Slices

In my continued efforts to give my side yard and gate area some love and attention....

This weekend I made this faux welcome mat out of wood rounds.  It was a great excuse to use my new "fun-sized" chain saw, and make use of some major tree pieces that my neighbors had put out for bulk trash.  I sliced the limbs into rounds.  Dug out the ground so that when I laid the rounds down they would be surface level.  Backfilled with dirt, and topped it off with decomposed granite.  I think they will settle even more in over time.  We had very heavy rains this weekend and they are still in place, so that's encouraging. 

Here is a close up shot:

I was going to do a few rounds, and then alternate few planks, like this

but the wood I had on hand wasn't the style I wanted to use.  I can always extend the path later with the alternating forms, when I have lumber I like.

I took advantage of having the saw out and did some clean up of my fire wood rack contents -- soon I will need to be diligent about keeping it and the kindling stacks dry to be ready for fireplace use!  Sigh.  Winter.  A dismal thought.  I also re-placed the stepping stones on the outside of the gate to space them better (no photo, sorry, but really, not that much to see) and trimmed up the shrubs a little to open up the front portion of the walking path.  I'd like to put some mulch down to cover the area until I decide what plants I want to plant in that space (rhubarb?) but for now, this will have to do.