled back and forth, would it really keep the weeds out? How would we keep crap like leaves and such out of the rocks? It might end up looking just as cruddy blah, blah, blah.
We have a friend who has a multi-faceted business, one facet being all things concrete. What we decided to do is a kind of stained or stamped concrete, thereby putting the whole weed question to bed. He brought some guys about a week ago to dig everything out in preparation for the concrete. Here he is with hubby. They like hard work. They can sit in the shade and watch it all day long.
They have to go to the city to get some materials before they pour the concrete. In light of our recent weather, however, we have since changed our minds about the area. We've decided to keep it a swimming pool.
posted by Mom Thumb at 12:55 PM
9 Comments:
Ha! I like watching hard work in the shade too.
Hope your area turns out just how you want it...or enjoy swimming.
heather - I'll bet you do, but I also bet, as a mom, you don't get to very often! I'll have before an after pictures on the blog when the ground dries out and the concrete goes in.
Can't wait to see it, Linda! Can you believe all this rain? Better than drought!
Amazing how a small area of property can turn into a major project, isn't it? I now have a project queued up to put a small deck on the front of my house. Yee-haw!
tracy - I know, it's been a ride, but at least the wheat is good this year!
jeff - Through this whole thing I've been thinking about you and Charli and your gorgeous garden, complete with arbors and swings. And wishing I gave enough of a damn to work as hard at it as you guys do!
I wish I knew how to garden, etc. My Mom had a beautiful flower bed in front of the house we live in now. Of course I am doing a good job of destroying it little by little. Our backyard is all mulch and walkways. We used to have a hot tub in there, but now it is a picnic table, a swing, some chairs, etc. It would be a beautiful place for a pond, trees, flowers, etc, but I have no clue how or where to start. I should ask for a landscaping job for my birthday or something, shouldn't I....
di - It does seem like starting is the hardest. And it doesn't help that there are so many options. I may end up concreting my whole yard!
I am reminded how---when you lived next door---you dug up all the schrubs across the whole front of the house. Only you never replaced them with ANYTHING!!! And it's still bare as a bone, 'cuz nobody else ever planted anything there either. So you're not the only ones "not into gardening"!!
My advise is to build a small tornado pit, like you had in Pond Creek. I'll bet there have been times already that you wih you had an underground shelter.
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