Why I didn't do this myself

(As if anyone who knew me thought I could...)

Let me count the many reasons, having to do with skill, ability, strength, persistence...
 

The carpenter constructing the trellis and the gate.

 

Four tons of stone dust gets delivered to the driveway.

 

Ryan, the great crew leader, jackhammering up the concrete pad.
 
Ryan and one of the two guys taking a pickaxe to the hard clay so they could level the ground. Notice the string placed in some way I don't understand to help them maintain the right depth.

 
Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of stone is hauled from the driveway to the back yard, then chipped or sawed into shape before being placed exactly so. Then, in some way I never saw, they put stone dust between each stone and covered that with a layer of polymerized sand, which is supposed to help suppress weeds (let's hope).

After, Part Two: The terrace is finished!

Won't you come into my garden? Here is the new path from the driveway. Lots of room for some low plantings along the edge, plus opportunities for trailing things along the low wall.
 

 
Here is the view from the gate looking toward the shed..

 
The view from the back door...

 
From the terrace looking back up the path, you will notice the wrong gate. The carpenter did almost exactly what I asked, so I can't fault him. But he started the half-moon too low on the gate, and the cut is not smooth. I think this is a mistake and have already decided to have them re-do the gate with a straight cut just a foot shorter than the fence. That will still give a tantalizing glimpse of the garden (I hope) without looking so fussy.

 
The path and the stone wall may be my favorite parts of this project. (The wall above will need to be re-painted.)

 

Now that the terrace is installed, the trellis no longer looms oddly in the landscape like something from 2001.

I am very pleased and can't wait to work on planting ideas!

NOT!

Shelley Meadows and I waited around for two hours for the crew to show up, but they never did. She finally called the office and discovered that the job was now scheduled for July 16th instead. I'm quite annoyed, but what can you do? I'll call to confirm before I wait around for them again. I'm trying to focus on the great result rather than the process of getting there...

New terrace

The new stone terrace, path, gate and trellis are due to get started this Friday, so I've moved some pots, the table and chairs, and a few plants in preparation. Here what we're starting with (note that the concrete slab was likely installed circa 1962, the same age as the house, or soon thereafter).
 
View from the back door


From the oak tree garden




Looking into the garden





Through the gate



The new plan will widen the gate, make a stone terrace where there is now straggly grass, add a stone path to the driveway, raise up the narrow bed by the house with a stone wall along it, and add an 8' x 8' trellis to screen the neighbors (that's where the climbing hydrangea comes in). Let's hope it turns out as well as the plan suggests.

Big plans

I took the plunge! Shelley Meadows from Meadows Farms came out a few weeks ago and together we worked up a plan that I'm very excited about. A stone path will lead from the driveway to the gate, with the narrow existing bed along the house raised up with a nine-inch stone wall. The gate will be replaced with a new one four feet wide and a half-moon cut the right way (or, if that doesn't work, a lower height than the fence so visitors will get an intriguing glimpse of the joys to come).

The concrete pad will be mostly taken out, and a stone terrace put in its place. The solution to screening out the neighbors is especially pleasing: a trellis eight feet long and eight feet high coming out from the low wall, with a foot or so of planting space on each side for hostas, ferns, bulbs, etc. Shelley suggested a climbing hydrangea (shade), which I had thought of, too, but Mom says they're awfully slow to grow. At any rate, the trellis will provide privacy and also enclose the terrace, so that it becomes a garden room, with the open corner looking out to the oak tree garden.

Signed the contract on Friday and installation should start in just a few weeks. And it only took 18 years to make it happen...