Week Two in the Garden; or How to Flood your Courtyard

Over the weekend I used some blocks that were stacked in our yard to outline where the future walkway will be. I thought this would help me to see where the walkway ends and the future lawn will begin. It did just that, but it also showed me a design flaw.

 

If you look closely you can see the rut in the middle of the one-day walkway where water was rushing toward the house. Not good.

We have been receiving a lot of rain due to Hurricane Isaac. My house is downhill from the road and rainwater runs down our driveway toward the house. There is a drain installed near the Maple tree, one in front of the garage door, and another in the courtyard. These drains do an ok job of diverting water from our home- we haven't flooded yet and a good portion of our county flooded in 2009.

After I placed the blocks outlining my future walkway the rainwater is funneled toward the courtyard gate and pools in front of the courtyard. Really pools. I ran out into the rain yesterday to remove two of the blocks near the fence, and that allowed the water to keep flowing...seriously, with the blocks funneling water down the future walkway and then the opening near the fence I created a waterfall down the path and a small river flowing to the left in front of our lounge window!

We won't be keeping the blocks. But before this experiment one option up for consideration was to line the walkway with nice rocks and fill it in with pea gravel. Scratch that.

Now we are looking at placing large pavers to create stepping stones, or pave the area to match the driveway. Stepping stones would be nice and would keep a woodsy feel to our home, as if we lived in the 'Shire. On the other hand, paving would be low maintenance and if we one day needed to be motor to the front door in our power chair a walkway would accomodate that need. Not that I plan on being in a wheelchair but I am not blind to how many wheelchairs are used in my family.

 

Found this pic on the web today at examiner.com in a story about Bellvue Gardens. Of course, with our downhill slope I would be riding the brakes the whole way to the door.

I had mown the back garden before placing the blocks in my one-day walkway; and was thinking that one of the nice things about having a pine straw front garden is that I don't have to mow. I may look into some no-mow or low-mow options for our small front garden. We get about 4 hours of sunlight a day on that spot; I contacted the Master Gardeners of Carroll County and was told that with that our best bet will be Fescue grass. I think Fescue may be one of the grasses that turn brown in the winter. I may check and see if there is any type of low growing mondo or liriope that I could use also. I am really digging not mowing.

Today's entry seems to be more about things I am ruling out than what I am putting in- so to share everything I did do in the courtyard; I painted the front door blue, planted monkey grass (liriope big blue) around the interior perimeter of the courtyard, and picked up some cute wall art at Hobby Lobby that looks like outlines of topiaries. I think the art will give a nod to the Charleston/New Orleans feel I like and the monkey grass will add year round greenery. We also added a large pot in the corner to balance the blue door. Pictures are coming soon!