Garden Path - The Final Frontier

It's well past time for the (apparently semi-)yearly Garden Path update. I have promised to keep it real, so here's the lowdown.

It's been two three years. Regular readers may recall that two years ago (the year after we made it in the first place) we re-did the path due to some bad weathering. The last two springs our whole back yard flooded. 

Before the flood last year, the path was in okay shape. I took a peek between the snow melt and the deluge. But once the water receded this is what I found:

The disks had floated up, some clear out of the garden. Sad day.

Honestly, I couldn't make up my mind for awhile on whether on not I wanted to fix it. The disks were in good shape, so it just would have been a matter of resetting them. But would I be doing this every year?

After making our path the first time, I discovered that the original pin I'd seen was from a home and garden show where it was never exposed to the elements. So after contemplating all my issues with it, including knowing it is incredibly popular and people seem to want it to work, I finally came to the conclusion that it's just not worth it to keep it.

Well into the fall, when I finally decided, Matt and I began to rip out all the disks and Matt started to replace the path with bricks.

We still had bricks leftover from the patio project, and I thought it would nicely tie things together.

However, instead of laying them smooth side up, I chose to have the holes exposed. It adds interest, drainage and traction.

After setting them in, Matt back filled with the dirt. This not only helps pack them in place, but fills the holes making it look nicer.

But that's about as far as we got last fall before hard frost set in and we had to give it up until spring.

Good news/Bad news. It flooded again. But that let us see how even incomplete the path stayed in place. So, forward ho! 

Now it's done. And I actually kind of like better than the wood. (Even though the wood was super cool, I know!)

I have had to weed it a bit, but a ground cover growing in the holes and cracks is always an option.

So...forgive me for abandoning the wood path?
You've gotta admit, the brick is still a bit quirky and interesting laid this way. :)

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my ... Yard

Honestly, we were starting to wonder if we were supposed to start building an ark. We had a lot of rain. Well, first we had a lot of late winter snow, then rain, then a break, then a lot more rain. We also had hard clay which doesn't absorb water very quickly.

Spring has pretty much sucked around these parts.

This was our back yard.

Incremental changes that neighbors have made over the years means that all the water runoff pools in our yard. This year was the worst it has been.

Luckily we did not have water in the basement, but the boys took to calling the yard a lake.

Mateo hooked up a couple pond pumps to hoses and we just steadily pumped water out to the storm drains in the street. But we need to start investigating more permanent options.

Today, while doing some yard clean up, I snapped some pictures of the garden path.

The sand base completely washed away and the the wood disks floated up.

Some floated clean out of the garden. I'm so annoyed because it had wintered well. When the snow first melted and I check it, it was in good shape. And now this.

I'm honestly just not sure right now if I am going to fix it or scrap it.        

Garden Path Redux

[UPDATE: click here for the final garden path update.]
 
Sooo. Y'all seem to love the Garden Path. 

All time most viewed, and most featured. (Even contacted about a magazine feature, but alas, I live in the wrong region.)

Also, the source of a thousand and one questions. So, here it is: the complete, honest update.

I knew the wood would weather. Usually weathered wood is pretty. But before spring had completely sprung, I knew I was no longer in love with my path.

So sad.

A LOT of people asked about using polyurathane so that the disks would not rot. Well, they did not rot. If this was a more shaded and protected area, they might have even weathered nicely. But there were absolutely no rotting issues. There was just an ugly issue.

I decided to fix it, we would cut new disks and coat them, but I wanted something that was environmentally sound. The EPA recommended Shellac, and being natural, it seemed like a good idea. I've shellacked things before, so I knew the product.

I just brushed one side, waited an hour, flipped it over and painted that side. Time consuming, but easy.

I only did one coat, so I guess time will tell as to any regrets on that choice.

We also made these a bit thicker. The last ones were about 1-3 inches. I had talked last time about how they sometimes pop up when you walk on them, and some of the disks broke during the year, so we figured thicker might help. These new ones average 4-5 inches.

One major headache the first time was our darn hard clay. It was hard to scratch out the space to set the disks and then pack them in. I loved the rich dark soil color against the wood, but it did not hold them as it should. Many people wondered about using sand.

So we tried it. First we tilled the soil to make it as loose as possible and then we added a bit of sand and worked that in.

It was much easier to get the disks set in this time. I still don't love the color of the sand, but we planted ground cover, so hopefully that won't be much noticed soon.

Of course, last time the ground cover didn't grow in, so who knows? Maybe I'll just have to grow to love sand.

Another question I was asked A LOT was whether or not the wood was slippery when wet. Um, no. It's not like the disks are a smooth surface of wood. They are broken up with gaps in between and also not sanded or anything. They are smooth enough to walk barefoot on them, but no, they have never been slippery. Of course, the entire set up does not induce one to walk quickly in the first place. And, no, they are not slippery now that they have been sealed either.

I loved how the first path looked, so when I went and checked it last spring I was heartbroken at how it appeared. I was determined to fix it, and so we did. I am in love with it once again. I am pleased to say that the disks are not popping up at all. They are very solidly set in the sand, even after a pretty decent rain.

And, as always, I'll keep you posted about how this version weathers.

And, hey, firewood for the fire pit, so that's not so bad.

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH) The ArtsyGirl Connection,  Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming