Welcome to Mary and Gary's Garden History Part-1

big trees are gone tree stumps rail road ties rose path brick walkway three level terrace future pond waterfall east hedge removed greenhouse construction


We started out with a couple of deep shade beds with rock hard dirt and a silly little arbor we had made from PVC pipe. Our land lord (yes, we rent) cut down TWO-HUGE cottonwood trees. We requested they leave us 40 inch stumps to work with. Whatever we do, it's going to be wheelchair accessible.

retreat is cleared


So we started hauling in railroad ties and began digging out the old grass the hard way. Our friend Greg Dobesh began bringing us dirt by the truckloads. A lot of tilling along with 6 to 8 inches of new dirt and we had brand new flower beds that we could actually dig in. Can you say, full sun. We had to buy books to figure out what to plant.

south entry



We began to add vertical features along with pathways. We needed a lot of bricks. We really needed some brick layers. How about a three level terrace hiding behind a retreat wall. Yes, I think this is what I had in mind.

terrace construction


Can you guess what's next. An empty space to the left, a huge pile of rock to the right. Wouldn't that stump make a good spot to build a waterfall? Start stacking that rock. Let's hide our valves to run our drip irrigation while we're at it. Add some plants and we have an awesome water feature.

hidden water valves


I really think we are starting to figure out how to landscape. Here we add a pathway, tear out a hedge and then... buy a streetlight off of ebay. Let's wind up part-1 by putting up a little greenhouse in the backyard. This project I might do differently if given the opportunity to have a do-over.

concrete pavers
pvc pipe arbor southwest entry defined dirt pile vine covered wall hiding retreat retaining wall for retreat chairs in the new retreat pile of rocks pond with lilies ebay purchased lamp green house nearly done
east entrance grown in rose walk with hanging pots
retreat grown in southeast entry