Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging. I'm very excited to be your guest poster today. It's my first time so I hope you enjoy it!
Anybody can go to the store and buy paving stones and building blocks. You can also easily find professionals to install anything your heart desires. All you have to have is the money and the willingness to pay the price. I had neither. I like free. I like to use my imagination. I like to use recycled building materials. I also like doing things myself. That is why I used broken concrete.
Searching on Craig's List one summer I brought in all the broken concrete I needed. All it cost me was the gas it took to haul it and the muscle power for my wife and I to move it.
Below the fold let me show you what I did with my free treasure.
My first project was the extension of our backyard patio. Please excuse the ugly legs and crappy picture but I had no idea when I starting this project I would be doing a diary on it. As you can see the patio was adequate but was too small for comfort.
I decided to expand. First, using a rock bar to slowly move the large concrete slabs making up the existing patio I repositioned them in an interesting pattern creating an expanded patio area in the process. I used broken concrete to create a mosaic pattern between the slabs. Next, I planted stepable thyme between the broken concrete to create a green filler to tie it all together and serve as a weed controller.
That project completed I decided to move on to the North side of the house. This was a trouble spot as far as planting things because it got virtually no sun and very little rain. It also had a very narrow cracked and uneven sidewalk running the length of the house. I was always having to weed on either side of the sidewalk and never had any luck with the things I planted. I was also always tripping on the sidewalk because of the uneven surface.
I decided to eliminate the sidewalk and pave the entire area with broken concrete. There was an added benefit using broken concrete since the existing sidewalk material did not have to be hauled away but instead used as part of the pavement material. In this area I also decided to use polymeric sand between the seams, which binds together to inhibit weeds while letting water pass through for drainage. Here is the result.
Pleased with these two projects, I decided to take things to a new level and try my hand at building concrete walls and begin a project to totally reconfigure our backyard. Once again, I don't have the best picture to show you what it looked like in the beginning but this will give you some idea.
It was basically a small lawn area with planting beds around the edges.
The South side had a precarious drop off where the previous owners had put in a lumber retaining wall and filled it in to create a larger backyard area. It was shifting and was in danger of collapse. It was the big impetus for me to take on the project.
First order of business was digging out the area in danger of collapse and turning the wooden dirt retaining wall into a fence. Aspirin began to be my best friend as I shoveled day after day but slowly I got the job done.
As I dug out the area I used the dirt to reshape the lawn area into raised planting areas. I wanted no lawn to mow after I was finished.
Once I got the area dug out I began to construct. I started with the steps. I had visualized what they would look like but the end result turned out to be an altered version. It was just like working a puzzle and placing each piece of broken concrete into place and making it all fit together. After a little trial and error progress was made.
As the steps took shape a natural flow led down into the area I had dug out.
By working with the slope and going with the flow of the area the shape of the final wall was defined.
I decided to splurge and put in a floor with store bought pavers to give the space a more polished finished look.
Although a bare broken concrete wall is not the most attractive it does offer multiple areas to stuff plants between the pieces. Arabis and gold dust, which grow profusely in the Northwest, were perfect for the job.
Nobody notices the wall but the flowers bring all kinds of comments!
I faced the former old ugly retaining wall with a good looking cedar fence. Also, note the stepping stones leading to the area. These were also done with broken concrete.
I put in a cedar fence.
I had an attractive and functional railing professionally installed.
Well worth the money.
My wife added her decorative touches and the project was completed.
Finally, during the course of digging and reconfiguring the backyard, an old brick wall was uncovered.
Once discovered my wife fell in love with it and insisted it not be re-buried. She wanted it to be highlighted as a design feature. I told her at the time if we did what she was suggesting it would cause me a lot more work. At this point I was getting sick of moving dirt and tired of hauling and moving broken concrete. I initially balked at the idea.
However, having come to recognize and appreciate her keen eye for design over the years and knowing deep down that the fight was already lost, I succumbed to her wishes and began my third unplanned broken concrete project. Thanks to her inspiration and insistence it resulted in our very favorite space in the entire backyard being created.
This entire project was easy on the pocketbook using mostly free materials and by doing most of the labor myself. It was also easy on the environment using mostly recycled building materials, and by me not using any power tools. It was good for my personal physical environment by providing me with weeks of exercise. And since completion, our backyard continues to serve as an invaluable oasis for me to go when needing psychological rejuvenation.
Every gardener has projects they've done, are working on or are planning to do. Tell us about yours.
Diarist's note: I garden because I love it. It is one of my hobbies. But primarily I'm a blogger who writes about the environment. I spend a lot of time researching our environmental problems and seeking solutions. I would hope that anyone who has an interest in gardening has a natural inclination to be interested in environmental issues too.
We are now reaching some critical points in a number of areas with our environment and the next years will be critical for its future. There are issues like climate change that "go beyond politics" and national borders.
There is hope and there are things we can do but it will take collective action.
I ask you to make a special effort to tune-in to some of the excellent work being done at Daily KOS and get involved. Here is a great place to start! Thanks!
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"Green Diary Rescue" is Back!
After a hiatus of over 1 1/2 years, Meteor Blades has revived his excellent series. As MB explained, this weekly diary is a "round-up with excerpts and links... of the hard work so many Kossacks put into bringing matters of environmental concern to the community... I'll be starting out with some commentary of my own on an issue related to the environment, a word I take in its broadest meaning."
"Green Diary Rescue" will be posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.
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Cross posted at http://holyshitters.com/