April 3, 2017 -  New project – the dish garden patio around the raised kitchen garden

          After I got the comment a few days ago from my husband about doing more cobblestone work, I grabbed my trusty reel tape measure that my Daddy got me years ago and took dimensions of the next project area.  It is a triangle flanked by the north side of the patio garden and the back of the house gardens which opens out onto the back lawn.   At the lawn side is a 15 x 6 foot raised vegetable bed that is also home to two poles containing satellite dishes. 

          Right now this garden has Sweet Peas up about 2 inches, 6 green and 6 red Romaine lettuces, radishes, mint and thyme.  

          I carefully sketched the diagram so that I could ascertain square feet.  I did it the old fashioned way, pencil and paper.  Then I got the bright idea to check to see if there was a triangle square foot calculator on the internet and it verified my figures were “spot on.”   Getting the confirmation of the same number of square feet  made me feel good that I remembered how to do it and could still do it the old fashioned way, by hand.

          Gee, you don’t have to be brilliant anymore – anyone can jump on the internet and pop figures into a square foot calculator.  Makes life easy for the younger generation – they don’t know how lucky they are.

          Then, I checked out Lowe’s on line and started a “chat” with a customer service representative to get additional information.   I was disappointed that the customer service representative didn’t know they have bulk sand available.   So, I went to the store and discussed the situation of how many pavers on a pallet, their cost and the cost of bulk sand [.33 cubic] and the delivery price.

          Luck was with me, got a discount on the pavers and the deliver fee seemed less than I remember for the last big project years ago.

          I placed the order and they will be delivering pavers and sand Thursday morning.

          I am so looking forward to solving this nuisance of a garden area.   Over the years I have tried the lawn bit – can’t seem to get the lawn mower in and out and around effectively.  Then I have killed off the grass and put down mulch on more than one occasion along with pre-emergent weed/grass killer.  It doesn’t last 3 months and I have to get down and weed, weed, weed.  I just want it to be neat and clean and I don’t have to wear myself out maintaining this area.  I want to “relax” in this area, not work my fingers to the bone.   I should have done it years ago and saved myself a lot of wasted time and money on mulch over the years.

          Then I wanted to refresh my memory from when I took brick-laying classes several years ago [what fun!] so I surfed the internet to check on the basket weave pattern for the “dish garden patio” project.

          Today, the plan was to lay out my straight lines and to remove all weeds from the area before I laid down the landscape fabric.   But, I got a rude awakening . . . it is raining like crazy here.

          This project – I will take before and after pictures so that I can show everyone.

          But my radishes are up – so here is a picture of what they look like.