The Paving Project: day 5

The pathways between the larger paved and concreted areas are complete, and the step has been constructed on the Eastern side of the house. I took my cousin's advice, and Sam has placed the steppers quite close together, so those of us with short legs don't have to jump from one to the other. Instead, we can step elegantly.

Stepping from the concrete
patio to the Eastern side of the house.

Stepping from the concrete patio to
the back of the house and the garden shed.
I think I am going to fill in the gaps between
the steppers with white river stones.

Stepping from Gail's Summer Yoga Spot around to the
clothes line. Behind these pavers we intend to plant a
rose that will climb up over the fence, and some shorter
groundcovers that will fill in the spaces.

A new step.

... and this beautiful Japanese maple is an
early Christmas present from my lovely cousin
and her splendid husband. Thanks Matt and Margot.
This will be the centre of attention
in the back garden in a few months.

The Paving Project: day 4

Work continues, although there will be a break for the weekend. It's going to be cool next week, and although I would like some rain for the garden, I don't want to see the weather slowing down the paving. The left-hand passageway has taken a little longer than expected, because the posts on the fence face our way, and that has required lots of trimming of pavers to fit. The other side shouldn't take quite as long.

The pallet was piled high. It looks as if
about half of the pavers have been placed.

The passageway is looking trim and neat.
Once the drains are cut off, we'll be able to
walk down here even in the heaviest storms.

I'm seriously impressed with the attention
to detail on this job. The other person who
quoted (twice the price) was planning to fill
in that narrow space with sand - not the tiny
little piece, all the pieces that aren't whole pavers.

Another example of the attention to detail.

Looking back towards the front of the house.

All in all, I'm very happy with the quality of work on this job so far.

The Paving Project: day 3

The Project continues apace ... and it's looking good.

Outside the laundry door

Past the hot water system

Gail's Summer Yoga Spot

The Paving Project: day 2

Spent the morning cooking lunch and afternoon tea for James and Jo while the Paving Project continued apace outside. Sam and his Unnamed Off-sider (and a rather charming - if large - Labrador X puppy) arrived early and continued removing soil and clay before spreading and tamping down roadbase. The large pile of roadbase has been removed entirely from the driveway, to be replaced with a pallet-load of charcoal-coloured pavers.

The passageway outside the laundry,
looking to the front (note how short the drain
pipe is now that the roadbase has been spread)

The passageway looking towards the back of the house

Gail's Summer Yoga Spot

The main part of the back garden; the channel
in the dirt marks a pathway of steppers

Roadbase foundation on the other side of the house

The soon-to-be step

Garden infrastructure (or The Ridiculous Price of Paving)

Today, work started on paving in the garden, which will put some structure around the piles of dirt and sand and areas of rock-hard clay. I'm not sure how long it will take, but the Paving Man (let's call him Sam) started today. He brought a jack-hammer with him to break up the clay in the narrow passageway down the left-hand side of the house, and has been taking out wheelbarrows full of lumps of the horrible stuff. Worth the price, I think!

Here are the before photos.

Soil as hard as rocks

Once this is paved, we will be able to walk to
the clothesline in much more style and comfort

Roadbase (the foundation,
apparently, of all good paving projects)

Today there was only one Sam, but he
brought two wheelbarrows, so I'm
expecting him to turn into two overnight -
some form of binary fission, perhaps

The other side of the house, which
will get a step as well as paving

The area of the garden soon to be
known as "Gail's Summer Yoga Spot"

The next project is to build the trellises for the fruit trees. That will require the kindness of friends - and a post-hole digger to get through the clay.

A herb and wildflower nature strip

Well, I'm not sure if the nature strip will be exactly as I imagine, but the experiment has started ... we've planted herbs and groundcovers after preparing the nature strip by digging up the clover and grass, and spreading gypsum and soil over the hard clay. It took help from our friend Jo, who borrowed a mattock and helped us to break up the horrible rock-hard soil.

Most of the seeds won't have germinated for a week or so, but within 8-12 weeks, the nature strip should be a riot of colour: oregano, marjoram, thyme, strawberries, sage, dill, nasturtiums, verbena, alyssum, nemophila, nigella, daisies, forget-me-knots, dichondra, and Bunny Tails. I wanted poppies, but couldn't find seeds ... they will have to be added later.

For now, the garden bed looks like this - far too organized, with those few plants marshalled in rows:

Gail's evidence that I don't know what
"random" means. It's neat, though!

Evidence of the clay that still lies
under the black "vegi-mix" soil.

Thyme, marjoram, and strawberries.
The seeds are too small to see.