Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: All Things Wild, big, buckets, cash, cobble, Dr. Hurd, drops, dump, grass, kids, labor, load, manzanita, mulch, pile, planting, rock, stone, stream, tons, truck, wagons
Today the big dump truck came with 8 tons of rock: 6 tons of mulch and 2 tons of river cobble to form artificial stream beds in the drainage areas.
Being a sunny Saturday afternoon, all the kids in the neighborhood came out as soon as they heard the runble of the truck booming down the street. The truck thundered right up to our house and dropped its 8-ton load right on the driveway.
Then the kids went to work, six in all. They eagerly grabbed wagons, buckets, and tools and all jumped in to help move the rock around. And to play “king of the rock pile”.
Rock Princes and Princesses - L to R: James, Emele, Rose, Sabrina, Jenna, Calvin
The mulch will have to wait for the plants, but the cobble was ready to go in right away. Within two hours, the kids and I had placed all two tons of the cobble, while my neighbor laid the entire border for the driveway strip using the Petrified Seashore I had brought home the other day, more than compensating for the little work I had to undo to include his bit in the project.
Taking Shape; Calvin lies on top of the rock pile
Kid-layed Cobble
Oh, yeah, also I went first thing in the morning to see All-Things-Wild Genelle at the farmer’s market to get more native plants. That was another $200. It would have been more but I am being budget conscious and buying the smallest size available of everything. They are plants. They will grow eventually, right? All the kids went this time because they wanted to see Genelle and talk to her again, even though they all had to ride home awkwardly in the minivan while sharing their seats with a large number of assorted native plants.
I finished the day by actually planting our first new plant, the “Dr. Hurd manzanita” I bought last week.
The First New Plant - Dr. Hurd Manzanita
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: A&A Steppig Stones, boulders, cash, class, cobble, Google, grass, green, landscape, lawn, mulch, native, Newcastle, petrified, plants, rock, wild
I decided I wanted to put a nice stone border around the edges of the project to keep the rock mulch from spilling over. I hadn’t seen anything I liked for a border at Sierra, but using the power of Google I found another local rock seller, A&A Stepping Stones in Newcastle.
Rose and I drove up to look around after I got off work yesterday, because Rose loves rocks and dirt. My other kids did not want another van ride sharing seats with boulders. They had a dazzling selection of rocks, and I found a species that comes in long, narrow rectangular pieces, absolutely perfect for a border. Rose and I loaded about 150 linear feet of it onto a pallet to be carried to my minivan. The stone is called “Petrified Seashore”, which is ironic because I was petrified when it wieghed in at 530 pounds and the clerk rang it up at $228. Plus $38 for about ten or so ordinary 40-pound decorative boulders that we also chose. Rose again got to ride awkwardly in between the 900 pounds of rocks in the minivan, not counting several pounds she had secretly stuffed into her pockets as souveneirs.
This relates to the neighbors because today after work I finished laying the rock to make the border between my half of the driveway strip and my neighbor’s grassy half. As soon as I finished, my neighbor came out and said that he did want in on the plan after all, if it is not too late to do the whole driveway strip. His wife is into gardening, thinks my native plant habitat is a really great idea, and wants to help.
I am so excited to have the neighbors on board. Despite having to take out the border I just layed and add to the rock order, I think it will look much better to not have the strip split up. And I have the comfort of company in the insanity. Also, they have three kids who want to help, and free child labor is always welcome where moving rock is concerned.
Flagstone, Petrified Seashore, and boulders staged on grassless yard
