From Messy to Tidy

Good morning and welcome to 2014... about 8 months late!  (I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted.)

For a long time I've wanted to do "something" to tidy up the area next to the most-used entrance to my old house.  I tend to use it as a gardening catch all... with plants and pots and junk.  There is a flower bed against the wall that was originally held at bay with rebar holding back some landscape timbers. The timbers have long since rotted and the earth spills out onto the pavement... not very pretty.

The pile of retaining wall blocks are obstructing the view of the mess, but I bet you get the idea!

I have postponed tackling this project all week since we have been having some of the hottest, most humid days this season.  However, this morning is much cooler, there is a breeze and it's slightly overcast.  Also, this area is pretty much in the shade early in the morning.  So... I weeded and moved all the potted plants from the dirt area, scraped the mess off the pavement to just beyond its edge and started placing the blocks. As you can see, the back edge of the bottom side of the block has a "fat lip" that I hooked over the edge of the pavement.  Then I just went back with a second row, centering them over the space between the blocks in the first row and hooking the "fat lip" over the block below.

I had originally figured it might take me a couple of mornings to complete the project and was DEE-LIGHT-TED to finish it in less than 1 hour!  Why, oh why, did I ever wait so long to do this?  I even hosed down the blocks and the pavement before declaring the project done!  (I have 5 blocks left over... one of them needs to be split in half to finish off the ends of the second row... I will figure out something to do with the other 4!)

The steps on the far right are the everyday entrance.

Now I can get myself to the farm stand and buy some BIG pots of mums to take the garden through Fall.