Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Paving Project

Our driveway is so narrow because it is in between our house and our neighbor's. The strip of land between our concrete driveway and our neighbor's house was nothing more than mud and weeds when we first moved in almost three years ago. In September 2007, when we sodded the backyard, we used the leftover sod on that strip of land. That worked well all last year, but this winter was too hard on it, partly because there is something wrong with our neighbor's gutter on that side of the house. Every time the snow on their roof melted, a steady stream of water came pouring down on the grass. I assume the gutter is clogged, preventing the water from going down the downspout, so it just pours over the roof. At any rate, this Spring, it was clear that the grass wasn't coming back. It was just a muddy mess. We decided to put paver bricks all along that side of the driveway so that we would at least avoid the mud problem. I spent two days digging up the dirt, laying down a weed barrier, putting down a layer of pea gravel and sand and then the pavers, but it looks nice. Here are some pictures. This one looking down the driveway.

And this showing the top of the driveway where Erin has her container garden.

And here are some more pictures showing the garden in the back.



Keeley in his yard.

The garden in the front of the house.


My Japanese Maple:

Our next project: replacing the front porch stairs. Here's why.