After having a totally 'duh' moment, I figured why not simply post the photos right here. So, here goes. We live on 15 acres in the Pacific Northwest. Our house in on a northwest facing hill, with a soggy field below us, transected by a year-round small salmon creek, and farm pond. Beyond the pond is a 10 acre undeveloped woodlot with some tractor roads meandering here and there. The back yard had evolved from kid-friendly with swing sets and tree forts to fairly boring and overgrown. Two hemlocks fell over the years. When younger son Sam graduated from college, he repaid our financial assistance with a design/build to renovate the backyard, for which I will be eternally grateful. He did almost all of the work himself, with the help of a neighbor kid (who I fed many a meal in his childhood) who is an excellent mini-excavator operator. It was great fun.
Starting with Sam's general sketch-vision and a few pics of the before. There was a fairly tall retaining wall that we tore out which can be seen in the far right photo.
First order of business was to dig out the hemlock stumps, toss them down the hill to the burn pile, and level out the site. Sam had drawn a line using marking paint for the general contour.
We had a full load of boulders delivered, Sam inspected them (sadly one of the flat stair steppers got broken on delivery), then they began the time consuming task of placing them....just so.
More rock placement, the crew takes a break, and a view from the deck. The metal ring is a mock-up of where the firepit will end up.
A load of gravel is spread, compacted, then followed by sand which is leveled.
First flag stone was the stair landing, followed by a jigsaw puzzle, with me being oh-so-helpful by pointing while Sam does all the heavy work!
I didn't realize how much water was needed to settle the stone in. We got some similar but smaller boulders for the fire ring. And another view from the deck.
A load of black compost, another load of red bark for the path, and bring on the plants...
What a fun project this was, I loved being mostly the spectator and watching my son shine (this is the same one who vigorously resisted being dragged to nurseries as a child). We are now into Year 3 and it is filling in nicely. As with any garden bed, I continue to make changes as it progresses, and look forward to many more relaxed evenings at the fire pit.
Hope this was not too lengthy - believe you me, this is seriously edited from all the actual photos I have of this project... ha ha.
