Even if it would have dug in, it would have taken years to dig and never, ever fit in one dumpster load. It would have ended up costing us more than this guy and taken a lot longer. Not to mention the fact that it is very likely I would have removed roughly 2 feet of the corner of our house since it was a tight fit taking the loads out to the front and I noticed while watching that it actually take some major skills to drive a "skidsteer" well.
I was the cheap labor, moving all the railroad ties, bricks and pavers out of the way as necessary. I also busied myself making a plywood protector on the grass so that the Bobcat would do minimal damage. It got pretty thrashed, but we were going to reseed that part anyway since it was looking pretty dead.
After today's work, here's how it stands. He thought he was going to be able to do it in 2 loads, but it took 4! We really got a deal, even though it was a big chunk of money for us.
It's amazing sitting there, looking at our yard, thiking about how normal it is shaped now. It's hard to come to grips with the fact that we now how something respectable to work with. In one day, our yard went from Huh? to do-able.
Now I need to do a retaining wall that continues where the other one now stops midway. I was thinking about doing that, then putting big, wide quarter-turn steps over by the wall with a planter-box next to it. The steps would let us put either a garden up above, or (gasp!) a sitting area, which people here seem to be so fond of. BTW, someone asked what use a garden is here when it is so hot. I guess there's a reason people down here eat a lot of salsa, because that's what grows well: tomato, onion, and peppers. We could do other stuff but it would just take more water. Then, we'll have grass from the rocks possibly all the way over to the place where the steps and planter box would be.
3 comments:
Have you guys thought about artificial grass at all? It sounds lame, but apparently there are some amazing ones out there now that work great in places where you can't water much. I don't think its cheap- but you never have to mow it or water it- which saves you a lot of time and money in the long run. I haven't looked into it a ton myself- but it may be worth considering.
The yard looks great. I'm so impressed with how much work you've done to it. I guess if you put your mind to something, watch out, you're going to get it done. Good luck with all the work ahead of you. We look forward to seeing the next set of pictures of your progress.
Dan you old bum, good work there.
What else could you possibly want to grow than the fixins for pico? Salsa and pico are like mana from heaven. Just make sure ou bring me some of it next time you make it out of hell, I mean New Mexico.
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