Backyard plan

My tulips have come and gone. The white flag has been planted (w/ a note left on my door warning me NOT to remove white flag) The white flag has been mowed over by neighbours whom thought the grass was getting too long. (argh, thank you for mowing, but seriously, did you not see the flag, could you not have gone around it, OR JUST STAYED OFF MY PROPERTY??? - I know, I know, they were just trying to be helpful, like last year when they whipper snipped along side my fence and cut down a "bad" maple tree (that I liked) and snipped down my Russian sage.) Wooden skewer stick w/ white fabric tied around it placed in ground. The  Katsura will soon replace the white flag skewer. The white flowering shrubs have bloomed and shedded. (I think I will plant a few more bordering the front of the house on each side of the main entrance. Currently there are two bushes, one at each corner of front house)

I have moved on to the back yard. Where I have been digging and digging.





To keep myself on track, or at least to visualize my idea, I drew this little sketch using paintshoppro. Pro at graphic design, I am not. Digging, I can do.

Since I can only do straight lines in the graphic program, I made a sketch with some charcoal pencils

This is what I started with; (side plot garden in bloom last year, near the bottom here.)

May 8, 2011

While I save $$ for the french doors leading to deck off the dining room I need to occupy myself so I started to dig out grass and weeds and freshen up last years garden and cut out mildewy shrub and peel off overgrown grass that was covering concrete blocks. And while I had been haphazardly digging and since the concrete slabs I uncovered were thin and breaking up I got this idea to put in a paver patio. I have tried this before, at the previous home I owned (which is currently up for sale again). I had created the border and dug it out but I only got the layer of grass and dirt off when I hit gravel. It must have been some kind of irrigation system (most basements in this area are damp wet and require some sort of water re-routing).  While I was figuring out my next step, the leaves fell, the snow fell and then I had to put the house up for sale.

And now I am thinking again, what a great project for me to do. All the rain that has been falling keeps the ground soft and easy for digging.  I have a hired awesome assistant who is lugging away the dirt, in a sled, because I haven't acquired a wheelbarrow yet.  All I need is the product and maybe a video on laying pavers. A sounding board for encouragement. And some patience to properly measure the area depth with sticks and strings....

Current state of conditions:

The other angle:

as of May 29, 2011

Some local inspiration:

via