Over the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have been working on what I call a fairly major project in my backyard.
When I purchased the house back in the fall of 2003, there was a 24-ft. dia. above-ground pool - since I really didn't use it, I finally took it down about 2 yrs ago (salvaged the metal) ... the result was a sand pit which my doggies loved to play in. Since then, I have transplanted a couple of tree saplings (that had sprouted in other parts of the property) and lots of different plants started to come up. There was one section that hadn't "developed" in that direction as yet, so I decided to use some materials that I had on hand to up-grade the area.
Using the thin cement blocks, I made a step-down in a half-moon in the portion that was not level with the ground. I then took some salvaged bricks I had and made a small mini patio (pie wedge without the peak) bordering it with pieces of 4 x 4 lumber (left over from when the previous owners had put in a deck, gazebo, and 6-ft. privacy fencing). I then proceded to prepare the area on either side of the mini patio and the back area of the patio for planting. A good friend gave me lots of bamboo cuttings from his garden - they went into the area that would be the peak of the pie wedge. A wildflower (annual and perennial) seed mixture was scattered over the newly top-soiled areas on either side - they are starting to sprout.
Since I still had plenty of 4 x 4s left over, I dug up a path between the deck and the new mini patio - using the wood to edge the path and filling in with brick nuggets.
This morning (no classes), I transplanted 6 perennial plants into pots and 6 into the ground at the front corners of the mini patio. I had some bulbs left over from a frontyard project - these I put into a container that I put at one of the corners of the sand pit/mini patio and the new pathway.
Hopefully, I will have pics taken to post by the end of the week.
It was an exhausting project as lots of digging was involved - but well worth the fatigue.