After working with Diana at Fun City Design, we had the game plan of using quite a few of the plants we had always had in containers, starting with our roof top garden back in Ft. Greene before moving in 2004.

We have a ton of tropicals as container plants, thus part of the moniker of “Tikihouse” (as they all come inside during the winter), but we also managed to collect trees, bushes and an assortment of vines and perennials.

The day lilies were one of the first things we had put in the yard after moving, so that left some foundation plants, which included a dwarf Alberta spruce, Eastern red cedar, several forsythias and several azaleas.

The first of the anchor plantings was our cedar from New Jersey. Taken from Mrs. Tikihouse’s parents’ yard, our seedling turned out to be a beautiful specimen that we had grown for years in pots. We thought it only right it finally go in the ground. One problem…small yard and potentially a very large tree.

Photo: And the digging begins for our two evergreens

The solution, as we saw it, was to dig a whole large enough for a large container to be placed in the ground, the cedar would be root pruned and then planted into the in ground container. This would allow the cedar to grow a few more feet in height without having a 30 foot tree in five years.

Photo: Root prunning the root-bound 9 foot cedar

So we removed/relocated many day lilies and hostas, removed a dying Alberta spruce that came with the property and dug holes for the cedar and our own small spruce, figuring the two trees wold anchor the planting bed, screen us from our neighbors (and them from us) and have color year-round.

Photo: Hole dug, container in place

Let’s just say the hole was much larger than we anticipated (both in time to dig and sore backs later in the day). But we finished both plantings and transplanted some of the day lilies and hostas back in to fill in the gaps.

Photo: Cedar, spruce and hostas all planted

The next weekend we turned to the forsythias (one from Mrs. Tikihouse’s folks and two from BBG) we also had in containers. One of them was located right past the seating area before the beginning of the veggie garden. It had looked swell in that location all summer, so it was a no brainer to just drop it in the ground, after some much needed root pruning, of course. Same thing for another forsythia, this time on the other side of the cedar in our left hand planting bed.

Photo: But first, we had to harvest some potatoes in the area (yummy!)

Photo: Mrs. Tikihouse root-prunes and gets “Dad’s forsythia” ready for the ground

Photo: All planted

The next project, before the weather turned on us, was to raise the grade of the planting bed. We probably should have done this back when the hardscaping was done, but time and money were not in abundance by the end of the project.

So, how to we level the grade of the bed, currently level by the path (which had raised the grade of the yard approximately six inches)? After doing some reading, chatting with friends and spending some time with the thinking caps on, we remembered Gaspar of Your Way Construction had offered (for a fee) to place Belgium block in a soldier row at the rear of the planting bed, then we could back fill with dirt to bring the grade up.

Not wanting any more rock in the yard, we passed. However, his idea should work with other materials, correct? We considered 1/2 inch pressure treated plywood and posts, but who wants those chemicals in the beds if we can help it.

We settled on combining 8 foot 2X4 inch planks of cedar to create our wall. They would be naturally waterproof, relatively inexpensive and easy to work with.

Photo: Mr. Tikihouse working the chop saw (and behind that blur, I am wearing goggles!)

So the measuring tape came out, the chop saw spun and we linked the boards together with cedar posts to secure them in the ground. Within an afternoon (OK, a long afternoon) we had the bed encapsulated and we could add fill as we had time the time and money to do so (late fall 2009 and early spring 2010).

Photo: Piecing the planks together

Photo: Trenching and laying in the cedar wall

Photo: All finished, and you can barely see the wall.

Besides readying the garden for the late fall (planting some kale, working the soil, etc.) and awaiting winter (boo!), we were done with the major projects for 2009′s back yard reno.

Next up in our posts we finally make our way to 2010, spring planting and get everyone up to speed with what’s happening in July as we move towards the rest of the projects for 2010′s continued DIY garden reno.

After much rain in June/July, our late summer was spent (when not dealing with weekly “life stuff”) tending to our overgrown garden, picking the crops and dealing with the summer’s new growth.

We had a bumper crop from the garden: tomatoes, beans, hot peppers, eggplant, even beets!

Photo: July tomatoes (we’re talking several hundred by summer’s end)

Photo: August tomatoes and green beans

Photo: August beets (two-for-one veggie as the tops are delicious when sautéed with garlic)

The garden was looking lush, with much of the new growth softening most of the hardscape. Not only did our garden grow-and-grow, but so did our new bamboo. By late July/early August it had tripled in density and doubled in height.

While our want was for the bamboo to grow vertical against the oh-so-lovely 50 foot brick wall, it was not to be, at least not naturally.

Perhaps due to the new light patterns from the new condo next door, our bamboo had become quite bushy and was following the sunlight across to the left hand/western side of the yard. While this was a lovely effect, it made using the edge of the bamboo box as a seating area unusable and it had a wee bit too much on the “wild side” for what we were looking for.

Not having much time to do research on more permanent solutions (we hope those come in summer 2010) such as fencing, bracing or guy wires (btw, any suggestions are appreciated!), we decided to use bamboo stakes (go figure) and twine to create a loose fencing to keep the bamboo more upright. Perhaps even training it to grow that way permanently (not!).

Photo: Tapping in the bamboo stakes

Photo: Add the twine and their a little less “wild”

With the bamboo fenced up, we spent the rest of the summer, time permitting, enjoying watching the garden fill in and plan our late summer/early fall projects: plant two of the container trees in the ground and raise the grade of the garden on the left side of our property.

Photo: September veggies

Photo: Mr. & Mrs. Tikihouse’s backyard, early September 2009

Those two new projects up next in recap number three.

A folding teak table, from Teak Closeouts, was added to accompany the killer Boma bench we had purchased from their website earlier in the spring. We thought it would be a good way to experiment with finishes before committing to sealing the bench.

Since we had heard good things about Watco’s Teak Oil (available at Home Depot and Lowes) as one option to treat the new bench/table from the owner of Teak Closeouts, Mrs. Tikihouse made quick work of sealing the companion table to test out how it worked before we moved onto the bench later in the month (though you could just leave the teak “naked” and let it age naturally to a silvery gray).

Photo: working the teak oil into the table after an initial light sanding (pixelated face is optional, remember to use gloves and a dust mask)

What do you think? Pretty snazzy, right?

Photo: Finished teak table

Unbeknownst to us, during the winter of 2008, as a result of the settling of our new brick condo next door and some heaving of the ground around the stone bamboo container, one of our 8 foot bluestone slabs had popped. We called Your Way Contracting (who had done all the hardscaping in our yard) and Gaspar was happy to stop over with a crew member and take a look. Good news is the stone had only popped from its base and not cracked, so all that was left to be done was to remove the slate, remove the old cement and reseat the stone. Which Gaspar did at no charge, even though we could technically consider this outside of the work he did in the fall, but as we have learned, he’s a mench!

Photo: 8 feet of bluestone

Photo: Gaspar chips out the old mortar

Photo: Resetting and leveling the stone cap

Photo: All done…Gaspar declares “Nice!”

So, by the beginning of July 2009, the crops were coming in, the bamboo was fully up (having doubled in size and mass…wait till you see 2010′s growth) and we had all our boxes planted up with flowers.

Photo: Early July 2009

The plan during the rest of the summer, besides living off the bounty of the veggie portion of our garden, was to oil the Boma bench and look to permanently plant (or remove) potted plants in the yard. Reuse was big on our limited remaining budget; besides, we had learned from working with Diana at Fun City that much of what we had saved in pots for years would work great in parts of the garden design. But, others might have to meet the great mulch heap in the sky by the fall.

Photo: Our first harvest of string beans (we had over 20 lbs in 2009)

Since the teak oil worked so well on the table, we decided to use it on the Boma bench. The thing is (as we learned from the table) you need to work at a good pace, or you may experience unevenness in the finished product. In addition, being sloppy can make a huge mess, as the oil is not very viscous, more like water than oil. Three coats later (lightly sanding between coats) we had a beautiful bench!

Photo: Mrs. Tikihouse applies the teak oil (honestly, Mr. Tikihouse does do more than just hold a camera!)

Photo: Our finished (beautiful) bench! (as an aside, you can see the refinishing job we did on our cedar table in the background)

“Hey, isn’t this blog about a backyard reno and not DIY woodworking?” Yes and no. Part of the overall plan was to look at the macro nature of the yard: greening the yard, hardscaping the environment and adding our style/flavor though reuse and new furniture, containers, etc. So, there will be more amateur DIY everything as part of the on-going blog updates

Photo: Mr & Mrs. Tikihouse’s garden, Late July 2009

Time to relax, or so we thought.

Next time, see what we did, and did not get to, for the rest of summer 2009 as we round up into the fall. More soon.

Anyway, we’ll be posting a recap of summer/fall 2009 and what’s been cookin’ in our back 40 since last we posted. As a teaser, here’s what’s currently in bloom in this wacky spring/summer weather we have been having.

Photo: Neroni lilies

More soon…promise!

In the meantime, here’s a down and dirty post of the growth of the garden as-is so far this spring.

Photo: Azaleas from late May. Still missing those pretty blooms!

Our bamboo, after having its early spring “ugly phase” has gone completely nuts. Any worries we may have had about not having enough plants was not well founded. We have so much it’s actually shocking (in a good way).

Photo: Bamboo shoots galore

Photo: Bamboo planter fills in

As a note, due to the rains this first week of June, our bamboo has grown at least another foot (to approx. 4-5 feet tall so far) and more new shoots appear each day. We’ll be full-up by July.

The veggie garden is fully in, including some additions of bush beans, parsley (along the tomatoes for that layered effect) and a few rows of leek.

Photo: Veggies planted and growing (like plants will do)

And lastly a few shots of the overall garden as the hardscape and softscape continue to blend. We love being outdoors.

Next up, some of the bigger plants in the ground, a final planting plan, veggies galore and hopefully some work on that water feature. Stay tuned.

Prior to that we had a good discussion with our designer Diana, at Fun City Design, about meeting up to discuss the final planting plan and the reality of what we’d be able to do under the current economic squeeze. Also, we wanted her to see the space and how it had evolved since last fall. Our meeting will be in a later post.

So all the tropicals made it out, either in the “seating area” or out by the shed (for now). Adding more greenery made a huge difference in softening the space.

Before we could move forward with planting the veggie garden, we turned the soil once more (fourth time now?) and began to layout markers to dig for our garden blue stone path.

Diana’s plan had the garden broken up into four quadrants, with a bird bath in the center.

Proposed original plan, Fall 2008

In order to maximize our planting area, we opted to try out three long rows, with stepping stones in between the rows. This would align our plantings north/south and allow us to experiment as to how much we can cram in (or not) into the garden to max out our output, i.e. live off our garden this summer!

So, we got busy with strings and stakes, making our beds approx. 48 inches wide and our area for the stones approx. 12 inches. Now, Mr. Tikihouse’s brilliant plan was to dig a level trench two inches below grade, tamp down the earth and lay in the stones. Later on we would come back and set them with dirt/sand. Again, we are reusing more blue stone from our original 2006 patio and our growing collection from the neighborhood.

Photo: Bamboo stakes, string and trench

Photo: Stones set in place. Is that ditch too low?

The whole project went well, with more than enough stone to set…and room to walk. We unfortunately experience the Mr.’s folly that evening. We had a huge downpour, and damn if those trenches did not fill up over the stones!

Photo: The canals of Tikihouse’s sunken gardens.

We joked at the time that rice patties might work. Thank goodness the water drained throughly in the garden and stone paths (and in the bamboo box too), but we knew we had to redo the stepping stone paths and bring those stones upto grade.

Here’s the overview slide show:

During the wait till the following weekend, our first bit of furniture arrived. Mrs. Tikihouse had been doing quite a bit of research on outdoor furniture. A teak bench would have been perfect for either the patio or out by the shed. But, with finances being tight, most everything she found was way out of our price range. That was until she came across a cool company based in Lexington, KY named Teak Closeouts.

Their basic overview is:

“All our items come from various teak manufactures across Indonesia. Our company consists of about 30 employees who search, clean, prepare and market all the teak we buy.

Although we have a small manufacturing department, we do not produce the teak. After spending nearly 8 years in Indonesia, we have an extensive collection of factories, craftsmen, friends, and an array of sources that call us when they want to offer excess product….

…Teak Closeouts prides itself on offering real deals on quality teak in the mid-range construction quality. Some of our closeouts will rival the quality of the American-made teak catalog companies.”

And that is basically the point. We could not afford the “Ferrari” of teak benches, so we opted for their VERY honest assessments of their items: “quality teak items that the majority of Americans can afford.”

We picked one of their 48 inch “Boma” bench, crossed our fingers and purchased the bench (now out of stock)

We could not have been more happy when it arrived. It was an above average in quality and at least 60% less than we would have paid elsewhere. Definitely a great trade-off and deal if you can handle a bench that’s not 100% perfect by some folk’s standards. The owners were fantastic (and funny as heck) and we highly recommend you check out Teak Closeouts if you are purchasing outdoor teak furniture (we will be).

Here’s the bench:

Unpacked the box and had the bench assembled in 30 minutes.

Just before then, we had been at Green-Wood Cemetery to grab some of their FREE bark mulch to add a layer to the bamboo planters. The wind was drying out the roots, so we felt a layer would keep the roots moist, away from the wind and heck, bamboo loves decomposing organic matter…and looks darn nice too. You can get your own mulch at Green-Wood via their 25th Street/5th Avenue entrance. Once inside the first gate, make a hard left and follow the road to the pile of mulch behind the stand of pine trees on the 24th Street side of the Cemetery. We used contractor bags to haul our lot home.

Photo: Two inches of mulch from two contractor bags

Back to the garden. After our first hiccup, we decided to turn over the garden (again!), level out the grade and redo our pathways, this time laying them into the dirt and leveling them with a mallet. While not 100% perfect, it does the job and will work for this season’s planting. We may explore something permanent down the road (i.e. 2010) as well as building our own hand made bird bath (for a later post).

After we reset the stone, it was time to plant seeds: lettuce, mustard, Swiss chard and beets. After that was finished, off to Home Depot and Lowes to pick up the first of the veggie plants and some annuals.

Photo: Reminding us what we planted and redone stone path

While at Home Depot, we came across some natural reed fencing. We were psyched. To back track, another research project of Mrs. Tikihouse was finding some natural fencing to cover the “batting cage/warm up” green fence. While we found some great bamboo products based in Cali, the shipping was going to be more that the actual product. Our biggest desire, besides covering the fence, was to have something 1.) natural and 2.) in place before the condos next door went on the market, thus showing folks from day one that there will be a natural fence there of some sort and 3.) economical.

The price on the natural reed fencing was just right ($28 a length– we used two) and the 6 foot tall, 16 feet long sections just fit. Using some wire “bar ties” made for bagging sand/rock (Home Depot), we attached our new fence in approx. an hour to the lovely green fencing/poles. And man, does it make a difference!

Photo: No more green fence!

Next the basil, tomatoes and hot peppers went in and the day was winding to an end. We chose simple bright/cheery annuals since we did not ultimately know what/where we will be planting most of our items. They went in existing boxes that define the ledge of the patio (and so no one walks off the edge!)

We were exhausted, but very happy with the work.

A recap slideshow:

Next up, meeting with Diana and making some decisions about the planting plan…and planting. Stay tuned.

The only catch is the delivery date was TBD and we needed a ton of topsoil to prep the bamboo planter box.

A quick call to J&L Landscaping (and then a “help” call to several friends) and we were scheduled for a delivery of their best top soil.

Larry at J&L had figured we would need approximately 3 1/2 yrds. of soil to fill the box, with a tad left over to spread around. At $65/yrd. (with delivery) we figured it was a good deal. In prep for the delivery, and bucket brigade through the house, we cleared away furniture and plants and laid down contractor paper (no need to scratch up the oak floors).

Photo: one HUGE pile of topsoil (tarped, of course)

Delivery was made bright and early and to our surprise, more like 4 1/2 to 5 yrds. were dumped! (though we only paid for the 3 1/2 yrds)

While a blessing in disguise (I guess), we started schlepping what must have been several hundred bucket loads through our wee tikihouse to the back yard boxes…and planters…and yard…and to a neighbor’s yard…I think you get the picture.

Photo: More buckets than you can shake a stick at (or a shovel)

Photo: Mrs. Tikihouse “bucketing” through the house

Photo: Buckets into the planter

Photo: Raising the grade of the yard, one bucket at a time

We had a ton of dirt. 3 full hours of work by 5 people (thanks to our neighbor and friends!) and we were finished.

Photos: Filled up and cleaned up: planter box and backyard

Ultimately we were able to fill the planter box, level the right had side of the yard to grade (approx. 2-3 inches) and spread around more dirt to areas of the garden, including a large pile whose use is still TBD. And man were Mr. and Mrs. Tikihouse pooped.

We were on call for the delivery (plants were too big for our humble car) for about a week, with the rain (and subsequent mud) not a friend to us, nor the bamboo transplanting.

Finally the day arrived and we received our delivery from our neighbors. Generous indeed! We thought we would receive 4-5 plants (more than enough to get started). We had a bonus of 7 plants total, plus some young rhizomes that hopefully will take and mature.

Photo: Buckets of bamboo

We made quick work of getting our new bamboo in the ground, as our neighbor had told us the wind (more than being dry) would affect the plants first and foremost.

Photo: Mrs. Tikihouse digging the trench (yes, Mr. Tikihouse helped too!)

We chose to spread them in a straight line across the planter box, digging a trench first, then dropping in the plants, leveling them out and back filling with top soil.

About an hour or so (plus clean up) we had our babies in and our tallest specimen (7 ft.) staked and watered.

We are so happy! Having actual plants in the planter box has made all the difference in beginning to soften the hardscape work done in the fall.

Photo: The bamboo, all planted and staked up

Next up, work with our designer Diana at Fun City Design on the planting plan, including a cool CAD based diagram of where sunlight will be at different times of the day (and seasons). Stay tuned.

Since our last post a short “knee wall” was installed and a less than ideal green hurricane fence was placed between the new brick condo building’s yard and ours. Could have been worse…it could have been white vinyl! NOTE: we will be covering it up as one of the first tasks in phase II of our backyard reno project.

While it is a tad early to begin any planting, our plan was to begin moving plants again and turn over the right hand side of the garden, adding humous and peat moss as we went.

Photo: overview of the start of phase 2 of our back yard reno

That’s when we had a sinking feeling, or rather saw the sinking.

Long story short, when the excavation contractors finished the digging of the foundation of our new next door brick condo building, they did a very sloppy job back filling our yard and their shoring. Thus, we have some sink holes.

This would not bother us very much if they were only along the new knee wall/fence, as we could easily back fill those holes. Unfortunately one of the areas was directly at the corner of the new building and our brand new bamboo planter box!

As the ground thawed, and the sink hole opened up, the box began to shift. Thankfully only slightly and with us monitoring it.

Photo: the sink hole in all its glory…and depth!

Photo: both sides of our “holey” dilemma on either side of the planter box wall

While we contacted our friendly neighborhood developer about the issue, our good friend (and lucky for us, carpenter) came over for a looksie. At 12 inches across and 2 feet deep (so far), his recommendation was to do some shoring of our own, with wood and block out (and hold up) our box’s corner while we figure out what to do.

Photo: chopping up some shoring

Some cuts to some 2X6s and 2X4s and several wedges, the wood was a tight fit between the soil (compacted) and the footing of our box’s wall. I dug out the area further, stopping at about 3 feet in depth (didn’t need to see China that day).

Photo: a diagram of the anatomy of a sink hole and our solution

The debate came up to either A. pour a footing perpendicular to our wall and hope for the best or B. keep adding dirt and water and hope the settling stops. We could always do option “A” later, if need be. So, wait till Monday and see what transpires when we chat with our friendly neighborhood developer.

Then there was the “who’s paying for this” side of the discussion. To our surprise, our friendly neighborhood developer said Larry at J&L Landscaping (see earlier post) would be working on the issue.

Later that day, Larry showed up with Eddie, his trusty landscaper, to look at the hole. He favored option “B” as he was certain the ground would continue to settle and any new footer would pull the wall down further, cracking our blue stone cap and cultured stone wall. Larry recommended I dig out along the knee wall as well, removing our good garden dirt, to see if that would sink as well (to be back filled later).

The following day Eddie and crew were back to work on the hole (and the adjacent new back yard…more on that later). After adding many bucketfuls of dirt, Eddie added copious amounts of water, stirring the dirt. More buckets and more water and the “sinking” slowed.

Photo: Eddie working a pinch bar into the dirt (after 10 bucketfuls) before adding water

Seems Larry’s idea is working so far. We have compacted the area twice and added more water. So far so good.

Fingers crossed, as we have 3 1/2 yards of top soil showing up to fill our bamboo planter as the bamboo arrives within the week, most of which is graciously being donated by a good neighbor (and saving us around $1,000).

Along the way we did continue to do yard work, turning soil, relocating some plants (temporarily) and using some of the left over pavers to create a walkway/storage are between our shed and the lovely new green fence.

Photo: the “goods” for the dirt (we added lime and peat moss in the fall as well)

Photo: garden turned over, peat moss added now for a sprinkle

Photo: new paver walkway between our shed and green fence (and we still have more!)

With sore backs, we look forward to receiving our bamboo and revaluate our planting ideas due to a much smaller budget for planting because of the “sinking” economy.

Stay tuned for the bamboo, coming up next post.

On the hit list: finish up the pavers, bring in the remaining pea gravel, brush in “lock sand” into the pavers and wet it all down so, as Gaspar was fond of saying, “it’ll look NICE.” (overlay words with a great Canarsie accent)

The remaining pavers went down quickly with most of the more intricate “piece work” taking the bulk of the time, with the crew custom cutting shapes and slices to fit in any remaining gaps in the pattern.

Photo: Making quick work of the paver “piece work.”

Photo: Final paver pattern.

Next came more pea gravel to finish off the seating area (in between the Tennessee blue stone) and any remaining areas in the pathways.

Photo: Pea gravel and seating area stones.

After the hard labor was complete (as I suspected, the guys beat the clock), the “lock sand” (sand and a special bonding polymer to “lock” the pavers together, almost as hard as cement or grout, but no cracking) into the cracks over the entire paver area. Three bags later and it was ready for Gaspar to demonstrate the proper way to “wet the pavers” as we would need to mist them once or twice a day for the first few days.

Photo: Brushing in the “lock sand.”

Photo: Misting the pavers and “lock sand.”

After wetting down every possible stone surface (pavers, blue stone, cultured stone, pea gravel and stepping stones) Gaspar and Mr. and Mrs. Tikihouse agreed “It looked NICE!”

A quick group shot of the crew from Your Way Contracting and the boys were off to their next job.

Then Mrs. and I spent the rest of the day looking at ALL THAT STONE and attempting to envision a greener spring when we move and replant up the garden areas making for a cohesive and SOFTER look.

Now we need to back fill more top soil to even everything out (several inches in some places) and wait for spring to arrive!

(a funny note, our friendly neighborhood developer’s landscaper soon after began work on the new buildings back yard, running into s snag the second day with a truck load of topsoil…many yards of which ended in our yard. Yippy!)

So ends phase one of the back yard reno. Just as a reminder, here’s some before and after photos, just to show the immense change that has taken place, sans new planting.

As always, here’s a larger slide show of the final day’s work.

We would like to thank, and highly recommend, Diana of Fun City Design ( funcitydesign.com ) and Gaspar at Your Way Contracting ( yourwaycon(at)aol.com / 347-234-9099 ) for all their hard work. While they were “hired” for the project, they went above and beyond working with us on completing the first part of our reno.

We’ll add updates a few times over the winter as we work with Diana on our planting (and reuse, thus replanting) plan and in doing our bamboo research. So, check back periodically. We’ll hit the ground running come March 2009 with the next phase of the garden…this time Mr. and Mrs. Tikihouse getting our hands dirty (literally).

(obviously some time has passed since this final day and this new post. The garden has been winterized and prepped for spring. We can’t wait!)

As an aside, do you like our paver patio? Would you use the same pavers for your project? If so, and it’s small, we have 70 sq. ft left over and it can be YOURS. Check out the post on the forum here and let us know if part of our patio can make it into your patio.

The main work yet to be done was the final grading of the yard and the layout of the 11X11 foot seating area and paths.

Photo: Bird’s eye view of the work site.

In the meantime half the crew worked on the setting of the blue stone caps for the patio ledge and stairs (the planter box would get capped as well on day six) along with finshing off the cultured stone application.

We chose to go with blue stone, rather than the typical lime stone (less expensive, we realized later), to complete the transition of colors from the patio to the seating area. The big decision was a clean finished edge or an “aged” edge that has a worn look. After some on-line research and consultation with Diana of Fun City, we decided on the clean finished edge which literally “capped” off the organic lines of the cultured stone with something clean an modern (and slightly Asian influenced, hence back to the bamboo).

Photo: Laying in the blue stone treads.

Photo: The patio blue stone cap.

Back to the seating area and pathways. We decided on landscape edging to separate the seating area and pathways from the planting beds/veggie garden, rather than more stone as the edge. We found this great interlocking aluminum system from PermaLoc (in Holland, MI) Pro-Line edging in eight foot sections. The install was a snap for Gaspar and his crew who had not used it before.

The interlocking pieces also have self tapping stakes that make it perfect for our install needs. Highly recommended (and we received our order only 2 DAYS via UPS). After the install, weed mats were laid down, then a base of 3/4 stone. From there we worked with Gaspar on the layout of the re-used blue stone from our patio (originally from the old sidewalks ripped out in the 1970s) and some new pieces that Gaspar sourced. We were unable to source an exact match to what we had, so Gaspar recommended a warmer Tennessee blue stone for the seating area, picking up the colors of our stone and the new cultured stone.

After finding the correct “step-able” spacing on the pathway, they crew laid down DG (decomposed granite or stone dust) and sand to level out the stones.

Photo: Pathway all laid out and leveled.

Once the paths and seating area were underway, the pavers started to be laid out. We had spec’d a “random pattern” from Gaspar, but after looking at the possibilities (and realizing we needed one other paver size), we opted for a modified herringbone pattern, substituting in smaller pavers in to the pattern of 6X9 inch standard pavers.

Photo: The pavers are laid out.

All of this orchestration went on during days five and six of the project, with the final part of day six culminating with the arrival of the pea gravel. There were several ways to go: gray stone, mix of grays/reds/white/tan or a mix of white/tan which we felt completed the natural “tiki house” look with its abstract look of sand and the beach (at least to us).

Photo: Tennessee blue stone and pea gravel.

Photo: Finished pathway to our shed.

Now, the reality was the crew needed just one more half day to finish up and clean up the site. We had gone this far, what’s one more day, right?

Below is a larger slide show of the two days.

And the final hardscape post for phase 1 is up next! Stay tuned.