Project (Almost) Completed

Before

We've finally completed the major construction on the project on the north side of our back yard.

That area had been pretty much useless to us in the past because it had a huge Eugenia hedge all along the fence, and a smaller Boxwood hedge parallel to the Eugenia.  We didn't plant either of them and the whole arrangement never made any sense to us; even after we took out the Eugenia hedge, the area still wasn't useful because of the slope of the terrain.

So we decided to make that our next, and hopefully LAST major outdoor project.

The first phase of the project involved having Greg Eubanks of Serenity Gardens take out all the Eugenia stumps and tear out the boxwood hedge.

The next step was to create a series of broad steps down to the edge of the canyon.  That will give us an easy way to get down to that area on our feet, rather than on our butts, which is what tended to happen in the past.

Each step was filled in with dirt, then a layer of gravel, a layer of weed block fabric and topped off with a final layer of decomposed granite (DG).

This phase also involved the construction of a retaining wall beside the steps to make that area level with the rest of the back yard.

This construction will also give access to the canyon for the fire department if there's ever another fire in our canyon, as there was in October 2007.  That fire scared us into making our space as defensible as possible while keeping erosion in check as much as we can.  Just taking out the thirty-foot tall Eugenia hedge between the houses removed a lot of potential wildfire fuel, but now firefighters can get better access to the canyon itself if we eve need it.

It also makes it possible for Cindy to plant some small fruit trees in the 90 square feet of garden space we have now gained to the left of the new retaining wall.  It's all part of her continuing plan to get me to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Another feature of the construction was putting down a block patio area for the grill; Cindy inaugurated it Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the (almost) end of the project.

There's still work to be done on it; Cindy is currently moving a huge mound of dirt left from the excavations so she can level out the future orchard area, there's planting around the edges that needs to be done, we need to order a metal handrail for the back steps, and there's a piece that still needs something to retain the dirt, but at least now the major construction is finished.

Hooray!