One of the reasons we bought this little ranch was because of the giant, blank canvas that is the backyard. It’s maybe 1/4 acre of weeds and spotty patches of grass. We loved it. We knew one of the first things we were going to do was get rid of as much lawn as we could by adding stone paths, walkways, trees and flowers. We also wanted to add a big vegetable garden and possibly a greenhouse but those are last on the list. Today we decided to make a stone path going from our deck to the scary shed.
I lined the grass around the shed with our cardboard moving boxes then got 3 yards of white stone delivered.
I lined the stone with border rocks I got for free off Facebook Marketplace
We then created the path with our trusty edging shovel. I debated making it really wide but wisely kept it more narrow because we didn’t know how many rocks we’d be able to collect from around town. You can of course buy beautiful stones that are the exact color and size you want for your path but we have a strict budget of zero dollars so I scoured Facebook Marketplace for free rocks and drove many miles to collect them. My Kia Spectra is a BEAST and I was able to transport a lot of them in her trunk. We were sagging but she got the job done! Next was flipping the sod, shaking the dirt off and putting the grass chunks in the backyard.
After it was flipped and raked we got all the stones in place for the path. This is the most fun part because it’s like creating a puzzle. We were so lucky to have a new landscaper friend give us some additional rocks to complete the path!
Now for the back breaking part. Each thick stone needs to be buried in the dirt so it won’t move around. You take the rock, lift it up, dig a hole the depth of the rock and place it back in. We didn’t use stone dust or sand because they were so thick burying them in dirt would hold them enough. We’re also planning on buying ground cover (We decided to spend some money afterall) and the roots of those would help hold the rocks in place as well.
Here she is for now! Can’t wait to get the pretty little plants for in between the stones and of course to PAINT THAT SHED!! One step at a time I guess…..
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