![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
My friend Tom the Dulcimer* does landscape, carpentry, and masonry type things, and I'm hiring him to help me put in my long awaited patio!
It'll be recycled concrete dry-laid over a bed of gravel and sand, in accordance withthe prophecy sound environmental landscaping principles. Also, recycled concrete = free. We're planning on working around the giant roots of the maple tree rather than cutting them. It's better for the tree, and I'm really psyched about trying to create a "forest taking over the remnants of civilization" post apocalyptic look.
I had the main location and plan for the patio figured out, and then my uncle Matt the Landscape Designer spent an hour here when he was up drawing with me to refine it (I came up with the actual shape, but he asked all the right questions and had the right critique to get there. This is what design consultation is all about).
I'd pictured this being a long drawn out project, like all of mine are, and I was dreading it. Tom says we can do it in three days, and we're scheduled for weekend after next. I am SO PSYCHED to barbecue on my new patio.
In other yarden news, two of the native perennials I'm most excited about (smith's fairy bells and clasping twisted stalk) are alive! I didn't think they'd wintered over, but they look fantastic.
Also, my folks came to my house and took out a small tree for mother's day. Mom wanted it's trunk.
ALSO ALSO! Mom and I took a free class on Naturescaping -- gardening for wildlife and water management. It included garden tours and some awesome ideas, along with stuff I already knew or had figured out. Now I want to figure out where to put a rain-garden in my yard, and how to work in water without getting any MORE mosquitoes.
*I've played music with Tom for twelve years now. Three years ago, I learned his last name!
It'll be recycled concrete dry-laid over a bed of gravel and sand, in accordance with
I had the main location and plan for the patio figured out, and then my uncle Matt the Landscape Designer spent an hour here when he was up drawing with me to refine it (I came up with the actual shape, but he asked all the right questions and had the right critique to get there. This is what design consultation is all about).
I'd pictured this being a long drawn out project, like all of mine are, and I was dreading it. Tom says we can do it in three days, and we're scheduled for weekend after next. I am SO PSYCHED to barbecue on my new patio.
In other yarden news, two of the native perennials I'm most excited about (smith's fairy bells and clasping twisted stalk) are alive! I didn't think they'd wintered over, but they look fantastic.
Also, my folks came to my house and took out a small tree for mother's day. Mom wanted it's trunk.
ALSO ALSO! Mom and I took a free class on Naturescaping -- gardening for wildlife and water management. It included garden tours and some awesome ideas, along with stuff I already knew or had figured out. Now I want to figure out where to put a rain-garden in my yard, and how to work in water without getting any MORE mosquitoes.
*I've played music with Tom for twelve years now. Three years ago, I learned his last name!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 03:23 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 10:23 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-05-10 01:27 am (UTC)From:Of course, the wild-taking-over vibe won't really all work until I get in more plantings AND more of them take off, but it should still be a nice place to BBQ while I wait for plants to grow.