Rocking in the front ditch

[mjncad]

If we got your rain Sackett2, then I would probably put in a lawn. But given our rip-off water department's current rates, and what they have proposed for rate increases in the past means I won't be trying to recreate England in my neck of semi-arid Colorado.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice job. I was thinking at first that you would use the same rock as your neighbor did, but the contrast in the rock that you did use makes it look even better. I also like how it sets off your home and yard. While I didn't see any before pictures, from the ones you did post of the bare dirt, the house and yard just sort of blends in with each other. With the rock in the front, you've created an accent to the yard and now in my opinion, the house stands out more!!!

Eddie

 

[LBrown59]

Nice work! Hope you have better luck than I with that "weed" barrier....

Granted living in the PNW... it doesn't matter much what you do... weeds seem to grow everywhere... or it's Moss.....

Why'what went wrong with it for you ?

 

[LBrown59]

To make my maintenance life easier, I finally decided to rock in the front ditch. It's not a huge project; but it did give me seat time. Sorry no action pictures of the tractor mucking out the ditch or placing rock as I'm both the operator and photographer. The worst part was laying down the weed control fabric as that beat me up.

Picasa Web Albums - Matt - Front Ditch#

I dlon't like rockes in a ditch because it makes it hard if not impossible to keep the weeds mowed or weed whacked out of it.

 

[mjncad]

Nice job. I was thinking at first that you would use the same rock as your neighbor did, but the contrast in the rock that you did use makes it look even better. I also like how it sets off your home and yard. While I didn't see any before pictures, from the ones you did post of the bare dirt, the house and yard just sort of blends in with each other. With the rock in the front, you've created an accent to the yard and now in my opinion, the house stands out more!!!

Eddie

Thanks Eddie, actually I wanted to use the same cobbles as my neighbor; but at $47 a ton for cobble versus $28 a ton for the tri-color mix I got, the money spoke louder than the cobbles. I could have gotten river rock for $19.50 a ton; but I didn't care for the color, let alone trying to keep it located on the bank, which would have been an issue with the cobbles too.

The tri-color looks real nice after a rain.

 

[mjncad]

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I dlon't like rockes in a ditch because it makes it hard if not impossible to keep the weeds mowed or weed whacked out of it.

That's fine L.B.; but I spray once a year with total vegetation killer before the weeds get going. Plus I don't like to mow or weed whack the ditch. This will make MY life easier, which is why I did it.

 

[jenkinsph]

mjncad, I think the rock you chose looks good, nice job with it all. I imagine it looks alot like the neighbors this morning anyway (covered in snow) how much snow did you guys get with this last front?


Steve

 

[mjncad]

Steve:

If the wind wasn't blowing by me, I estimate we would have had anywhere from 12" - 18". But since the wind kept it from piling up in one big mass, I estimate we had as little as a couple of inches to 6" - 8". I had a drift approaching 18"; but that's about it. Other parts of the metro Denver area got 12" - 24" and Pinecliffe in the mountains west of Denver registered 46".

Now for the good news as far as I'm concerned, about one-third to one-half has melted away from my house.

Thanks for your interest.

 

[mjncad]

Sackett2:

You might find this interesting; I'm posting our current water rates, which is why I'm too cheap to install a lush lawn; though I completely agree with you that it would make the place look nice. If it weren't for the people served by our water district revolting, the base rates would be close to double what they currrently are. One avid gardener in the neighborhood estimated that his summer water bills would be close to $900 a month if the rate increases proposed by the developer/water district would have gone into effect last year.

The Public Unit Development (PUD) that the county approved for this neighborhood precludes private wells. Even if wells were allowed in this area, tapping into the Denver Basin would require a well ranging from 1,000' - 1,200' deep and the state water engineer's department would limit how much irrigation one can do with the water as a condition of the well permit.

Colorado's water law is pretty Byzantine, and it was only this past summer that it became legal in some circumstances to harvest rain water.

So in my case, a lush lawn is out of the question economically and from my lack of skills and interest as a gardener.

 

[4shorts]

Hey Matt that's a pretty slick job your doing there. It looks so neat and tidy but I knew it wouldn't be any different this time. You got some great looking grounds there buddy. Looking forward to seeing the completion of it. thanks for posting!