I made you a gravel wasteland

Sod removal happened this weekend, which is how our side yard went from this . . .

. . . to this.

We used YardRents again, who are great. The YardRents guys showed up promptly and showed us how to use the sod cutter. They knew it wasn't going to take us very long, so they didn't even bother to leave. One of the guys snapped photos of the garden (he was so fired up, which was wonderful) and chatted with me about the evils of Round Up while Greg zipped through removing the sod. It took 30 minutes to remove the area along the driveway and the side yard where we bumped out the fence.

Sod cutters are the best. 

The YardRents guys packed up and were on their way and we got work rolling up the sod and transferring it to a pile in the driveway.

Then Greg leveled and regraded the soil so water will hopefully move away from the house, instead of toward it. We also removed the plastic that had been layed down years ago. A previous owner must have tried to keep water away from the house by laying down plastic sheeting and planting sod on top of it. I don't know why this seemed like a good idea but I'm sure a future homeowner will wonder why I put all this gravel in. Ugh, gravel?! Why not some nice lawn?

I headed down to Oregon Decorative Rock and picked up some gravel. I love gravel pathways. I love the sound they make and their persistence. I love the way your wheelbarrow sinks into the gravel, making it impossible to move, pissing off your boyfriend. (I didn't believe Greg when he warned me that would happen.) I really wanted gravel in this part of the yard but I wasn't sure how to handle the transition from the cedar chip pathway that will run through the front yard, and the transition to lawn in the backyard.

Neither of us are happy with the state of the side yard right now because it's a wasteland of gravel. Grey house, grey A/C unit, an eight feet wide expanse of grey gravel. Ultimately we're going to set up the rain barrel and a stock tank for tomatoes against the house, so it should only feel like five feet of gravel instead of eight. I popped some colorful pots over here (and that stupid wheelbarrow) so we'll have some color. I'm hoping to train a vine along this fence and Greg has plans for a trellis of some sort atop our fence. I'm hoping to find something vigorous enough to cover the fence but restrained enough not to pull it down. Any suggestions?

Currently gravel gives way unceremoniously to lawn. My thought right now is to ease the transitions with rock. I was so tired and sunburned by the end of the day that I couldn't handle a third trip to Oregon Decorative Rock. So I plopped it down and called it good.

But I'm fuzzily thinking something like this. Behold, my amazing MS Paint skills!

Eh, I don't know. Next I need to dig down the soil here (it will go in the bottom of the new stock tank), edge the plants with rock, then put down cedar chips.

And then we still have a fair amount of sod to remove by hand, underneath the dogwood's drip line where I was too nervous to use the sod cutter. But I can see the finish line with sod removal!

Why I love Yard Rents and craigslist

You guys! It was sunny this weekend! I'm so full of love and Vitamin D right now.

I had been holding off on reserving a sod cutter for the weekend to see if the weather was actually going to be dry, so I got the 2-4pm delivery spot from Yard Rents. This left me a small window to get all the sod removed, sign out with the delivery guy, shower, and make it to the Portland Timbers game at 7. I was really hoping Yard Rents would show up closer to 2 so everything wouldn't be so tight.

At 3:45 they called and said they were running behind and I was a total bitch about it (I feel really bad about that still). When the guy showed up he made some calls, then informed me that he'd rather not drop off the machine, drive to the shop 30 minutes away, then turn around immediately to come back and get it. So he was just going to stay and help me with my project, and they were also knocking 50% off my cost for the day.

So with just 45 minutes (and a sprinkling of mulch) we went from this:

To this:

My total cost was $30. I highly recommend Yard Rents. I don't know if they regularly run late, but maybe don't wait until the last minute like I did and get an early spot instead. They were super nice. They deliver the machinery to you, show you how to use it, then pick it up and take it away when you're done. Apparently this was an unusually busy weekend for them, so I don't think it's normal for them to run late.

We still had a ton of sod to deal with. I was going to try and sneak small bits into the yard waste bin for the next four years, but Greg preferred taking four trips to the dump and calling it good. I decided to put it on craigslist, just to see what would happen. There's always SOMEONE who wants your free stuff on craigslist, right? So I listed it, explaining that it's not the nicest lawn, it has weeds (though the roots are still in my yard), but it's free.

And I got two responses. By the next afternoon all of these were gone. We went to brunch and came back to an empty walkway. It was amazing. Weird people of craigslist, NEVER CHANGE.

I borrowed my sister-in-law's lady-tiller so I can break up things a little, work in some mulch, and regrade everything away from the house. Worms, consider yourself warned! I hate it when I cut you in half. Then I'll dig the rain garden, create a small hillock for an agave, and start landscaping. I'm so excited!