When we moved into our new (first!) house in July, it was too hot to garden. Actually, it was too hot to do anything but sit inside and enjoy the air conditioning and eat popsicles. We’ve had to make up for it since the great cooling off in October. In an effort to make the house more comfortable, I decided we should have a vegetable garden and a decently landscaped yard that could be used for outdoor entertaining.

A large section of what would be our yard was given over to a gravel drive, which I found both visually unappealing and insulting. It was as though that much grass was just too hard to take care of. B says that in earlier pictures of the house, there isn’t gravel–just grass–but that it was being used for parking anyway. Because walking the 80 feet from the asphalt part of the drive up to the house was too challenging? The popsicles might melt? Again, annoying and insulting to future owners. The gravel had to go.

Here is our driveway before. The part on the right from the fence to the house is what I am working on:

And here is our driveway after countless wheelbarrow trips and sore backs and Advils:

It’s hard to see in the picture–all that’s left is a 5′x10′ square in the lower left. Perhaps you don’t believe me? This is at the end of the gravel part of the drive:

Wheelbarrow by heavy wheelbarrow, there is probably 150 square feet of 1.5″ limestone rock here. (Yours, free, you haul.) I’m 75% done with the top layer! (Did you catch that? There’s a second layer. Oh yeah.) Several people have asked why I don’t just hire a Bobcat or some day laborers. My current hourly rate is $0, given that my kickass employment and I have not yet intersected. I have the time, I don’t have the money, and I have the inclination to do it. So that’s how it’s getting done for now.

While I am more excited about the plants part of landscaping, I am trying to take the Mr. Miyagi approach to gardening–”First learn stand, then learn fly.”

But when it comes time to do the rest of the drive, I’ve earned the right to call in the Bobcat.