Hello earthlings. Welcome to the world of plants, dirt and rocks. This blog will revolve around the small landscape company my wife, Donna, and I own and run, known as Harmony Landscapes, and the plants and landscape situations we have encountered along the way. Just a good time talking earthly subjects and such! Thanks for stopping by....themanfromearth (aka Rob Huckestein) (harmonylandscapes@yahoo.com)
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Friday, August 27, 2021
Flagstone patio, fire pit, steps and sitting wall, Emerald zoysia sod, and drainage. That's the not so condensed title of this post.
Here's a project I recently designed/installed in Vestavia Hills, AL -
This project objective was to create an additional outdoor space to the existing deck. The middle rail of the deck was removed to allow access to the flagstone patio area.
Elevation and drainage were given careful consideration while designing the project.
The sitting wall was installed so it could be backfilled creating a slight slope away from the patio.
This drainage basin with a heavy duty plastic grate was our fix for a substantial drainage problem. There are 2 four inch pvc pipes that handle the rain water depositing it 110 feet at the other end of the property.
The fire pit will be put to good use in the Fall and Winter months.
My brother, John, helped me with this project which included installing six pallets of Emerald zoysia sod.
90 percent of this patio was installed using a buff polymer sand. Method: The original dirt was hand tamped. Then #57 gravel was installed follow by a 1 to 2 inch layer of #8910 gravel. We followed the addition of the gravels by tamping with a plate compactor. Finally, a thin layer of sand was added which assisted in leveling the flagstone.The polymer sand was used as a substitute for a mortar grout. The product set up great.

Here are the before pictures!