Recycling a Collapsed House, Part Two
I have the patio I set out to build mostly complete…I think. The whole process has been very organic, changing as I went along. It’s hard to get a project like this done with only sporadic access to a vehicle. Even so, it’s only been about three weeks since I started. I’m just waiting to be able to get more junipers for the stair “risers,” and the thyme for the cracks in the brick. More views:
This is what’s left of the steps I demolished:
Discovered one of the trees in the yard is some kind of edible berry, which Niko likes a lot:
Meanwhile, the Japanese knotweed continues to grow up through the bricks, even though I pulled out tens of pounds of roots. Not to mention the back of the yard:
Before and after:
June 11th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Looking good!
We’ve got that Japanese knotweed in our yard as well. We keep pulling it up but it keeps coming back. So. Annoying.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
It’s edible, btw. Tastes like lemony rhubarb. The green stalks are too tough to eat, but anything with red still in it will be soft enough to eat after cooking. You can sautee the leaves like spinach.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Jeremy. Great effort on your backyard. Next weekend I am planning on starting mine from scratch. What did you put under the bricks, and where did you get them from.
I’m probably going to use pavers, and I heard there is a fabric, plastic piece or something to put down to prevent the weeds from coming up.
A masonary company offered to put cement down but it’s a fortune.
Did you use a leveler to make sure the ground is even. Also you need to make sure your ground is even with the neighbors because you never know where damaging rain will end up.
Also some say you are suppose to make the patio itself slighly unlevel to make the rain fall off of it.
Just my 2 cents!
June 11th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
The bricks and bluestone were in my yard. I know there’s that plastic stuff, but I hate the idea of sealing the ground shut. I didn’t use any kind of device except my eye to level the ground, and to flatten it I used small a piece of plywood and a rubber mallet, after stomping on it hard with my feet. Au natural
The bricks are not level, but I like it. I mean, nobody is gonna bust their ass walking on it, but it’s not exactly like a sidewalk either.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
The edible berries are mulberries and they are delicious. Its a fast growing tree that will make your make your yard pretty shady in a few years. Unfortunately, the trees often drop tons a lot of berries and can make a mess. Luckly the birds, squirels and raccoons love them.
I really like the idea of recycling the materials you found on site. Good luck with growning tyme in the joints. With the lousy soil left from all the constuction debris and shade it may take be kinda hard to get in to grow. Moss is an alternative and it is pretty and it will grow almost anywhere.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Oh, mulberries, cool. The mess is no problem because Niko eats them up when he goes outside.
As for the thyme, the dirt in the cracks of the bricks is new topsoil that I bought, and while you see the shade in these pics, there is a good 3 hours of full sun for most of the patio. But I actually have some moss in the yard and will transplant some of that in addition. Thanks!
June 11th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
What are your options for a fence? The backyard is coming along just in time for the 4th of July. I like your idea of doing thing au naturel. others are worring about it being perfect leveled and pitched.
Those mulberries are sweet, and Niko will be rigtht there to get them. Where are you getting gardening supplies from? Is there anyplace other than Home Depot to buy this stuff at? Your patio looks awesome looking down on it. Love the recycled blue stone. I have some of it too, and it’s going near the house.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:15 am
whoa i never thought about trying to eat the japanese knotweed! i fought that stuff for the past 6 years at my old place. it is one tenacious plant!
and the mullberries … be glad you have the purple variety. i lived under one of the white-fruited ones for years, the berries are still edible but don’t really tatse like anything. consequently, they’d pile up and just be ignored by local wildlife (except flies). in june the berries will rain upon you nonstop, but then it will stop after a month and be an otherwise nice tree the rest of the year.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:38 am
looks amazing! love that it’s all buried elements brought to life in a new way.
And yeah, that mullberry tree will grow like a weed. And it’s flybait. THere’s one right on our neighbors side of the property and when we moved in in ‘04 it was a tiny spindly thing. Now it’s a monster.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:09 am
it’s a great backyard jeremy, and one that you will enjoy this summer. great place to escape from the street noise. are you thinking of a fence or something? your neighbors look like they take care of their backyard, so maybe no fence is needed. remember to be careful with the BBQ, and those popular fire pits. with the patio covering most of your backyard it doesn’t look like you have a lot of trash to clean up. if you didn’t have this you’d be picking up trash constantly, especially the broken glass which never seems to go away.
June 12th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for providing the progress report. It looks beautiful. Great use of on-site materials. I really like the slate flagstones alongside the brick area.
You will never be able to eradicate the knotweed through mechanical means alone. The roots can go down three feet, and any small piece left in the ground will resprout. Keep cutting it back to the ground. If you’re comfortable doing so, you can directly inject a systemic herbicide into the cut stems using a basting syringe.
You also need all your neighbors to be aggressive with it as well. Volunteer to take it out of their yards if they don’t have the means to do so themselves. And if it ever flowers, it must be cut down to the ground immediately. Allowing it to go to seed even one year means you will be stuck with seedlings for many years to come.
June 12th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
The neighbor to the left, as you see, keeps a very neat garden, and he has also been killing the knotweed as he sees it. To the right, unfortunately, is a vacant lot used as storage for a construction company’s vehicles, so they don’t give a shit. Not to mention the piles of trash and debris they toss back there.
Thanks for the advice, and I’ll just keep cutting it. Anyone know where to get a machete? Home Depot doesn’t have any — they’re the all-purpose gardening implement of choice in Miami, and they would make quick work of that knotweed.