Adding Width to the Footpath

Now that tearing out the lawn is completed, the next step in the front yard project of a thousand years (it certainly feels like it's taking that long), is to widen the existing footpath. The jades which were planted too close to the path overhang it by quite a bit and constantly cutting them back actually does pretty much nothing to gain space. So before the architectural piece I keep mentioning but never seem to get to, is installed, a wider walkway needs to be created out of bits and bobs of leftover rock and bricks. If nothing else, we need to be able to get the yard waste bin out to the street and back without damaging too much greenery.

I believe I mentioned in a previous post that a neighbor who was moving out was happy to give me the broken concrete from his driveway and I still have bricks left over from another free neighbor score. Whether they will be enough for what I need is the big question mark in all this, though even if not, there is so much stuff about the place in various piles, there's bound to be something that is both practical for the purpose, and whimsical in the application.

The trick is to somehow link these otherwise different materials into a cohesive looking whole - patchworking them so they look like a plan and not merely a hodgepodge. The plan will ultimately involve some sort of steppable ground cover, but that kind of planting is best done in January/February and not what Southern Californians consider the depths of a brutal winter (all of 41°F at night). I know - we're total wimps. 

Speaking of ground covers, the Dymondia is still hanging in there and though the cold certainly isn't helping things, if it hasn't gone totally belly up by now, there may be a remote chance it will grow and be prosperous. On this score I am keeping both fingers and toes crossed. The squirrels appear to have lost interest in it as well, which certainly improves the chance of survival. Not finding little excavations for nut storage is a good thing.