It's not that the landscaper and its employees haven't been busy working away on the project. Perhaps its the large scope of the renovations to a property that has been deeply renovated on previous occasions by the very same owners who become bored with the look they've achieved and inspired by what they see has been accomplished by other homeowners' hiring of outside labour to install for them the latest in landscaping hardscape materials and design.
There are times when it looks as though an army of landscaping labourers are busy at work on the property adjacent to ours. And there are ample other times when only two workers have been busy on the property, working from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., diligently performing arduous tasks come sun or (light) rain. There have been times when I've had to politely ask that they remove their equipment from our lawn, and they swiftly oblige, with apologies. And there are times when we wonder when the racket and displaced ambient dirt will cease.
Away back when my husband had not yet celebrated his 69th birthday he undertook a similar large and physically demanding job when he decided to tackle on his own, our property. And so he began excavating by hand, an enormous amount of soil, clay, rocks and construction detritus that had been lightly overlaid with soil, then a carpeting of lawn, to produce tons of waste. The good soil was redirected to the making of new gardens elsewhere on our property, the waste ended up in one of those huge metal containers to be hauled away by a waste-disposal company, eventually.
My husband began his work at some time toward the beginning of April and ended it around the beginning of July. He excavated large areas to provide for two extensive patios, walkways and open areas leading to the front of our house. There was more than ample room for all of this to take place, as the house is well set back from the street and the placement of the garage allowed for a deep area to be paved in with ornamental bricks surrounded by garden beds.
Because we have a semi-ravine lot that slants in a downward direction at the back, the area along one side of our house was planned as a large, extensive rock garden, running the length of the house. We selected specimen rocks and flat shale after my husband had ripped out the grass running alongside the house and started a composter that would take years to break down with the materials dumped into it. Then he laid the stepping stones and judiciously placed the beautiful rocks at planned intervals, and then we planted miniature-growing evergreens, and plants with a low profile meant for rock gardens. We've enjoyed that discreet garden ever since.
He had devised a heavy tamper for the tons of gravel and stone dust he eventually filled the excavated areas with, and meticulously ensured the depth was adequate to the task and the tamping down of the materials emphatically compacted to ensure there would be no sinking taking place in the future. He carefully laid out the brick pavers for the flat patio-type areas, and the stone blocks that would comprise the low walls that embraced the garden beds. All of the brick and the stone were cut carefully by hand, with the use of a chisel and a hammer.
Through all manner of spring and summer weather my husband worked on his own, taking his time, because he had no need to rent any mechanical equipment, relying on his own willpower, strength, agility and facility with materials, and his impeccable sense of aesthetic design.
And while we have seen over the years that the patios and porches and stairs that our neighbours had had professionally installed buckle, sink, and crumble, making for potentially dangerous and certainly unsightly situations, the work that my husband had performed remains intact.
And it has given us years of satisfaction, the landscaping hardscape work that he performed by hand and to his own design, framing our gardens and our home and presenting as a beautiful micro- landscape we are proud to enjoy.
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