"A Walk Down the Garden Path"


I did a couple of odd things today, I fed my madness and potted yet another 70 Agave pups (under the excuse that Hurricane Dolly had dropped the temperature a little) then I got creative with some bags of decomposed granite I had left over from the potting frenzy. I dumped them in my wheelbarrow and carried them down my yard. I paused at the point where my granite path dissolves into pine bark. I screwed some fresh eyes into my head, raised an eyebrow, and glanced over at my short pronged rake that was now screaming like a Mandrake root from the interior of my shed.

Mmmmm, something was happening here and
although my stomach was rumbling, eating
would have to wait.


Okay, okay, I know this insanity needs to stop – I think I am up to around the 200 mark.



Maybe just a few more . . . . . . . Arrrggghhhh!


I began to scrape back the pine bark, at first in a little area…

So here is the transition area between granite and pine bark.
I was never happy with this, but for some reason I just kind
of lived with it. What was I thinking?

Then I dumped my 4 bags of decomposed granite into the area, which naturally didn’t go very far, but it gave me an idea for a much bigger plan.

“I will have paths, lots of them, and they will
be great and wide, and people will stroll down them!
Down with the transition area”.

I began raking like a madman, everything falling into place. Beds were defining themselves, pathway lines came naturally, as if I were channeling their contours from another life. I had no concept of time, which usually equates to something good happening.


Before my raking madness and after. The bark mulch was raked into mounds that then defined the shape of the walkways…very effective. These flagstones will be removed in my new master plan.

And so I continued…


I decided to create a cross-roads in front of my Post Oak, one path leading to the brush pile, the other to my shed. I am thinking a wooden sign may take advantage of this junction.

you get the idea.

The best thing about defining these walkways was that they, in turn, defined the future shape of my planting beds. It was kind of there before, but lacked definition….not anymore.


I initially contemplated running a pathway in front of my raised pond.

But then I decided to run the decomposed granite right up to the edge of the raised pond for standing/sitting stability. The rocks will be removed and the wooden platform recessed into the granite.

It was about now that I realized I needed a lot of decomposed granite and a lot of moss boulders to define the edges of my new pathways…
1411 Custom Stone!

A Thirsty Visitor:

Stay Tuned for:

“I have Decomposed Granite stuck in my Teeth”


All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by  late  (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

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A Central Texas Garden Blog. Zone: 8b. Welcome to the East Side Patch. This site tracks the inhabitants of a house and garden on the east side of Austin. All material © 2021 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant) 14th century planet Earth techniques.