It is always rewarding to take on a project yourself and see it through to the end. For me, it was especially gratifying to complete my DIY project: changing my mulch landscaping to rock landscaping.
Not only did I save a considerable amount of money by doing the project myself, but I also got exactly the results that I wanted. Here is a step-by-step guide of how I did it, in case you ever want to take on a similar project.
1. Decide what you want your landscape to look like.
This will largely be determined by the purpose of your landscape. Do you want it to be functional? Aesthetically pleasing? A combination of both? Once you have a clear vision of your landscape, you can get to work.
2. Choose your materials.
For my project, I decided to use 3/4″ lava rocks for my landscaping. This was mainly for aesthetic reasons, but rocks are also low-maintenance and durable.
3. Measure the square footage of the area.
This will help you to get an idea of how many “scoops” your project will need. The landscaping store I went to sold rocks by scoop and it was 1 cubic yard of stone. This was meaningless to me because I am definitely not a yard DIY person, I am a hire somebody person! I had to ask quite a few follow-up questions, such as: How many square feet would it cover if I was going 3″ deep? or 2″ deep? The staff there was very knowledgeable and answered my questions quickly and efficiently.
How it Looked Before with Mulch:
4. Begin your project!
I started right away because I knew if I waited, it would be another year before I think about the project again.
Removal of the Mulch:
Tools:
-Steel rake
-Shovel
-Large Trash Can
-Outdoor Trash bags
-Wheel Barrel (this helped a ton to move the rocks to each area.
Using the rake I removed all the mulch from my existing flower beds in the flower beds. I literally put it into a big pile and shoveled it into trash bags.
Thank God my neighbor saw me struggling and brought a trash can, a better rake and a shovel than I had, and let me borrow those tools to finish my project. It made everything more efficient for sure.
After we cleared all the much, we were prepared to lay down landscaping fabric on the dirt to make sure weeds wouldn’t find their way through the rocks but I lucked out because there was already some installed.
Getting the Rocks:
I had called the store about getting the rocks delivered but couldn’t deliver them for a week and a half, but my neighbor (the same one that saved me with the tools) had a friend with a dump trailer and offered to get them for us and bring them in the morning.
The next day at 7 am, we went to the landscaping store and took our trailer and got our rocks and brought them home to get to work.
We dumped the rocks as close as we could to the flower beds with the dump trailer so we didn’t have to transfer them as far. This saved us a ton of time and manpower and hours. I used a rake and shovel to move the rocks exactly where I needed them (where the mulch was that I removed). Then used the wheel barrel to move them to the other side of the yard and to fill in the faraway areas that needed more.
We went from:
To This:
To the Finished Product!
It took me about 7 hours to finish the project! I totally bit off more than I could chew comfortably but I powered through to finish that day.
5. Admire your handiwork!
Once you have completed your project, sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It took me a total of 11 Hours. Four the first day and seven the following day. It took a lot longer than I initially anticipated but it only cost me $350! IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!
To Summarize:
When making a plan for my mulch landscaping changes, I assessed the current situation of my yard and determined what I wanted to achieve with the project. I began by taking a look at my current mulch landscaping and making a plan of what I wanted to change. I identified what species I wanted to keep, what I wanted to remove, and how I wanted the space to look after it was finished.
After careful thought and evaluation, I was able to create an actionable plan for changing my mulch landscaping to rock landscaping. The plan gave me guidelines for the overall look of my new yard and helped make sure I stayed within my budget.