First Project of 2020!

After much hemming, hawing, plotting, research, price comparison, and sketching I've finally started my tiered garden project.  It's not going to be the grand, picturesque garden I first had in my mind.  While I had envisioned a scaled down version of the terraces of Machu Picchu, my budget and backbone have relegated me to a simpler cement block retaining wall step garden.  Oh well, so long as the plants are happy, I guess!

I've also scaled down the size, mostly due to the backbreaking chore of digging out a trench for the base.  The ground I'm working is mostly stone with a bit of dirt in it, as opposed to dirt with a few stones.  In order to dig out a trench to fill with stone for my base, I needed a pick axe.  Shovels were absolutely useless here.  Thankfully I only needed to dig down about six inches or so, but it was still a chore.

digging the trench

Digging the trench took most of the day.  The string is only there so that when people drive by they look at it and think "Oh, she knows just what she's doing.  Look at how professional!  Level and square, that's how you do it right." .  I admit, it did help keep my trench somewhat straight, but I really have no idea what I'm doing.

 

You can see the rubble I took out of the trench to the left in the above photo.  Most of it was rotten ledge rock and granite that thankfully split apart on impact.  There were a few goober rocks that I just couldn't dig out, so they stayed.

I had 5 yards of stone delivered to use as a base for the wall, and it should provide good drainage.  I don't know yet if I'll need all of it, but I'm sure I'll find a place to lose any leftovers.

Step 1 (mostly) done!  I do still need to dig and level for the side walls, but this was all I could manage for today; I'm woefully out of shape.  I'm hoping to get the sides prepped tomorrow and order the blocks.  With any luck I'll have a garden ready in for my perennials in a few weeks!