IÂm not sure if youÂre actually asking a question or not, Digit, but thanks for the laugh: ".....my personal bone structure is becoming more and more difficult to feel."

My personal bone structure must be considerably different from yours, because mine isnÂt at all difficult to feel! Oh, how I wish I didnÂt have to feel it! ;-)

And I definitely DONÂT "prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape!" Since fall and winter are realities out here, I deal with themÂbut definitely donÂt PREFER them! But I WOULD miss the four seasons if I lived somewhere without them! So I sit and "enjoy" looking at my dried AcanthusÂthe only "winter interest" I have this year! Even my blue fescue got smashed down by the snow! And IÂd prefer to NOT have the two upright juniper "bones" in my back yardÂnever will like junipers, but they DO provide a modicum of privacy from the neighbors behind me, so theyÂre here to stay! ThatÂs about all the bones I have! Well, thereÂs the 2-high railroad ties that border the perennial garden across the back of the yardÂbutÂtheyÂre rotting out and need to be replaced, so I prefer not to look at them! Bones ignored!

Hey! I do have some bones I like! I definitely enjoy walking around and looking at all the rocks IÂve collected from different "places" (all legal of course!) on my vacations! Most of them are very good memoriesÂand then thereÂs a few from "that certain lions and tigers and bears place" in Capitol Reef National Park! But IÂm glad I have them all!

So my bones are kind of minimalÂat least the outdoor ones are! I do wish the rest of the snow would melt off of my back yardÂwhich is on the north side of the house and gets VERY little sun at this time of the year. That would make it more enjoyable to go out and look at my few bones!

Skybird

We had to learn in design class what sort of material was appropriate for paths and in what context (but we were never taught how to compromise on materials with the spouse, alas...). Paths are very important elements to not only direct people to places, but to take the eye over the landscape. And to create transitions between areas.

You can hardscape with gaps between, like pavers or sandstone to step on. You can do a DG path or a gravel path for semi-pervious. Grass block. Go all the way and do a nice paved path that matches house or landscape: brick in a herringbone, concrete, etc.

No need to dislike them. Use them wisely and use them to your advantage.

Dan

You see, Skybird, it is that aversion to cream soups that keeps you from "plumping up" during winter weather. I should be so lucky. My latest technique to try to slow the weight-gain involves dried fruit. I don't knooow . . .

Maybe I should move the pavers from one side of the house (where no one ever walks and they are now covered with wood chips) to the side where there is a "depressed" path. I thought that I would encourage people to walk on the pavers by putting them in about 15 years ago - no such luck.

This must be the reason why landscape architects don't put sidewalks around a new building on campus until the students beat a path across the terrain.

A Bobcat tractor was in the backyard about 18 months ago, moving woodchips. I filled some tracks that it left with old potting soil - so, mostly peat moss & perlite. The grass pretty much hid the tracks last summer but they are easy to see right now.

I'm afraid to fill an area and kill the grass. Do those rollers weigh enough to level ground already in sod?

About the only thing short of pouring concrete that seems like it would work would be to remove the sod, level the ground and replace the sod. Would that make any sense? I could stay off the ground for several months - beating a path somewhere else . . .

You know how these paths work -- they begin and end at the foot of the steps, the door to the garage, and the gate. The farther one gets from those places of entrance/exit the less obvious the bone structure of the yard is.

Steve

Do those rollers weigh enough to level ground already in sod?

Yes.

Old landscaper's trick: if you do pavers, remove a fist-size hole of dirt in the middle of were the paver will sit, the last thing you do before setting. Water. Place paver. Stomp in middle. Enjoy. The capillary action of the soil will create suction and help hold the pavers.

Dan

If you go the paver route, use ones with Disney characters on the top. That way, its a lot easier to give directions: go down the path until you hit Snow White, and take a left....

Its a slow day, here at the '52ers......

I'm going to take a look at the roller I see at the garden center.

Might run it across some of these bricks I've already got on the ground, too.

So, might I assume that Snow White was rolled on and fired in place?!?

Steve

Just rent a roller from your Rental Place. Used to be ~7.00/day.

Dan

I know exactly how I want to lay out some paths and paved areas, and when we get around to putting in a new deck, I hope that will be part of it. But we have so much that needs to be done around this house, and limited cash and time for it, so slowly, slowly, it all takes so long.

We have a contractor coming this week to talk about putting on a new roof - gotta be done. Fortunately, the soggy soil is draining. I mean, I don't live in an arid country just to slog around in the mud . . .

Anyway, it occurs to me that the roofer will bring in a truck and fill it with the old roofing. I'd better wait until that truck pulls out of the yard to try to level the ground a little better than it is.

Here's a little discussion on the "advantage of pavers vs concrete" that makes sense to me. I have resisted putting more down but pavers do make my backyard space more usable.

One thought is to use concrete pavers this time . . .

Steve

I put in a 12 x 25 paver patio two years ago in the backyard, basketweave with a border, two colors. We used the extra excavated soil to make a mound in the backyard. I haven't re-set one single brick in two years, as it doesn't heave in frost because the dark color and excellent drainage prevents the deep freezing. No water pooling in summer storms, either. Follow all directions and take the time to make a good frame for your screed and do that part right and the rest will go smooth like buttah. I can do all the concrete work as well but pavers are far superior in my view.

Dan

When we converted our garage into another bed/bath/office, we added vegas - large wooden beams - out the NW side of the building, over what had been broken rock and a bit of patchy sod. So we dug all that sod out, leveled it, brought in RR ties to make a rectangle incorporating the standing posts for the vegas, mechanically tamped down the soil, and put 4" of sand on top. 15 x 30.

A concrete batch plant south of town were selling 2' x 2' pavers with a 1/4 inch sunburst pattern. So I ordered enough of them to fill the space, and they finally were ready.

Eh-boy. There weren't two the same thickness, so each one had to be hand leveled to the surrounding ones. It took days to lay what should have been 2 hours tops. But still, it was beautiful with big 4' squares of sunburst.

Then, the a couple of years later, the water main under all this developed a split, and started washing away a big hole about 4 foot down, but we didn't know it until i got the water bill which was $200 more than the usual $25.

So got all that fixed, and as you can imagine, the thing was never level again.

And then, it turns out that if you add red dye to batch concrete, it won't hold up to freeze thaw cycles, and they started to turn to sand and gravel. The batch plant gave me half a dozen for free. I've finished those now, and I'm really not looking forward to seeing whats under all that snow....

Some day, I'll replace all that with those hook together things made out of recycled tires. In the mean time, we stuck some cattle panels over the top of the vegas and grow grape vines up there, planted climbing roses at all the posts, and the shade knocks 10º off the inside house temperature in the middle of the summer. I take naps survey the garden and make long term plans in a chair there too.