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My little garden roundel
Minimal surface with possibilities?
A tiny lawn of 3 square meters + three lively children is not a good combination. The grass wears out faster than it grows and balls knock down the flowerbeds on a conveyor belt. Last year I made a round flower bed in the middle to get some use out of the "lawn". It was nice. But crazy. The children ran around and worked up mudslides from the former patch of grass to their delight and our dismay. That's when I came up with the solution; to pave a footpath around the flowerbed and remove the grass. The goal was a flamboyant roundel à la English garden that will be a nice point of view from which you can walk around and look at the flower beds.
A million sods later…
Without ever leaving a stone unturned, I tackled the project with a baby in the stroller and a shovel in hand. At times when the six-month-old baby was sleeping, I went to work. 1. Dig up the lawn. It was the heaviest job. I filled three wheelbarrows which I poured under the tufts at the back - with the tufts down it turned into fine soil within 6 months. TIP! Be patient - all the neighbors wonder what the hell you're doing, it looks ugly, it's really heavy and your back hurts - but then the hardest part is over. 2. Buy paving stones. Now the fun begins. There were lots of ads on Blocket - I bought 150 square pieces for a few hundred Swedish kroner and took a chance that it would be enough for my approx. 1.5 square meters. I tried a few stones until it was deep enough and wide enough. You may dig the hole wider/deeper until the dimensions are correct. Keep in mind that you will have room for a layer of crushed stone + setting sand under the paving stone. Here I try if four stones will be good - but I ended up with three and some soil to ship back...
A puzzle like no other...
3. Dig on gravel roof With baby in the car, large (mortar) buckets were purchased to fill with sand. On gravel roofs there are lots of exciting materials and it is not very expensive. Between nursings, I dug up four buckets of loam and bought a bucket of crushed rock to use for the bottom. 4. Stamp to a base Now the back gets to work again... Shovel out the crushed stone as a covering, draining layer at the bottom. Then shovel out a covering layer of silt over it. Smooth it out and stamp it hard to pack it. Go rest. 5. Start the stone puzzle! Lay out the paving stones as tightly and as neatly as you can one lap. Lay the next row of wraps, so the gaps end up in the middle of the already laid paving stones. Sometimes you have to join half pieces to get the roundness. It takes time. But it will be nice! TIP! Use knee pads and be patient. Sometimes you have to remove stones and start over.
Joint sand pouring and jumping competition!
6. Let the children work! When you have finished laying the paving stones, you sit down and have a cup of coffee in the sun and ask the children to have a stomping contest on the stones. The more you stomp around on the stones, the better the stones settle into the sand. The children could jump as much as they wanted... 7. Brush out joint sand. Pour out joint sand (we bought it at Stenbolaget..) and brush into the cracks. It stabilizes the gaps. I pressed with my fingers so the sand went down properly. Poured more. Pushed. Brushed. And kept at it. I poured joint sand in batches until the cavities were really packed. A little rain on top of that, and the stones set like a slap in the face.
Trampling plants can withstand piano trampling
8. Plant hardy border plants. The children run around on the new stones but don't always step exactly where they should. TIP! DO NOT put expensive, fragile plants as edging plants for the paving. I bought ten tramp plants (tramp thyme and tramp nettle) that spread and can withstand the occasional piano stomp. They were set edge to edge with the outermost row of paving stones. Last fall they looked stone dead. This spring too. But now they are starting to catch on. They are happy to overflow and grow a little over the stones - it just looks soft and nice.
Finally done!
9. Done! Yes, this is how it turned out. And I think it turned out pretty much as I wanted – a nice focal point from the dinner table and a welcoming entrance. It didn't turn out perfect - a stonemason probably has a lot to object to - but it became My project, it didn't cost much, and it turned out much better than before. And that is the main thing.
Look around...
10. Scan everything around. It is easy to just look at what you are doing. But lift your head and scan the immediate surroundings now that you've got it so nice. Does something need sprucing up, moving, planting, removing? It looked grumpy in our house - I bought white decorative stones at Stenbolaget and poured them along the edge of the house. It lit up and lifted the plate and became like a nice, white frame. 11. Light the glory. If you want to enjoy your new roof day and night, put some outdoor lights in the soil or grass. It will be nice, neat and feel safe when you come home late in the dark. My costs: Paving stone at Blocket: SEK 400 Crushed stone + setting sand on gravel roof: SEK 200 2 bags of joint sand at Stenbolaget: SEK 150 10 trampling plants in commercial garden: SEK 400 3 bags of decorative stone at Stenbolaget: SEK 400 3 spear outdoor lamps at Clas Ohlsson: SEK 450 TOTAL: SEK 2,000
Time required = about 3 full days... 1 day: Dig up and transport the lawn. 1 day: Shovel down crushed stone, settle sand and put down the stones. 1 day: Buy stones, go to a gravel pit, sweep out joint sand + plant.
Time required = about 3 full days... 1 day: Dig up and transport the lawn. 1 day: Shovel down crushed stone, settle sand and put down the stones. 1 day: Buy stones, go to a gravel pit, sweep out joint sand + plant.
The next project?
At the back of the terraced house we have the "garden" = a minimal strip of neatly manicured grass with flower beds all around. Imagine being able to make a beautiful stone walkway there, with solar-heated tiles - avoiding the grass there. That will be the next project. Some time...
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