Friday, December 9, 2011

We have finished our Path


                          If a path be beautiful lets not ask where it leads.  Anatole France

         
            Some men like to make a little garden out of life and walk down a path.  Jean Anouith

                                                                                                                 
This beautiful arbor was given to me by my daughter Debbie Evans and her daughter Tafta Rogers and their husbands Ken Evans and Matt Rogers, for my birthday in 2010.  After much discussion we decided  where the arbor should go.  We both wanted a red rose to climb up the arbor.  After looking in all the nursery catalogs we decided to buy Highway to Heaven.  The pretty red rose has climbed almost to the top of the arbor, we planted it in the spring of 2011.  On the other side of the arbor we planted a very pretty white grandaflora rose bush  Moon Dance.  Then we had to decide what we would use to make the path.  My son Frank Murphy and his wife Carolyn came up and took us  to eat. I wanted fish and to my delite Carolyn did also. We went to Greenville to the Piccadilly, then to Lowes.  After walking around a little while they decided to give me a gift card, for 75.00.  You can never go wrong giving a Lowes gift card to a flower nut.  Carrel was concered that a strong wind might blow the arbor down after the rose  had covered  it.  Carrel dose  not rush into things he thinks about them a while.  The legs where not very long on the arbor so Carrel put it down father than the direction suggested.   When we started on the path the first thing he did was to dig down at the leg part of the arbor on both sides and pour cement into the hole, it was about five to six inches wide and about nine inches deep.  He cut tie rods and placed them on either side of the  legs of the arbor. Then he mixed the cement and poured it in the hole.
other side of the arbor we planted his beautiful Arbor was given to me for my

September 20, 2011
 
Taking a little rest.

After all that hard work the good man had to take a rest.  We still had not decided on the material for the path.  We went back to Lowes and looked at all kinds of stones.  There was one I really liked and thought it would be cheap enough.  We added it up after we got home these would cost nearly 400.00 dollars.  In 2007 I had bought a mold and made a short path.  We came to a decission to make this path the same way.   Here he is digging out from under the gate to pour the  cement.   We did not do this all in one day, believe me.



Getting ready to pour the first set.   Carrel decided to put two molds of cement under the gate, won't have as much trouble with grass.  This is the only area we have had a lot of burmuda grass.  It has been a real pain.  We had bought 5- 40lb bags of concreat and used them at the gate.

 


September, 24-27 2011

Filling the mold with cement I helped smooth.  We called it a day after that.  I think he had to think about how to do the next thing.  Carrel filled the cracks the mold left with sand, and made a curved mold to place a stepping stone my Granddaughter Bridget Kennedy-Edwards gave me with my great grandson Chase's name and foot print in it.  He put the stepping stone in two aluminium throw away pans so if any thing happens to us she can get the stones for her or her Mother's yard.
 
October 28, 2011

We started the path on September 20, 2011 and ran out of cement. Then Carrel pulled  up the Vinca getting ready to pour the rest of the path.  We had bought and used 5- 40lbs. of cement at this time. We went back to Lowes in Greenville Miss.and bought 20 bags more.   October 28 through Noverber 2 we finished the walk.  We went on a trip to north  Arkansas came back had plenty of leaves to rake.  We went back to Lowes and bought 25 bags of com post and cow manure for the beds beside the path.




Setting the mold to finish the end of the of the walk




Me and my shadow

When he finish the walk, Carell poured sand on it and sweeped the sand into the cracks the mold left.

Here Carrelis filling all the cracks with sand.





Carrel is wetting the sand down

The path was higher than the ground so we had to go back to Lowes and get some compost and cow manure to fill in the flower beds.  Carrel is pouring out the compost and I am raking it level.  We bought 25 bags cost 57.00 and some few cents.  All we need to do now is wait for spring and plant the beds full of color.  The full cost of the path was 87.50 thank you Frank and Carlyn for helping me to have a garden room. All I need to do is plant a lot of pretty flowers and get me a rod iron bench. 

The brownish stone that leads off from the path to make the semi circle was given to me by my Granddaughter Bridget and her husband Trinity Edwards.  Trinity is a very talented young man. f He built an outside kitchen, by the pool and made the counter tops out of cemment, stained and finish them,for a couple down the street from him and Bridget.  The room was beautiful.  Yes she is my favorite Rose.
           
Bridget and Trinity have three children, two  sweet boys and a darling little girl.  One little boy was born on my seventyth birthday 06/06/2006, I bought my house and moved here in October 2006.  That year for Christmas they gave me a
stone with ACE's (Conner) foot print on it. Welcome to GiGi's house.  I hope you have enjoyed my blog page about my path.  Thank you for watching my garden grow and hope you will grow one of your own.  Happing garden to you from me. Juanita

4 comments:

  1. I love the picture where you posed like you actually did some of the work. The path is fantastic. I can't wait to come and see it.

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  2. Thank you for visiting my blog. I enjoyed reading through yours. Love the pathway! I have often wondered how well those concrete forms do for laying pathways - yours looks very nice and professional. I also enjoyed seeing your roses (on another post). I have lots of roses of all types in my garden, too. They are a wonderful plant to fall in love with. I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

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  3. I have always wanted a path and with this article you gave full detail and pictures that show exactly how to do it. Now I think I can make one without being scared.
    http://www.onlineplantnursery.com/water-plants/

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  4. Thank you for you comment. The hardest thing was convincing Carrel it would be cheaper to pour our own than buy blocks. Blocks would have cost over twice as much.

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