Postcards from Thailand #63 - The Amazon Delta

I’ve been going on about sorting out a proper driveway ever since I moved in this house but we’ve come around to thinking that we both quite like the natural red earth and weed effect. Its natural. Why would I need to formalise it with hard edges and acres of block paving or stamped concrete.

There is a problem though. Most of the red earth is infill and even after building a ramped threshold, the front garden turns into a map of the Amazon delta as water pours into the street, carrying tons of my garden with it. The water flowing down the garden has chosen the route of least resistance, and that route is due to the 10+ cars that visit the clinic each day, creating tracks in the bare earth which means the weeds don’t get time to grow and provide roots to keep the soil together hence with the first drop of rain, I say bye-bye to half the garden as it goes over the top and down the road.

Providing the road with a matching, colour coded to finish to my front yard!

Once again. The neighbours aren’t happy. This time though, I can’t really blame them so I finally decided to try and do something about it whilst at the same time, keeping the wife happy and not blowing a stack of cash.

I need gravel!

I’m actually creating a world of geographical features in the garden. This will be Mount Fuji!

The plan is to lay gravel so when the water flows down the garden, any red sand carried along will get trapped in the gravel and not disappear down the road! There are downsides to this plan though. As I’m not going to lay a landscaping fabric and nice, neat edges, any weeds or grass that grow through the gravel will need strimming and strimming over stones is a dangerous affair as I’ve already had a broken patio window from a strimmer attack. Care will be needed.

I had 2 square metres of aggregate delivered. I’m hoping it will be enough and there will be a little leftover for a bit of concrete making! I got them to drop it around the back when of course, I needed it around the front so it was out with the barrow, a shovel and a rake, and into the rain I went!

OK. It's not finished yet, but only had a couple of hours yesterday and it’s hard graft and bloody hot work, despite the rain, for an old fella like me!

Now I ended up with a grey coloured Amazon river delta. It’ll blend in nicely in a few months, I’m sure…ish. Then I can get the sand off the road and wait for the next big rain to arrive so I can see if the cunning and cheap plan worked.

Either way. I got in nearly 12K steps, which, considering the effort ought to have been more,and a fine excuse to pop out for a nice massage to soothe my aching back! A bonus positive is that when I finally finish it later this week, I’ll be able to sneak in another cheeky post!

Thanks for dropping by and a fine, healthy and happy week to all.

Martin

@nathen007

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Daily Activity, Gardening