The first path I made at the Schoolhouse, which tamed a steep area from the driveway down to the house, was a success from a budgetary perspective, in that it looked great and was made entirely out of things I’d found or gotten for free, but it was a dismal failure in the water management department, because I didn’t know I was supposed to build in drainage, and totally underestimated the effect that our non-stop spring rain would have. We ended up re-doing it (and yes, I’m happy to say it’s holding!)
With path number two, which goes from the base of the first path down the side of the house, we did NOT make that mistake.
We scavenged almost all of the materials we used – short lengths of redwood branch for the edge of the path from the branches that fell on our car and shattered the windshield over the winter; logs from an oak that fell in the woods nearby for the steps; and wood chips to top it off from the pile we’ve been saving since we had the trees taken down.
Salvaged log steps and branch-edging for a hobbity little path!
But the drain rock we bought – a full half-ton.
Pretty cool - you pull the truck under this big funnel and a huge tractor with a scoop comes and dumps gravel into your truck bed!
We dug channels under everything and filled them with the drain rock, angling toward the french drain that runs alongside the house.
Drain rock - lots of it!
Dirt to level, and wood chips will finish it off.
Leveling the path
The thing is, once you figure out just how much landscaping you can do with salvaged stuff, it’s hard not to see the possibilities in everything. So for our next project…
We found these - what should we do with them?
Clearly they want to be floor lamps. You just need a lamp kit, some bun feet, and a cool shade.
There is a really awesome path with slices of trunk on pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/pin/44619584/