"We don't want to have to cut the grass" Progress Update

This post is an update on an earlier post "We don't want to have to cut the grass"

We've made some good progress on this project and are in it's final stages. Today we were filling the flower beds with the finished soil and closing out the painting.

Above, the base coat has been applied and we are beginning the textured paint finish or "Stucco" as it is called here.

As you can see below, it has a rough finish to it, that gives a great look, and hides and imperfections in the cement work. There are many ways of applying it, each giving different results. In this particular case, we used spatulas and rollers.

As you can see, the paint makes a big difference to the project.

The top 'seat' as it where, that is around most of the flower beds is painted a different colour and has a smooth finish. This is also the case on its outward facing front side of it.

Bringing in the soil is no easy task. Obviously no trucks or machines can get to most of the beds, so it all has to be wheeled in.

We used some fill material where the beds were really deep. This material already had a lot of organic material so will act as a good base.

Black soil was added on top, as the underlying material compacts and sinks with the rainfall, we will add more at a later date, with a finished depth of around 1' for this black soil.

This particular bed below, may trap water from the rock path in the front of the house, so we added drainage pipes, with drilled holes, covered with stone so that the water can leach out into the bed.

As you can see, the paint and soil together makes a big difference, and its starting to look almost finished.