The patios

The stones are laid and set for both patios (as you could probably tell, since we had our 'virgin' fire in the fire pit already). It was back breaking work and I really appreciate that Bill was willing to do it!

The next stage is to bring in dirt to raise up the garden level to where it was originally. Eight years ago, Bill removed tons of dirt from the garden to lower it to the same level as the lower part of the yard, then put gated pipes under the fence to enable the flood irrigation to reach the garden. It worked very well.

Now, however, we are no longer allowed to use flood irrigation because the city piped and pressurized the irrigation system. So, he is raising the garden level again. This will give us more tillable square footage.

After that, the rest of the stones will be put in place and the remaining dirt to raise up the yard elevation next to the house (for improved drainage). Then the sprinkler system can be installed, along with a 'stream' so that there is a water feature to listen to. All of this work is being done by Bill, so it is costing very little just to buy materials.