2011 - Garden Walkways

Once the 1970s a/c unit was replaced with this enormous one, the path to the deck needed help.  The area was rocky and hard to mow without throwing sharp objects all over the place.

Late April we decided to make an area where we would not have to worry about mowing anymore.  A curved path would be much easier to mow than the area that sat by the a/c unit.

The beginning of May, we wanted to make the path as wide as possible to diminish as much mowing as possible.  After all, the mower is electric and I will take any subtraction of mowing that I can take.

The path was shaping up with the new stone border and flattened out path.

We then divided the path from the whole portion to make two separate areas.  The stepping stones will have a white stone and the area around the a/c unit will have red lava rocks.

We laid out the steps in equal walking distance so that the walk to the deck would be natural.

Evan came up with this cool design and echos in the steps.

Our finished path.  It is so nice to have.

After a few years of neglect and too much rain, the butterfly path had become overgrown.  And since we were on a roll with the other path, I tackled this one on my own while Evan cooked on the deck and kept our fire pit going to keep me warm while I worked.  The steak was so tasty, we didn't get it pictured, but have the sides in all their glory.

The path has rocks and stepping stones laid out on it, so I can't just mow it.  I have to hand pick out the weeds and grass to keep it looking nice.  Once we found the weed barrier sheeting that we used on the path to the deck, I decided to redo the butterfly path to keep the weeds out of it.

So I had to remove all the stepping stones and rocks.  The rocks did not get salvaged.

So with my trusty shovel, I dug up the weeds and laid out a new path for the weed barrier to protect it.

With the weed barrier and small underlying stone down, the path was shaping up nicely.

The stepping stones were replaced and the gray rock then put in to fill a round it.

The Butterfly Garden was happy after this transformation.