Monday, April 30, 2007

Thank You Very Mulch

So, Saturday I started working outside on a little project I've been meaning to take a stab at for a few weeks.

The dreaded swing-set landscaping project.

Well, I marked off an area that was roughly 16'x24' as I had originally planned on using some simple landscaping lumber to create an edge. Well, after removing all that sod (nearly 400 square feet of the crap), I realized the simple rectangle wouldn't work. So I consulted Yvonne (who was shopping in town at the time) and she agreed to not use an edge. Something everyone else seemed to think of well before me.

So I curved it out around the slide and see-saw (as those areas were a little too close to the edge) and began to spray the weed killer. I doubt it will help much, but hey, every little bit counts. From there, Dad helped haul the first 15 bags of mulch to the site. That went down after installing the weed fabric. More mulch. More fabric. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Multiply that by Sunday's re-mulching the flower bed next to the swing set.

In the end, I removed close to 600 square feet of sod and weeds. I put down about 200 linear feet of weed fabric. I put down 43 bags of Norfleet shredded hardwood mulch (3 cubic feet per bag). And I spent way more money than I wanted.

What was fun about this project? Seeing Elizabeth play on the slide, pick flowers, and working outside with my lovely wife. While I'm sore today, I'm glad I can cross it off my list.

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