The Great Wall of Bella Vista

Do you remember those days in elementary school when you would get up in front of the room and tell your classmates about  your summer vacation?  Maybe you played baseball all summer, or spent two weeks with your grandparents.  Whatever the major event in your summer was, you shared the adventure with your peers.  Well, this summer I built a wall.
I've been threatening to do this project for several years.  The slope of the yard right at the house is relatively steep and it's difficult to maintain a planting area.  So, phase I of my project involved building this wall of landscape stone four levels.  Each level is about 18 inches high.  I believe that first level is just over 2 feet tall.  I built that lowest level last summer.

Two weeks later, it's time to start phase II of the Great Wall project.  The first step in phase II of the project involved removing some plant material and metal edging.  As you can see, I have already planted the shrubs in the area completed as a part of phase I.  We're making progress.

Once the prep work was done, it was time to start laying the stone.  I usually started around 7:30 a.m. because it's going be 95 degrees by noon and there will be no shade in the work zone.  After I got started, I realized that I was going to have to rework a small section of that third tier in phase I in order to get a smooth transition around the corner.

Once the stones were placed and leveled, it was time to place the new plants.  Needless to say, I made several trips to Lowe's during this project.  The plants include a yew, several knockout roses and some variegated laroipe.  Prior to setting the plants, I had to add about 24 bags of top soil and two bales of peat moss for the entire project.  Once the soil was installed I put down a layer of landscape weed guard material.

After the plants were in place, it was time to add the mulch and water the whole thing.  Phase II complete.  WooHooo, we're almost done.

Another two weeks pass and now I'm ready to finish this project.  The final phase began with removing some more of the metal edging.  I thought this phase was going to be pretty simple and go quickly.  However, there was just enough slope to this secion of the planting bed that I still had to do three tiers.

Three week-ends total, over a period of six weeks and the final product looks like this!  Ta da, The Great Wall of Bella Vista is complete!!!  Not bad for a 64 year old, nearing retirement.  All in all, it took two pallets of stone, 24 bags to top soil, two bales of peat moss, and another 24 bags of mulch.  There is also the better part of a 250' roll of weed guard material in there somewhere.

So, how are you spending your summer?  I think I'll go fishing now.