Jocosely playing on the word tiered versus tired, we are having fun with our yard. With our first wall complete, we have been excited to start the next one., and we are not letting anything else delay us any further…including adding a new puppy to our family! I’ll get to that later in the post.

Last week we got started on the next tier and wall. K had a little bit of digging to do while I started bringing out all of the supplies. As we are doing each wall, we are adapting and learning. We certainly are not landscapers by any means, nor are we engineers, so this whole process is all about learning and applying what we learned.

We love the way our last wall turned out, but we are trying to streamline the process further. On this next wall, we have the added challenge of having a portion that will have to bear a more significant weight that we have had to in the past. This section of the wall will create the landing area for the zig in the path.

To ensure that the wall will be able to hold up against the weight of the earth, we dug the posts around the landing approx. 3′ deep. We put a decent angle on the posts to ensure that they would not tip once we back-filled the landing. We also added the post cement tubes in almost all of the holes this time around. It is really in-expensive, so why not? One of the posts for the landing is located right where a sand vein runs through our yard, so we were a little concerned that the post may have movement and not be able to hold the weight of the landing.

When K had originally built the temporary landing, he had decided to use some of the larger rocks in a dry-stack to hold the soil in place. We decided to use the dry-stack within the wall for two reasons. It adds a drainage point for the landing, and it has held back that earth for a year and a half already, including two very rainy seasons. Between that and the wall, it should help strengthen the section in the sand.

As we got lower on the path, to the points that the height of the wall would be quite low, we did not dig the posts in as far. All are at least 2′ deep.

We got all the posts holes dug and the cement tubes in place. Then we got a puppy. You have all seen Ellie in past posts. She is the one generally photo-bombing at least one photo per month. We decided that hounds truly are pack dogs, so we wanted to get her a friend…plus we really wanted another dog. So, we found a beautiful redbone & blue-tick cross puppy and decided she was perfect!

Of course, we now have all these holes in our yard for posts to go in, and a new puppy that is just the right size to fall into the holes. GREAT! Perfect timing. So, we brought the puppy out and had her play with Ellie, while we cut and cemented the posts in. No more puppy-sized holes, and she got to spend time around some loud equipment that she will have to get used to hearing as we are constantly building. She did great and doesn’t seem to be fearful of loud noises.

Next step, get the crushed gravel & landscaping fabric down, and the wire on. Then we can start filling the wall. Will we get it done before winter…I hope so. The positive, is that Basil (new puppy) enjoys being outside, playing in the yard, so we will have a good reason to be out working in the yard. It probably helps that we introduced her to the delicious treats that come out of the yard. Ellie regularly gets carrots when we are harvesting, so it only seemed right to make sure that Basil also likes the orange treats. We aren’t sure that Ellie enjoys sharing those treats, but she will get over it.

Hopefully I have another update on the wall for next week!