Short Term

 This is a high priority area. I need to put this place in shape for the work to come on the wall. I believe that I can get a great return on some effort expended here. The conversion I hope to make here is to a grass lawn with the high point under the drain hole in the wall, yonder. I think fescue grass will thrive in this spot and I have plenty of that on hand so this won't require any money.
There is a concrete car path mostly covered over with grass about 10" away from the wall. The path is an obstruction and has to go. Perfect. I need to bolster the concrete footer wall, the top of which is exposed. So here is my plan of attack: First, remove the ornamental plants to elsewhere in the yard. Excavate grade to a line three or four inches below the top of the concrete footer wall and back fill with busted concrete chunks to just below the top of the footer wall. I want to see if I can't put some kind of brick or stone landing for rain runoff through the porch drain. Then, I need to get a grade going that will move the runoff away from the foundation. This might require a good bit of spade and rake work. After I get a grade I will seed it with fescue.
My intention is to cultivate lawn in this area out from our house and into the lot next to us. I have the owners' blessing in this. On our side there is only about four and three-quarter  feet to the boundary line. This area, on the east side from the fence gate to the curb has been a shared space with the former house next door since this house was built. I  keep a swath on their side about equal to the area on our side, plus three-quarters. The only monetary cost to me is the water. I have faith that the cost of effort will be returned ten or twenty-fold in what I will call curb appeal. I approve this project because the area is ugly now and I believe this improvement to be an excellent investment to make at this time.

A Big Project

I have some ideas about essential improvements to our house to make it more livable. A garage with a place to park four bicycles is one of them. I want to begin transferring ideas in my head into tangible drawings. A method that has worked well for me is to take a picture of the area under consideration. Then, I convert the photo to a drawing on the computer. Then I use the paint function and cut out the part I want to address. I print the result and take it to my drawing board and draft in the improvement onto the drawing. Then I scan the drawing back into the file.
In order to get a good picture all obstructions and unnecessary elements in the landscape should be removed. I am thinking that I will photograph the back fence from different angles and select the angle that best suits a drawing for the proposed garage and bike park. The last time I looked out the back gate the alley area around the fence is really ugly with overgrown weeds and trash. So, a gardening clean up project is in order so that I can get some good pictures.  Then it's back to the drawing board.

My Reward

We had a little dinner party last night. I get great satisfaction when people enjoy the hospitality we can provide.

Next Thing

While doing some grilling I saw the planter box. Realization came to me that it was time to do something with it.I also saw that the Lariope ring under the fig tree on the right needed re-doing.

I was looking around and I saw the empty spot in the corner of the yard where the bricks I used out front had been stored.

All week before I was thinking about building a planter over there, so it dawned on me that I already have what I need in hand. It will be a temporary anchor in that corner. I also decided to pull up the Lariope grass. I got eight 1 gallon plastic pots with the intention of getting eight plants from the group. Then I would enlarge the ring, pull apart the clumps and re-plant it. There are three additional clumps in the front yard that can be removed and used here.
My tasks for that morning:

• Remove soil from planter bed, screening it into the big pan to separate the bulbs and debis.
• Clear out the new location for the box and prepare a minimal footer on which to set the planter.
• Move and set planter box level.
• Dig up Lariope and remove to screen.
• Dig new bed for lariope replant.
• make eight small pots of lariope from the stock.
• Re-plant Lariope around fig tree.
• Bury bulbs in new location.
• Recover former location of planter box with fresh, screened dirt and grass seed.

I wanted to be done by 9:30.

Time Frame Review

I took the first photo on June 3rd. I was beginning to produce the photo drawings for the plan

I withdrew a very large pile of soil from this account. I deposited this base here in place of the soil.

I collected some interest off the back patio and spent it on the pavement sub-grade.







I had to push myself to the finish line and get every last detail done, according to what the plan said was 'done'.

Now, two weeks have passed since I pointed the camera out the upstairs window and told myself, "I'm gonna do that." I am hopeful the investment will pay some good dividends in the future.

Street Side Bed - Done

This is the bed. Now comes the nurture part to get the Jasmine thriving, like the concept drawing, below.

Side project

Removal of the concrete drive strip left this big, ugly scar. The photo doesn't reveal the contour of the ground, but this area has been pitiful. What to do. I have some all-purpose grass seed on hand, so after back filling with the excess soil I took from excavating the bed and raking it to a better contour, I seeded it with the grass seed, then covered that with some medium screened soil:

Becky freaked when she saw this. She wanted to have this area for parking. I reminded her that the corner of our property

Some Side Projects

The project to refurbish the bed in front spawned several other projects around the yard. I had careful plans for the bed, but for the other projects I just created a basic mental picture of how I wanted to finish the areas based on what would take place there. Thinking back now, I know that I was well aware of these areas being affected. In fact I had named them. I had formed rough estimates of each sub project. However I did not create written plans or draft any drawings. The next project that spawns sub projects will see separate plans drafted to spell the sub projects out in detail.
Some of the sub projects:

These projects have suggested further projects. Projects of substance come about with the aid of solid planning.

The Plan Sees Me Through

With the plan I had so carefully drawn up I know what I must complete at each stage to say I am done. Here is the representation of the work done to the point of ready for the brick and the plantings:

And here is the photo of what I managed to wrestle into being to fulfill that vision.

I know there are lots of people who do work with plans everyday that would make all this look like child's play. I want to get steady-on in my ability to plan in detail and create the improvement, following through to the nth degree. I think I hit the bulls eye on this.

Power of the Plan

From Becky deciding on doing Jasmine ground cover in the front bed, I produced a plan consisting of a written plan and drawings. Given my state of development, creation of the plan took a great deal of effort and patience. Through the creation of this plan I learned in advance of the actual work that renovation of the curbside bed was a large undertaking. Renovation of the one bed spawned several side projects that would either consume or produce materials related to the bed. The idea is to make all the materials into assets, rather than waste. Then these newly minted assets, not used in the primary project, are applied to some other useful purpose, not merely piled up as dead dreams.
Knowing from the plan that I must also start and finish roughly four other projects gave me foresight to set up the various work areas;  the tools, the equipment with patience. I set a mental picture of the developed state of each area that I would affect to handle the material needs of the front bed. I had two quarries from which I took the broken concrete rocks. Ragged holes were left when the concrete chunks were pulled. Those areas had to be reclaimed. I had two quarries which produced crushed stone. I had two brick stockpiles which were removed. I took three large piles of dirt taken from the bed and put them in the back yard. All these areas required attention in order that they not look like perpetual construction sites. 
The written plan and the drawings of the specific construction phases keep me on track. I have worked three straight ten hour days to get the bulk of the improvements completed.Up to this point in all the gardening I have focused more on infrastructure than on living things. I have an abundance of rich, clean soil. Spreading that into barren areas and seeding it with grass is simple enough but it is a huge leap for me. The infrastructure is the framework for an orderly garden, but the garden is about life and growing. I takes time to develop. I went from being shy about planting anything, to having the sure knowledge of how to create a lawn. Now I know to keep a bag of the sun & shade grass seed handy. I got a large pile of rich top soil from this project which I can now employ for living things wherever a little life needs to be introduced. As I gain confidence I will get better.
The plan has power. I think it is similar to taking out a loan from a bank. An instrument is created in clear written terms. All details are spelled out. The loan document is agreed upon by all concerned parties. The capital is delivered and the installments are made until the loan is paid in full. The bank earns a profit for the risk it takes, and the borrower has financing for his purpose. The thing is a living relationship until the date of maturity. Once the loan is closed it begins to be some "thing".
The same is with a plan such as the one I made for renovating the big bed in front. It came to the point that the thing left to do was to actually get to work. Once I began I could only succeed or fail. The plan has power. By the plan I know I am not quite done with it yet, but I have earned a breather.

Sub Project

I had another purpose in mind with the street side bed renovation project. I have all this concrete in various areas of the yard that I want to get rid of. The city will not pick up concrete rubble. I had some hauled off last year and it was costly. So, I done me some thinking and that is where I got the idea to use this concrete rubble as the underlayment base to the paver projects. At the same time, I will use about 75% less crushed stone. I end up with 3-5" of concrete stone and 1" of crushed stone. So the minimum thickness of the base is 4". There were stones that were five or six inches thick. So, just speaking of the base, I think the outcome meets or exceeds my expectations. My main concern is how the base settles, and if it stays put.

This is it going in. I covered it right up with fine, screened soil as I went. I constructed a screed board using a 1x8 that spanned the curb and sidewalk. To that I tacked a 1x6 set at a depth of the brick, plus one inch, for the crushed stone back fill. I laid the stone to come as close to the bottom of the screed board as I could make it. I found that the smaller stones were much easier to handle.

First Step, First Phase, Part One?! Something Like That

I finally finished laying the broken concrete rocks to the sub grade. It was a massive effort for one little guy. Here is the excavation, now at the sub grade:

That is this:

Next step:

 I will top the concrete stones with crushed stone and make the grade for the brick pavers, something like the drawing represents.

Final Step

Here is the final drawing of my project. Here is the brick landing and the beds of Jasmine. I have some planning to do for the methods for construction.

Next Step

After the mosaic sub- bed of broken concrete and mud are set and the rest of the excavation is back-filled with screened soil, I will add a base of crushed stone, here called 'screenings'. The top of that grade will be for laying brick pavers on level with the sidewalk and curb. I will make sure this grade is as flat and compacted as I can make it.

After I accomplish this I can lay the brick and do the final fill of screened soil in preparation for planting the Jasmine. It was our decision to plant this wild area with Jasmine that created the need for all this work in the first place.

Sidewalk Bed Project

I have done some preliminary excavation work, some work to prepare materials and I have done a series of drawings that outline and detail what I intend to build out front.
When I am finished with the excavation I will construct a sub- base using chunks of concrete that I plan to take up from the former drive on the east side of the house. Here is the drawing:

My plan is to lay these chunks in screened soil made into a mud. Then I will grout the edges with mud leaving a fairly flat grade. I have ideas as to how to set a good grade. It will resemble a giant mosaic made from concrete chunks and mud.
When I am satisfied that this is good enough, I will back fill the excavation to the base grade with screened soil. That is the end of this stage of construction.

My idea

I was thinking that I'm not really wanting to dig out much more of my gravel patio to supply other projects until I get another truck load. While I was digging and transporting the dirt to the back yard I was thinking that I wish I could use some of the concrete chunks so abundant around the yard.
I got this visual image of using some pieces for a foundation under the bricks. The problem is filling in around the chunks. I thought what if I took some dirt and put it through the medium screen? Then take that dirt and mix it up in the pan with a little water until it is a good mud. And how about if I troweled that mud in to lay the concrete chunks like you would a rock patio?
There are a couple of sources for the concrete. There are two concrete strips on one side of the house about 70' long that used to be a drive way. The concrete is about 3" thick and the strips are about 18" wide.

So, I got a brick and an average piece of the concrete and photographed them with a tape measure. Here it is:

 So, the two together are around 8" thick, on average. So, I excavate about 9" to 10", or so, then lay the concrete "stones" using the mud and a trowel leaving the top below grade just a little more than the thickness of a brick. When I have the stones laid and filled in completely, I will put just one inch of fine material taken from the patio screenings that have been put through the fine screen to lay the brick exactly at the grade.
Then I back fill the whole bed with the top grade leveled by a screed board drawn over the edge of the sidewalk and the curb. I'm going to try and draw up something that makes sense of this scheme.

Okay, So now, I'm going

I got started with excavating the street side bed. Progress is slow on account of the bed being threaded through with roots. But I have got a system going. When I got started, I was thinking that Maybe I could get it all done before 3:30. I realized that this is going to take time. It is going to take as much time as it takes for me to get it right. While I was digging I done me some thinking about how I would solve the problems of laying a solid brick pad there. I think I have just the thing, Here is the progress so far:

I've got a large pile of dirt in back taken from here. I have those stakes and the rope there to keep people from stepping in there  accidentally. That compares with the before like this:

Now, A Drawing

After I had raised the water meter pipe came the trash day. It was when I was wheeling the trash can to the curb that I realized that I would have to have a platform of some kind to set the trash cans and recycle bins on. Also the postman and anyone parking on the street would need to be able to get to the walk without stepping through the jasmine.
I would be making a big mistake to not revise my plan to take this requirement into consideration. So, I set to my drawing board and produced this drawing to try and visualize what I hope to achieve. I also could get Becky to sign off on the plan.

This is what I came up with.

Water Meter Pipe Pick- up

So, I got my spade, my wheel barrow and large Screen and I set to digging out the water meter.

The pipe thing was pretty broken up. What I did was to dig it all out very well. Then, I dug up enough of the gravel screenings off the top of the patio to lay in about a 3" base at the bottom of the excavation and around the meter. Then I carefully set the two pieces back in and lifted the pipe and pushed the gravel around until I was satisfied with hoe it was set. Then I bacl filled it with clean dirt and planted three jasmine plants around it.
Here are the photos:

And again, a little further away for perspective:

Now, the next obstacles to over come. I'll have to rest my spine a couple of days.

I'm going to do that, but first, this

I was all gung ho to do a hedge row, but I actually started work on street side improvements. I have every area of the yard categorized with ideas and maybe some plans for improvements. I am currently calling the strip of yard in front between the sidewalk and the street: Street Side Improvements. Here's a before picture:

There is an excess of soil in here and, as you can see, The rain run off backs up and stands on the walk. We decided to put a ground cover in here. Becky bought a flat of Jasmine for it. I've been thinking about what to do here for a long time and now we have come to the time of decision. So I have been re-thinking and studying how to do this in a way that is of the highest possible quality.
You can barely see the water meter cover this side of the Dogwood tree. I have known that it is below grade and that when it rains the water pours in and fills it up. There is so much silt inside that the cap of the meter is just visible. So it really needs to be raised and reset. That is going to be a bit arduous, but for this to be a done good jobby, I have to do it.

Hedging Our Bets

Note: I have lifted this out of a post on my other blog, Our Argenta Craftsman Home:  http://argentacraftsman.blogspot.com/
Here is the first official document of: WEST FRONT PROPERTY LINE HEDGE

Becky and I plan to put a hedge of Youpan Holly bushes along the property line to the right, centered between the open gate and the corner of the fence. The planting line will extend to this side of the tree, maybe as far as the side walk which is just behind and to the right of the camera position. I'm going to take a print of this picture and a measuring tape and mark where each shrub will go. That will give us a quantity and a basis for cost estimates. We can take the drawing to experts to find the exact right kind of shrub to plant for our wants. It's an empty lot next door for right now. This hedge is in anticipation of a house being built there in the future. The top of the brick on our house to the left is about twelve feet, so we are thinking of a hedge that will grow about that high to suffice. Here is where consults with various experts will pay. But this is talk. The next act is to draw up the plan and create the frame work for finance that we can carry to shop.

Memorial to Skepticism

I went back in the archives and found a picture of the second grill I built. The pictures are from a study for what I, and others, thought at that time was impossibly out of reach; a plan to fence in the back yard. At the time it seemed like an empty endeavor, planning for a fence, but I went ahead with the plan, anyway. We call the fence the "Maryann Ragsdale Memorial Fence." She was a good soldier.
Next in importance after the fence is the gravel screenings which is the base of the patio and other areas. I found the post in the archives where I introduced the gravel screenings. I LOVE THIS STUFF!  Here is the picture:

This whole gardening thing for me began as physical therapy for a debilitating back injury. Some, including some of the Doctors, supposed I would never be able to really walk or be able to live without a great deal of pain. Now the garden has become an important part of my life and an avenue of contribution to the tribe. I think I have grown deaf to the skepticism of others towards me. I have come a long way in a short time. I feel like I have only begun to work.
If I have ever been skeptical of your dreams, I give you my sincere apologies.