Problem....back yard never looks good

[G.W]

I laid these stepping stones making a pathway from the laundry door to the garage and clothes line and driveway quite a few years ago. First they were too high so i dug them in deeper, they sunk so i lifted them, putting a layer of small stones underneath and they have sunk again. Maybe if i had left them the first time they'd have been okay. What i am trying now, after it being suggested to me, is rather than lift them I'm attempting to dig down around them. However it is just a bit exhausting....to say the least. I have put a row of pavers making a slight step up as the level outside the laundry door is low and rubbish does accumulate there. Grass never grows evenlly and it is a pain to mow that area so i am open to suggestions. So far suggestions are mulch, gravel, artificial grass.

Aaaaagh, nature and landscaping! True that stones and levels don't tend to stay the same. I live in North Carolina at the coast and we did a huge 20X10 patio. My neighbor is a brick mason and gave us great tips for doing this! Ready here goes.......... something called crush and run gravel....(it has small bits of crushed gravel that act like cement), leveled it, then tamp it down with a rented tamper,the 1-2 inches of sand and set the bricks or in your case pavers then filled in grooves with a special mix. But even after that roots from bamboo snuck under and they became unloved. Sooooooooo, you can do all that and still have nature to mess it up a bit. But we did another small area and just set it in sand and enjoy the irregularities of it. I try to just do some fudge factoring to make the difference appealing and still enjoy all our hard work. I feel your frustration but it still can be beautiful and something for you to be proud of. Wish I had a picture of that patio but it is in the archives on an old computer. I wish you success!

 

[DeborahJane]

I agree G.W.....do what you can and enjoy what mother nature does with it!