Top Dressing

My yard is my joy. I have so many ideas for the new yard but I won't do any of them until we get a sprinkler system. Don't want to have to drag hoses everywhere to keep new plants growing. Since that is way down on the to do list I have to make do with the existing beds. The previous owner had come to the rock yard and bought rock for the beds. It's fun knowing that the rock here came from us. He had a great idea just didn't bring enough in. So everyday I have been bringing home 15 5 gallon buckets of rock and top dressing the beds. That means everyday after work I move 1/2 of a ton of rock. It's not too bad, I move the pickup around so the buckets are where they are going then pour the buckets in and then push the rock around with my foot. The buckets only weigh 64-72 pounds each so they are easy to move around once they are off the truck bed. Last night I got off easy and Bill got home at the same time and dumped the rock for me.

This is what the beds look like now. Just not the look we want. They are kinda ugly.This bed will take about 3 tons of rock by itself to be done right. Good thing we know where to get rock cheap.

The beds will be filled in like this. 

When you use rocks as your mulch you need to be very careful of the plants you put in the beds especially when they are out in the open sun like these are.The plants need to be able to take heat and arid conditions. The rocks will retain heat and can dry things up pretty good. All of the existing beds are on the downward slope of the yard so there will be water run off from the lawn watering into them in addition to their watering. The lawn run off will be under the surface. I think these beds can be kept looking pretty good even without a sprinkler system. Of course. I will probably add a few more boulders to the beds also.