I worked all day on landscape projects to finish up the deck project. The first project was to plant a drawf burning bush in the area beside the new deck. I covered the rest of the soil with river rock to finish it off. The next project was to fill in the area around the new retaining wall I constructed yesterday. The black dirt on the left side is where I was working and it is about a foot deep near the center. This will make a much flatter area to mow. I also hauled dirt and peat moss for the elevated flower garden and got it ready for flowers.
The dirt I used to fill in around the deck came from the truckload we had delivered a month or so ago. I finished off the pile by tilling it and raking it level and then decided to install the arbor that has been lying around since June. I bought the arbor for Sandy but then got busy and didn't get it set up. I started by clearing the bark mulch away and digging holes for the last four landscape cap stones I have been using for other purposes. These stones will provide a temporary foundation for the arbor so the wind doesn't blow it over. Once set I used concrete anchor screws to hold the bottom in place. The picture belows shows the completed arbor and the dirt pile leveled off and ready for flowers.
I finished up the day by planting 4 hostas in the flower garden I prepared this morning. These are shade tolorant perennials that we were told would winter over just fine and give us a head start on spring. The other nice part is that they were on close-out sale.
