The side yard French drain is finished.
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| This is what 51 bags of hazelnut shells look like |
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| They spread out the plastic to cover the dirt before putting down more gravel. The hope is it will prevent most of the water from filtrating into the soil. |
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They then covered it with gravel,
then with a thick layer of hazelnut shells |
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| I think it looks pretty nice |
I called all around trying to find the hazelnut shells. After a couple hours of calling around and a few emails, I was finally directed to Happy Valley Ace Hardware where you can get three 25 pound bags for $10. We bought 51 bags, but we didn't need them all for this side of the house. We still have some left for another area in the yard.
Jeff is still planning to build a planter for this side of the yard, but it's not the next project.
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Bailey is getting so big. She already weighs twice as much
as when we got her two months ago. |
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| Long legs too |
I like how it matches your brick chimney. Does the color last or bleed? We use black mulch and some brands fade faster than others. That puppy is so dang cute.
ReplyDeleteI think they retain their color. They're more expensive than bark dust, but they take 6 to 7 years to break down.
DeleteWe are having to refresh every two yrs if in sun and every three yrs if in shade. Plus, it stains your hands and clothes if it is wet when you put it down. Which it always rains when we get a load of it. Looking at a winter advisory right now for maybe 5 inches of snow. I think it will be all rain but again we will not be painting or installing shingles.
ReplyDeleteWe chose the shells because we don't want anything to grow over there. We're hoping they'll help inhibit growth because there really isn't any dirt and it will be a while before these break down enough. It should be easy to weed too, for the particularly tenacious weeds.
DeleteDrain projects are really under appreciated, because the hard work and results get covered up. Your shell mulch will act as compost as it deteriorates, and could infiltrate your gravel and provide awesome growing conditions for stuff in the future. Good compost and great drainage is an awesome combination. For our drain in the most in front of our house, I left the gravel uncovered, and I pull/kill anything that tries to sprout in there.
ReplyDeleteBailey is adorable!
Typo ... not 'most' ... I meant MOAT.
DeleteYeah, we'll eventually have to weed it, but I didn't want just gravel over there. Hopefully the planters will make the ground conditions less than ideal.
DeleteIt's always nice to see I'm not the only one doing all the onerous digging involved with putting in a french drain this week. Hopefully ours ends up looking as nice as yours when we finish (once it decides to be spring again over here lol)...
ReplyDeleteYeah, the guys worked really hard putting this in. I hope it works.
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