Tag Archives: patio

The Barn Pergola Patio Begins

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Finally! Something that we are going to see. After the last few weeks of digging ditches and drains and a whole lot of work that only gets buried – we  began to lay the brick for the barn pergola patio.

Piles of reclaimed brick are a pretty common site around the farm – it will be nice to finally see them put to use.

All of the brick for the project is reclaimed from sites all over Ohio.  A large portion came from the brick floor to my dad’s old barn and the Cardington, Ohio barn we tore down late last summer.  Still more from old brick patios in Columbus and Zanesville, Ohio.  The end result is a large stash of brick that we hope to blend into a really unique pergola patio floor.

We tested several patterns to get the right fit and look with the reclaimed brick

When we first built the barn late last year – we had put down a good 3 to 5 inch base of limestone screenings.  It’s basically the limestone dust that is left over when quarries separate the various sizes of rocks through screens.  It’s a really inexpensive product (about $5.00 / ton ) – and is great to use for a base material of patios and walkways.  It fills and levels easily, and once it’s down and gets wet – it locks down and turns into a concrete-like base.  That really helped give us a head start on the patio. We simply added a few more inches of the screenings to level it and then tamped it down to give us a perfect working surface.

End of Day 1. About one-third of the patio is down. I’m sure work today will go much slower with sore knees and backs! :)

So with a little string – a level – and a whole lot of reclaimed bricks – we began to build it.  One thing is for sure, when your working with reclaimed brick from all over – nothing will ever fit “perfectly”.  We had to experiment for a while with the pattern to decide on the look we wanted.  We finally decided to use a soldier course around the perimeter using dad’s old brick – and then fill in the main patio area with the red fired brick.

We worked last evening for about 3 hours -and made pretty good progress -about 1/3 of the main patio area is down.  Hopefully, by the end of the weekend -we can fill in between with mason sand – set down a couple of tables and chairs…and relax!  Oh wait – that’s right – we still have to brick the whole barn!  Oh well, all in time…..

Looking down from the garden at the progress on the patio.

Retaining Wall Work – Will It Ever Be Finished?

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The back hill in the early spring right after transplanting the grasses

In general – I am a very happy person – but everyone has their moments – and for me – nothing  can make me grumpier  than slow progress  - and this wall project has been SLOW MOVING!!!

The need for the wall : the ground erosion from spring rains around the new transplants

It’s not from a lack of effort mind you – we’ve been at it off and on all spring – but the rainy early spring and the sheer task of moving all of the rock has been quite the ordeal.  So what once was a dirt hill created by leveling out the space for the barn – is now turning ever so slowly into a landscaped back hill area.  There is still so much to do – but it’s nice to at least see it starting to take shape.

Back hill with bottom leveled out and first row of rock in – drain tile not in yet – so still muddy from the rains

It’s such an important part of the overall barn project – because when it rains – the water run-off erodes the hill and then pools behind the barn, right where half of the patio will be.  Hopefully, of course – after this project is finished – that will be just a memory.

So – the last few days in between that pesky “day job” work thing we all must do :)  - we have managed to get more of the rock in place, and the top portion of the hill mulched.

Progress to this point – upper stone in, and upper plants mulched - next up – install drain tile behind bottom rock and lower level.

This weekend  - in between a slew of baseball and softball games – we hope to get the drain tile laid in.  We are going to put 3 different sets of tile at 3 levels to insure proper drainage of the water – putting a four-inch drain tile at the top of the hill to catch initial water, another laid in behind the bottom rock to catch the runoff, and then a third buried on the bottom pad to quickly take off any left over.

After that – we can plant the remaining grass transplants that are in the holding bed in the garden – and then finally time to install the patio!  ….and i can be happy again :)

Planting and Dividing Ornamental Grasses on the Cheap!

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One of our small ornamental grasses in bloom last fall.  Grasses are great because they give ever-changing color and texture all year long

Although it’s a little early here in Ohio to get into all out landscaping mode,  late February and early March are GREAT times to transplant ornamental grasses.   We have a huge area around the new barn and patio to  landscape – and ornamental grasses of all different sizes and colors will be the plants of choice.  We dug up, divided and planted over 100 grasses from just 10 plants that we had planted in holding beds last spring.  ( See the six step tutorial at the end of this post)

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Just a tiny transplant two years ago – these grasses have grown to shade in the entire back side of the upper pergola area.

Ornamental grasses are growing in popularity each year –and with good reason.  Grasses are a great addition to any landscape – and are one of the easiest perennials to care for.  They are drought resistant, over-watering tolerant, and have very few insects or diseases that attack them.
Even the dreaded Japanese Beatle is not a threat to most ornamental grasses.  They may stop by to hang out now and then on the blades, but do not consume them as they do with rose bushes and other plants in the yard.

In addition, ornamental grasses provide great spring and summer cover – followed by beautiful fall colors and blooms that can range from feathery to willow like greens, reds and browns.   We leave our grasses up through the winter as well – providing a great look to the winter landscape and giving great cover and nesting material to birds.

Grasses can be divided into two basic groups – clump formers and tubing formers (rhizomatous).

Using transplanted grasses – we filled around the pergola last spring with small starts of ornamental transplants

My favorites, and the focus of this post – are the clump formers – they are easy to take care of and can be divided easily to bring extra plants and beauty to your landscape for cheap!   Although the tubing formers (rhizomatous) can be an excellent ground cover – you must be careful where you plant or else they can quickly spread, becoming invasive and taking over entire areas of your garden and landscape.

By late fall – the transplants had filled in and provided great color

Clump varieties can take on almost any size and color.   They can range from as little as 8 to 10 inches to more than 15 feet high and taking on colors of green, green/yellow, green/blue, blue, red, brown, and variegated.

Grasses can be dug up every year and split to keep plants at a certain size – or left go for a few years to develop larger clumps and a bigger impact.

Transplants are in!  Although it looks barren now – we hope by late spring or early summer this area around the barn will be full of grasses of all size and texture

So – back to the barn landscape – it’s all in now….at a cost of….$0!  Through using plants that we have acquired through the years, and trading varieties of our clumps with family and friends that had others – we put in 100+ plants for free – not a bad day at the ol’ farmstead!

Here are two great ways to save when adding them to your landscape:

By the end of the fall, the area has begun to fill in beautifully

By the end of the fall, the area has begun to fill in beautifully

1.            Purchase a plant you really like at a nursery, let it grow for a year, and then divide into smaller plant.  We have been able to get 4 to 6 plants from an original plant the very next year.

2.            Find a friend or a neighbor who has a big clump of a grass growing you like and ask for a start or two in return for helping to thin them out.  We were able to get 24 plants of a special small grass we wanted just this past weekend by volunteering to thin out some overgrown clumps from a business landscape.  It took us about 10 minutes to dig up, divide up the large clumps and replant smaller grasses back.  Our take – we got to take home 24 extra plants to use around the barn landscaping.  (extra tip – when digging large older clumps – be careful not to take starts from the center –this is where the plant “dies out” as it grows. – we just chop up this dead area and throw in the compost bin).

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Ornamental Grasses In Full Bloom