Landscaping

Apologies for the lack of recent posts caused by planning and executing the move and by a broken arm! With the inside pretty much complete, the next major episode is landscaping. Here's how the front was looking with most of the retaining wall complete:

The first step is to replace the topsoil. The topsoil is delivered by a special remote control dumpster truck. The driver/operator has a remote control device that enables him to drive the vehicle and operate the soil dumping process from outside the vehicle. It's quite something to watch a 15 ton vehicle maneuvering on a hill with no-one at the wheel!

The truck has a delivery system that enables the operator to spray the dirt where it is needed - it's the ultimate in toys for boys! The delivery system is a mechanical arm with an integrated conveyor belt. It can be elevated up to 12 feet high, rotate 180 degrees and launch material up to 100 feet! Here it is saving numerous wheelbarrow loads delivering dirt to the back of the house:

And the side:

It puts the soil exactly where you want it with extraordinary accuracy:

Well, almost extraordinary accuracy...

A less dramatic flow rate is required for the front of the house:

Though it doesn't take very long to deliver several yards of high quality loamy topsoil.

I was pretty fascinated by this machine as you can tell, while Richard was just enjoying the wheelbarrow loads he wasn't going to have to deal with by hand!

Once the truck is gone, the process of flattening and distributing the soil uses a slightly older technology...

Then it's time to start laying out the plants:

Once the plants are in, a layer of bark dust goes on the soil for erosion protection. The tree still in the bucket is a Dogwood, one of Julia's favourite trees and one which grows well in this climate.

And here's how it looks at this stage with the first stage of planting completed. The azalea is already blooming and the Dogwood to it's left is already budding out.

We plan to add more plants as well as a pond as we go forward. So watch this space!