TechMiso

Front Yard Landscaping

• April 16th, 2007, by Scott, 5 Comments

What a really crazy week this has been. We have not only have we had to contend with the general nuisances that come along with moving, but also try and “finish” much of the landscaping around the house. Apparently, the developer was not interested in prettying up the yards around the house, instead opting to dump some rock infested dirt around the house, planting two small trees and building a very plain vanilla looking walkway up to the front door. Our neighbors house, who was built in unison with out house, was done the exact same way, much to their dismay.

Prior to this weekend the entire front of our house was nothing but the brown dirt that can be seen in the accompanying picture, along with the two small green trees. These are not “pretty” trees that will add to the look of the house, but some trees that the developer chose in a hasty attempt to finish the job. Had we opted for a “nice” front yard then you can bet your ass that the builder would have opted to add a few more yen’s to the price!

After much deliberation between Junko and I, we decided to go with this nifty plan that I devised for beautifying the landscape in the front yard. All Junko required was that a small path lead from the main path to the driveway and that grass be planted, though any other ideas were mostly fair game.

I came up with this idea to use a slightly darker colored brick for a border around the pathways, accompanied by rocks surrounding the stepping stones to be used as the actual walking path. After heading to a local Home Depot-like store called Joyful Honda, we picked out the salmon colored bricks and what is known as “Las Vegas Pink” colored rocks. We picked up some pinkish looking stone slabs to be used as the steps for the horizontal path that leads to the driveway.

After purchasing all the necessary items, I made my best attempt at creating a level walkway as I possibly could. After doing that I dropped down the brick border, even having to “cut” the bricks so that they had the right angle and were the right size. Once the brick border was set, I placed the stone walking slabs down in what felt like a comfortable walking stride, followed on by placing the rocks all throughout the dirt areas of the path. The final product is what can be seen in the accompanying picture.

It was a lot of work but oddly rewarding work. I never really worked out in a yard before, never really caring about the house because, well, it was not mine to do with as I please. I suspect that this will change now that my situation has changed. Although I am aching in areas that I never knew existed, it was all worthwhile. Now all I have to do is finish laying the grass and the whole project should be complete.

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