Landscape Spring Clean Up at Big Creek
Landscape Spring Clean Up at Big Creek
Coach has been working his tail off for a few weeks on an amazing landscape Spring clean up, and I finally got the chance to get in there and help him out recently. I also want to show off one of our first DIY outdoor furniture projects! We are just thrilled with the results of our hard work, and SOOO ready for creek weather!
It seems that getting out and doing a spring landscape cleanup really helps us stay motivated while we wait for summer, doesn’t it? These “teaser” days, as I like to call them (you know, the warm days when it’s really still winter), are perfect for clearing, cleaning and doing a little design work on our outdoor living spaces. I love days like this. They make me truly believe that there will be sunshine and warmth again soon. I need those reminders!
Creekside Cleanup
You may or may not remember this post from 2015, Creekside Cleanup And Our New DIY Zipline, where I showed some great before-and-after shots of ‘The Park’. It’s a great story, and the pictures really do show an amazing transformation. There’s one pic in particular that I want you to see, so I’ll just share it again.
See that jungle behind the old rock smoker? Don’t forget about that jungle, ok? Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter (thanks so much!) got to see another couple of shots of the same area, and I’ll share those again.
You won’t believe how that space looks now! Coach and Granddaddy got after it with all kinds of big, buzzing tools and just cleared it right out! Peep the amazing results of their hard work:
from the other direction
That’s a landscape spring clean up if I’ve ever seen one!
Creek Rock Landscaping
We love to use the abundance of rocks that are hanging around the place in our landscaping projects, as you may remember from last year in Gardening With Rocks, Creekside. Rocks are everywhere here…in the creek, and in the ground. There’s a rock retaining wall that was built by Papa or his Papa, I’m not sure which, down at the base of our driveway facing the old bridge. Over the years it has gotten a little snaggletoothed, which is to be expected. Coach got it all put together again, and I had to snap a pic.
On the main big project I’m sharing today, we decided to use some man-made landscape edgers that Coach got on a job he did last year. We’ll be adding some rocks later on, and there are a few big dudes that just sort of worked their way into the design already. We love gardening with rocks, but when someone gives you free landscaping stones, you use them!
After working hard to clean out all that gnarly brush and cane, Coach really wanted to do some beautification and design to really neaten up the space. He was wondering how to maintain the landscaping that he had worked so hard to do, to keep it from just washing away and becoming overgrown again. That’s where I came in to help. I don’t run chainsaws and I don’t do too well with pruners, but I can haul concrete landscaping stones all day!
This was the end result of our first project that day, and we both just love it. It’s a very simple thing, but made such a huge visual difference in this area. That big ol’ rock that Coach has his foot propped on makes the perfect seat for gazing at the creek, and having the edging in place will keep that little slope from washing out so badly. Coach is just a genius when it comes to this stuff! All that landscape spring cleanup he did was well worth it for the end result of this neat project.
Easy DIY Bench
I promised to show off one of our first DIY outdoor furniture projects, and that’s what I’ll close with. This space used to be home to a little covered shed that my grandfather liked to hide in to fish and have some peace and quiet. The shed eventually kind of fell apart, and at some point (maybe when the driveway was paved?) someone just pushed a bunch of trees and crap down the embankment, burying what was left of the shed. Yep, Coach cleaned that spot up, too, and found all kinds of treasures (like barb wire and glass bottles). It took several different bonfires to get rid of all the crud he cleaned out of there, and the clean, bare spot kept calling my name while we worked on the first project.
“Why don’t we put a bench right there?” , I said. I could tell Coach was extremely overjoyed by my idea to keep working, keep hauling heavy things, and start a second project! (Do you read the sarcasm in that?) But, Coach is awesome, and he encouraged my idea, agreeing to do the heavy lifting.
I did put in the grunt work (*snort) of leveling a big enough spot for a bench (while Coach hauled those concrete edgers). We (Coach) grabbed two stumps from around our fire pit (because Coach insisted he wanted to replace them anyway), and we made sure they were fairly level.
When we got the floors redone in the house back in the fall, we discovered that one of our floor joists was actually a beam from an old log cabin (see Rotten Floor Joist Repair). We held onto that one, because it was just so neat, intending to use it for some purpose or another. I decided (and thankfully, Coach truly did agree) that this was the perfect purpose! The seat of our easy DIY bench is just that, one of the sections of that old log cabin beam. It’s pretty spongy and soft from all those years of termites snacking on it, but it’s plenty sturdy to sit on for probably the next 50 years.
Talk about some cheap outdoor seating! All we had to do then was build up the ground around it and sort of tier it off, just to make it easier to get to the bench without feeling like you might slide into the creek (no problem! hee hee!) Ok, so it was a little more work than Coach probably intended for the day, but just look at the view from our new bench!
Breathtaking, right?
Landscape Spring Cleanup Success!
I’m just so thrilled with all that Coach has done here, and I’m pretty proud of my own small contributions, as well. Honestly, with all of this awesome landscape spring cleanup I’ve shown you today, I’m most proud of the fact that I can see the bridge and the zipline from my favorite comfy seat. I really do look forward to watching all the kids whip off that bridge this summer without having to get up and walk out onto the dock!
Thanks for hanging with me today. I hope you enjoyed these awesome before and after shots of our landscape spring cleanup, and maybe even got some inspiration for your own impending projects. Summertime’s a-comin’, y’all! Let’s get all the work done so we can just kick back, relax, and enjoy the creek!
X,O,X,O, Martie
March 24, 2017 @ 8:37 am
I’m thinking par-tay! Looks great! I’m proud of all that work. I feel tired.
March 25, 2017 @ 9:30 am
I’m definitely thinking par-tay! Can’t wait!! 🙂