(If you’d like to follow this project from the beginning you can start at Step 1 here)

Step 4 of Rear Garden Design Project.

June 2000

On June 19, 2000 I had three bins of Pennsylvania river rock delivered for me to use in building the walls of the terraced back entry. Though my property is rich with stone, (I do live along a road named Stony Hollow after all) I knew there wouldn’t be enough rock to complete the project as designed. The wire bins which contained the stone eventually became repurposed as my compost bins offering me many years of service.

Pennsylvania river rock delivered to the project site

The non-native river rock has a slightly different color than the native rock. It has a cooler shade of gray then the more earth toned local material. I was and am, somewhat bothered by this color shift.

Rocks dug from the garden help to define the dry stream bed

With each shovel dug into the ground over decades of gardening I’ve unearthed more and more stone treasures. I use these treasures to design and delineate my ideas, walkways and planting beds.

First hose and then rocks help to define the woodland walkways

I use garden hoses in the early stages of creating the curves. You can see the hose towards the right hand curve. This allows me to visualize the movement and width of the walkways from many perspectives without breaking my back. Once I feel somewhat satisfied, I then replace the hose with rocks. I have been known to move the rocks over and over as time helps me to consider and reconsider the flow of plants and the land.

It is so creative to plan a garden so what’s a little pain!

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Go to Step 5 – Hard Labor on the Rock Pile

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