Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I updated my pizza oven project with the latest progress on the small, timber retaining wall that I've been building in front of the oven.  The goal is to create a small, flat surface that I can use to work/bake in front of the oven.  The grade required a small wall and after hemming-and-hawing on what to do, I opted for action:  get the oven operational. Yesterday's post showed how I set the timbers and backfilled with TONS of gravel for drainage .    The next step in the process is to fold over the non-woven landscape fabric on top of the gravel - this fabric serves as a 'separation layer' from the soil that is behind the gravel.  It also is the separation layer to the soil I intend to pile on top.  Below is a look at the fabric folded back on the gravel: After the fabric was in place, I started to dig out the large pile of earth that I excavated for this project and began to fill in the space.  After a few inches, I compacted the so...

The last post I shared about the pizza oven was back in late March when I shared a photo showing the first four timbers being brought on-site and talked about I was in-the-middle of the excavation.  In that post , I laid out the next few steps (pasted below).  Since that post in late March, I've progressed through the first seven steps and the first part (the hard part) of Step 8.  1. Clear back/sides down grade. 2. Dig out under timbers to drywell stone. 3. Lay out Fabric. 4. Lay down gravel + paver base to create level base for bottom timbers. 5. Start with the timber at the base of the slab, level it out and anchor in the ground with rebar. 6. Work around the timbers - anchoring them with rebar. 7. Stack additional timbers - attach with timberloks. 8. Backfill with gravel, drape the fabric over. 9. Back fill with earth. 10. Fill center with base + gravel. As a reminder, we have a large, deep drywell under this part of the yard.  When I dug the slab foun...

In December of 2023, I started to notice that the bluestone chip garden path that runs from our driveway back to the boardwalk on the north side of our house was starting to 'sink '.  The gravel started as a thick, full layer started to sink into the ground and mud was starting to peek through.  In 2024, I added even more Bluestone chips to the path, but it still didn't stop the sinking.   Last March, I decided to act and began to 'pull back' some of the bluestone chips and lay down some larger gravel .  Then, I pulled the chips back over the top.  But, that hasn't stopped the sinking.  I've long resisted using any sort of landscape fabric.  On any project.  There's TONS of research showing that it doesn't work to supress weeds and it doesn't allow the soil to breath and regenerate with organic material.  Why?  Because, it creates a barrier.   A barrier.  Wouldn't that help with the gravel sinking?  Yes, it turn...