Add Dirt & Seed

front Yard 096We begin to add dirt and seed after the rock walls are complete. Here is how it looked from the porch on the basement level. It took all summer long to make the rock retaining walls and fill in the area behind them for our front yard. Pete ended up doing the most of this work as I simply worked the garden below. The fall weather began to tell us to get moving a bit faster as we noticed winter getting ready to kick-in full blast.

front Yard 100It will not be a level yard but it will be a lot more gradual slope, giving us room to enjoy ourselves in front of the house.front Yard 102 Peter back blades smooth the fill dirt and the surface begins to take shape. What a change. The next step is lots and lots of hand raking to smooth it all out. We scatter 25 pounds of grass seed and fertilizer (16-16-16) evenly over the dirt. The seed just started springing up before the cold of winter closed everything down. Spring of 2022 will tell us if we did it right. Having a lawn in this front yard should reduce the amount of erosion around the house due to uncontrolled drainage.

Fill for the Lawn Landscaping

front Yard 068Before we can fill for the lawn landscaping we have to try to level out the existing area. You know, push the high spots into the low spots and discover where there are rocks. We have a plethora of boulders at the Woelk’s in Elk. They vary in size from human pickup-able to nothing short of dynamite can move me.

front Yard 065There are two majestic firs in the middle that have a large mound of dirt between them. We have to leave this dirt so our main water line remains at least 5 feet below grade or we will have broken water pipes in the winter. The building code calls for 4 feet of cover but we have learned the hard way over the years to go the extra foot. Fixing a water line in freezing conditions is not a fun way to spend a day.

front Yard 073Peter discovers a dynamite daring boulder on the south side of our house. It is bigger than our Kubota and will simply remain right there. Our landscape will incorporate that into the rock garden above. Besides, it is probably part of that rock garden anyhow.

front Yard 077Walking back up to the house after a hard day of work, my husband has finished leveling and making a flat base course area for building the rock retaining walls below.