Project French Drain: Completed!

It was a long, dirty, time consuming, hard job-but the french drain is complete! I really owe hubby for this one! Chopping through those roots was tough. He worked on this project every evening after work, and every weekend. This is a view from the gate coming from the side yard.
But this is the view I usually see as it is coming into the back from the driveway. You can see what a narrow yard we have. To re-cap: hubby dug a trench chopping roots as he went. The trench was about 16 inches deep and 10 inches wide. We then put down landscape fabric, laid the pipe, covered it with rocks, then topped it off with mulch. We used no-float, which is not my favorite type of mulch, but every other kind I tried always washed away.
After the drain was in, I took over and finished the area. I added some new plants, and moved a few plants. (The pole you see has a bird feeder at the top.)
The path winds down behind the flagstone patio. Notice anything missing? Flagstone stepping stones! I decided not to use any after all. I like the look and feel of the path with just mulch. I am hoping after we walk on it several weeks, it will look more like the "beaten path" that I always yearned for!
The path ends here. You can see the stepping stones that lead you out the gate.

So we come to the end of the path and look back. Over time, I will add more plants, but it's great for right now. I couldn't be happier with the results. It is such a comfort knowing the next time we have heavy rains, no more flooded areas! Of course, summer has hit here in Texas, so we probably will not have any rain for a while. But when the rain returns...we will be prepared!

French Drains, Termites, a Wheelbarrow and a Washtub

Work on the french drain has started. After clearing the area, we took string and tried to lay out the route the drain would take. It will wind through this back bed, connecting with an existing drain, then come up toward the other side of the yard. It will be a long drain, but hopefully will solve our drainage problems. The next step was to start digging. Wouldn't you know, poor hubby immediately ran into problems.
Remember, we had 2 big trees in back. The trees are gone, but they left huge roots. Hubby and youngest son spent all afternoon last Sunday trying to axe out some of the roots. It was a tough job! Hubby worked every evening last week and was able to finally get the big root out.
Hubby then dug a trench to tie in to the existing drain. This was not an easy task. It took him just about all afternoon on Saturday.
Today we laid the first drain pipe. We put rocks on top of the drain, then will cover it with no float mulch. After this was done, hubby started digging more of the trench. And of course, he ran into more roots! This has been a back breaking job and is going to take quite a while to finish. I know we will be delighted to have our drainage problems solved, but it has been a pretty rough weekend for us (especially for my wonderful husband!)
As luck would have it, we encount-
ered another problem last week--we found out we have termites! Yuk, eeeew, eek! We are getting our house treated on Thursday. They will need to dig about a 3 inch trench around the entire house..so, I spend part of this afternoon transplanting the flowers from this side flower bed. They were up against the house and would be removed when the trench was dug. This bed is full of rudbeckia and daisies, plus phlox and a hollyhock full of buds. Gosh I hope they are careful with my plants.

Rough weekend, but I found a couple of nice things to see in the garden. I think the spring wheel-

barrow is looking really pretty right now. The bunny that lives among all those flowers tells me he is pretty happy surrounded by all the beauty in the old wheelbarrow.

And I am so happy with the coleus in the old washtub! And the cosmos seeds are really growing too. I bet they will be blooming before too long.

Whew, it has sure been a tiring weekend. My hands hurt, my back hurts, and I have a very tired husband! It seems like there is always something to be done in the yard. Even in a small backyard like we have, there is one project after another. But, you know what? I love it. I love the feel of dirt on my hands and the excitement of things to come. I love that a gardener's job is never done!

"A gard'ner's work is never at an end; it begins with the year, and continues to the next."

John Evelyn

The Latest Project

Gardening in a small backyard is not easy, especially when the yard is long and narrow. A few years ago we added a flagstone patio in the middle of the yard. Great idea, but that did divide the yard in half. We needed a way to tie the 2 sides together, so we created a flagstone walkway from one side to the other. To border the path, I planted monkey grass. I loved the idea and initially loved the look, but this area was under water every time it rained. Plus, the monkey grass got WAY out of hand..so here is the latest project. Last week, every evening after work, I worked on digging up all that monkey grass!
And, let me tell you--it was quite a job! You know how hard it is to dig up monkey grass anyway--then add in the muddy clay soil and what a mess!
I was covered with mud every night, but by Thursday night, the grass was gone. (well, is monkey grass ever really gone?) The next step is to put in a french drain. That was going to be the project for this weekend, but the weather is not cooperating, so we will have to wait. But here is my plan: I think after hubby puts in the french drain, I will use this entire space as a garden bed, then add flagstone here and there, but not as a defined path. That way I can plant lots more flowers, but still have stones so I can get from one side of the yard to the other. This area gets great sun now, so I would like to take advantage of that and use plants I could not have before the tree came down.
It rained very little over night (more to come later today), and you can see that there is already water standing in this area. I am really excited about the latest project and making list of what I would like to buy for the new bed. I may come in each evening tired and muddy..but a happy gardener I will be!

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt!"

Margaret Atwood