i am the sort a gardener who doesn't like to see dirt in my flower beds...i know it has to be there...i just do not wanna see it....but for some reason i have me two places where nothin will grow...not even a weed! one place is around mini's play structure and the other is in the almost-all-faux-vegetable garden. just the thought o these two places has always sent me into a gardenin grump. mini's daddy's solution to the problem was to add a slab o concrete! ahhhhhhh! that kinda thinkin is like a garden stake through my heart!
i decided the only thing to do was add steppin stones and then cram somethin - anything - in between that might just survive amongst em. i talked to the master steppin stone provider and it seems if i wanted his help it would take much money and waaaaay too much time.....all sorts o time! time looking at different types o rock, time pickin some rock, time orderin some rock, time to prep for the rock, time for installin...blah blah blah blah!!!! this was bout as good solution in my way o thinkin as the slab o concrete. time is my most precious commodity and i don't like spendin it in silly ways if i can help it.
so...i called upon my most resourceful self and came up with some solutions o my own. for the almost-all-faux-vegetable garden, i poked around the property and drug out every pot plate i could find. i then flipped those babies over and shoved em into the dreaded dirt by jumpin up and down on em until they were nice and secure....once the jumpin was done, i went to the parkin area and filled a bucket full of what they call 'chit' - looks like plain ol gravel to me but whatever! i carried it back and sprinkled it hither and yon until i got what you see in the shot here - on the right....no dirt and some nice altho quite unusual steppin stones!
my next area was a bit more challengin....i was plumb outta pot plates and needed somethin a bit more sturdy anyway as this is the place the swing pusher has to stand do the swing pushin.....couldn't take any chances with steppin stones that might go to movin underfoot with some over zealous pushin. i found a big ol bag o powdered concrete that mini and i used early in her life to make steppin stones in other areas...the 'just add water' kind. PERFECT! i dug me quite a few dips in the dirt....layered each one with saranwrap and after mixin up a big ol batch a concrete, poured some into each dip....once it started gettin a bit hard, i sprinkled some powdered dyes all over the tops and sorta rubbed em in with my hands - someone had given these to me as a gift long ago but i had never had a need for em before. all i had to do then was hope and pray that everyone that laughed at me and told me my plan would never work would be beggin me for forgiveness next time they had some swingin child to push and had n a nice place to stand and clean shoes when they were done with the pushin...which is exactly what happened! i ended up plantin baby tears in between the saranwrap-powdered-concrete-stones and it is thrivin! i tried em there before but i guess they needed some extra structure to cling to, which they now have.
hope you don't mind me pullin things outta my idea and resourceful files to blog about. if you don't, i'll be able to blog more often as that file is crammed full o all sorts o things i have experimented with and ideas i have thought to try over the years and i'd love to share em...you never know when maybe one o you can use one or two!
by the way, the diabolical doo dad'n thermostat is workin out just fine! mini's daddy does seem a lil down though, not currently havin somethin to annoy me with - but i can see his mind workin furiously tryin to come up with the somethin new...let's hope it's not tellin me to pay the utility bill when it appears!
thanks for stoppin by....please be sure to come again!
