Paving stone path around house adding color and style to dry area under overhang.
When we moved into our new home, I noticed that unlike the eastside Milwaukee duplex where I had lived previously, this new home had a really wide overhang. That in turn produced an area close to the house where nothing grew due to lack of moisture. That empty dirt space looked weird to me so I planted a few perennials and watered them frequently to keep the plants alive. It was a lot of work and my husband complained that my frequent watering was going to rot the wood siding on our house. It was not a good solution!
One day while visiting my friend Joanne, I notice that her prairie style house had an even wider overhang than our ranch home. She had, however, laid paving stones under those overhangs creating a path close to the house. This path allowed her to work on the garden from the back and created a handy path that became a nice design element in the yard. More importantly, it filled in the weird section of dry dirt with something useful and looked really nice.
When I got back home I did a bit of measuring and drove straight to our local Menard’s building center. I bought enough paving stones to circle our house and installed them in the next couple of days. This new path added a bit of color and style to a problem area and I loved how it looked. I also found that I could now go outside during a rainstorm, and under the cover of our roof overhang, walk on a dry pathway completely around the house.
I have found that some of the best ideas for garden improvement have come from my “garden friends”. Joanne’s paving stone path was a much better solution to my dry dirt dilemma.
Love this!! I’ve used the path myself – very handy!
Hi Genie,
I love your solution to the dry area under the overhang – the stone pavers are a lovely color! One thing I was wondering is if you had ever tried water storage crystals for drier areas in the garden. Here in Brisbane, Australia, we experienced the worst drought on record from 2003 to 2010 and whenever anything was planted in our garden, we first placed a handful or so of water saving crystals in before putting in the plant. Of course, not all of our plants and shrubs survived the hot dry weather, but most did (rather incredible since we were also on a watering ban – no hose watering of gardens). I did a quick google search for a US site that sold or would explain how they work, etc, but could only find Aussie sites (since I don’t ever recall having much of a need for such things while living in Milwaukee, I don’t know if they sell them there). Here is a link to an Aussie hardware site that gives a good and brief explanation about the water saving crystals: http://www.bunnings.com.au/sustainability_save-water_water-storage-crystals.aspx
Happy gardening!
Kelly
Thanks!!! What a great idea!!! Walt will be put to work come April doing this as we,too,have those large overhangs…and he “complains” A LOT!!! 😉