CLEANING GRAVEL 1

When I set up my garden I created plots separated by about 170' of gravel paths. At the time only half my brain was working. It took a season for me to realize if I didn't clean the fallen needles out of the gravel, it would be  buried; and then there are the weeds.

Last year I removed, cleaned, and replaced the gravel in one path, a lot of work. This year I tried a shop vac, a risky  move in public but worth taking. It worked...sort of. A lot of the needles had decomposed, and with no boundary between the gravel and the existing ground I was vacuuming a lot of dirt. That's when the other half of my brain decided to remove and clean the gravel and replace it on landscaping cloth.

One day  last week I awoke from a nap devoid of confidence any part of my brain was working. I felt this web site was such a stupid idea. So much effort and who really cares the paths we walk  are overrun by 'weeds' and covered with decaying philosophical matter.

As I was wondering why I should bother getting up I thought of mom's answer in AN ANGEL. With a renewed sense of purpose and her help I removed, cleaned and replaced 24' of gravel. It went so well I started on another path by first building steps on a slope mom finds difficult. picture

A lot of the time I still wonder why I bother. But then mom says my steps  look awesome, a word I had never heard her use before. And the cleaned gravel looks so good. It looks like we care. I think we will continue.