French Drain shortened, tether ball court shifted, board removed
The weather in Portland to-day was excellent...and probably won't be like this until, maybe, Saturday...so I traded my commute time to-day, worked from home, then made progress on the side yard.
I removed river rocks from the termination of the French drain, then used a hack saw to take off 16 inches from the pipe. Took two cuts to get a relatively straight circumference.
Then I removed the board from the future end of driveway. The dirt and rocks didn't move: long enough for me to pack dirt into the board shaped hole.
I cut some landscape fabric to end the trench by the new drain termination and weighted it with river rock, then put the board behind it and filled that side of the trench with river rock again.
On the other side of the board I stuffed in dirt from the hill I created from excavating for the path.
With this new surface I relocated the retaining wall and walkway and dug into the other side of the circle to shift it toward the front of the house.
This provided me with just enough room, as I calculated, to give the 3-feet clearance I needed off the corner of the heat exchanger pad.
I was exhausted so was a little haphazard in the path way brick pattern, but I proved it all worked. Saturday I will re-do the bricks.
Then:
[] move the two remaining concrete posts.
[] move the grass and dirt in the tetherball area to Byron Hill.
[] excavate and continue the path for as long as I have bricks.
[] reshape the dirt toward the French Drain (dirt to Byron Hill).
[] landscape fabric the window well base, then fill with river rock.
[] prepare a landing spot for the wood
[] move the wood
[] prepare the tetherball circle and iris area.
[] transplant irises from Byron Hill
[] complete the retaining wall into the dirt.
[] transplant the little tree to its new location.
Of course, somewhere along the line I will hack the back lawn, hack the park strip, edge the park strip up to the driveway area, move branches, prepare a weed-free area in Marvin's Garden, do wood chipping right there, weed and add more masonry border in the back yard, dig two post holes in the corner at back, plant those posts....
I removed river rocks from the termination of the French drain, then used a hack saw to take off 16 inches from the pipe. Took two cuts to get a relatively straight circumference.
Then I removed the board from the future end of driveway. The dirt and rocks didn't move: long enough for me to pack dirt into the board shaped hole.
I cut some landscape fabric to end the trench by the new drain termination and weighted it with river rock, then put the board behind it and filled that side of the trench with river rock again.
On the other side of the board I stuffed in dirt from the hill I created from excavating for the path.
With this new surface I relocated the retaining wall and walkway and dug into the other side of the circle to shift it toward the front of the house.
This provided me with just enough room, as I calculated, to give the 3-feet clearance I needed off the corner of the heat exchanger pad.
I was exhausted so was a little haphazard in the path way brick pattern, but I proved it all worked. Saturday I will re-do the bricks.
Then:
[] move the two remaining concrete posts.
[] move the grass and dirt in the tetherball area to Byron Hill.
[] excavate and continue the path for as long as I have bricks.
[] reshape the dirt toward the French Drain (dirt to Byron Hill).
[] landscape fabric the window well base, then fill with river rock.
[] prepare a landing spot for the wood
[] move the wood
[] prepare the tetherball circle and iris area.
[] transplant irises from Byron Hill
[] complete the retaining wall into the dirt.
[] transplant the little tree to its new location.
Of course, somewhere along the line I will hack the back lawn, hack the park strip, edge the park strip up to the driveway area, move branches, prepare a weed-free area in Marvin's Garden, do wood chipping right there, weed and add more masonry border in the back yard, dig two post holes in the corner at back, plant those posts....