Filling Soil and Gravel
2005.09.27
The forecast calls for rain this coming weekend, starting Thursday night. So I decided to take today off to try to get the rest of my planting bed filled before the rain comes. Today it was overcast in the morning but sunny in the afternoon, and got up to 75° or so.
Last night after I got home from work, I did a little more on the project, getting a second level of old fence boards in place at the front corner, and filling in a little more soil and gravel. I could only work for about an hour, if that, before it was too dark to really see what I was doing. I even hooked up a halogen work light to get a little further along.
This morning I got started around 7:30 am. Getting the pea gravel in place became much easier once I hit upon the brilliant but somewhat dangerous idea of making a 2x6 bridge across the egress well, so I could take the wheelbarrow down inside the planting bed walls and dump right into the gravel area. Don’t try this at home, kids.
Around mid-morning, a sketchy-looking full size van pulled up, and a lady got out and tossed the free weekly offering from the Oregonian on the porch. I put it right into the planting bed.
By noon, I had managed to fill down to the window well, and was feeling like I might actually finish today.
When I headed back out after taking a lunch break, there were two guys standing in the street talking, an older white guy and a younger black guy. After they noticed me, the black guy came over and asked if I needed any help, as he was down on his luck a bit and could use a little money. I told him I couldn’t help him. He went back over to the other guy, and they talked for a while longer, then both headed off in different directions. As the afternoon went on, I saw the black guy go back and forth along the sidewalk, either on my side or the other side of the street, several times, as if he was making trips somewhere and back. Just what is it that one does all day when one is down and out?
Around 4:30 pm, I was basically finished filling in the planting bed. On the west end, next to the egress well, I just let the soil and pea gravel taper off. I’m not totally happy with such an unfinished edge, but I’m not really sure what I want to do in that area. I have some thoughts about building a planting area around the egress well, probably at approximately existing grade, so I need to figure out how I want to transition between that and the raised bed. So for now… I think I’ll just leave it loose.
I took some time to clean up, and then wondered what to do with all the materials I had left. I had ordered more than I had calculated that I needed, just to make sure I had enough. I had calculated the volume of the gravel area at just under one cubic yard, and the planting area at just under three cubic yards. But I ordered three cubic yards of compost, two cubic yards of mason’s sand, and one each of topsoil and pea gravel. So I knew I would have more compost and sand than I needed. I think they actually brought me three cubic yards of sand instead of two, so I really have more than I need. But the other thing I failed to take into account is that these materials are just loosely filled in… not compacted into a completely solid volume. So even though the area would hold three cubic yards of solid, compressed material, it doesn’t hold that much loose material. I’m guessing that I used about half of what I ordered, except the pea gravel, which I probably used 75%. Had I not used mason’s sand as some of the bottom fill in that area, I think the pea gravel estimate would have been spot on. Live and learn, I guess. I certainly can use the leftover materials for other projects, but in the meantime, I would like to get them off my driveway so I don’t have to drive the car over the yard to get in and out.
Hopefully this weekend I will go check out some nurseries and find some things to plant in the new bed. I don’t think it will be raining all the time, so I should be able to get out there without it being a complete sopping mess.
Building Planter Frame