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Eco Masons

Dean and Derek show their green side in this project that improves curb appeal while being mindful of the environment. Check out more Rock Solid projects.

From "Rock Solid"
episode DROC-403

(Continued from page 2)

Design Your Planting Beds

When you work with pavers, you have two options when you design your planting beds. You can create a curved design, which would take a lot of cutting, or you can use straight lines, which is what Dean and Derek did for this project.
If you decided to create square beds, one advantage is that there is a larger planting area to work within. Another is because you have three different sized pavers you can design your beds without having to make any cuts. To avoid a boxy look create uneven tiers in the corners to show off your personal style.

Hydro-Zoning

Now that you have designed your planting beds, fill them with plants. If you are going green, you want to focus on water efficient plants that are native to your region.
Grouping plants with similar water needs or hydro-zoning is a great way to minimize water usage. In this project the two front planting beds will have low water usage, and the back beds have medium water usage.
Tip: When you are looking for low water usage plants, you want to look for plants with thin leaves, and plants where the foliage has a silver gray hue.

Figure F

Figure G

Planting and Fertilizing

Before you dig, dry set your plants in the planting beds so you can get the colors, textures, and spacing you want (figures F and G).
Once you have the aesthetic you desire, you need to dig a hole that is just deep enough for the top of the roots to be above the surface. Make sure you cut or break the root ball to give the plants a fresh start.
It's important for plants to get plenty of nutrients, try using bat guano, which is an organic substitute for fertilizer. Just throw in a handful of guano at the base of the hole before you insert your plant.

Irrigation Lines

If you placed all of your main lines before creating your planting beds now you can run individual lines to each plant. Cut a length of tubing and attach emitters on the ends. The emitters allow water to flow to the plant when the system is on but stop any flow when it is off. Once the plants and water lines are in you can mulch.

Figure H

Edging And Compacting Pavers

When you've completed your planting beds, you want to be sure pavers stay in place. In order to contain all of your paving use plastic edging to help the pavers from shifting back and forth when you compact them later. Drive ten-inch spikes into the plastic edging. Your spikes should be spaced every six to eight inches around the entire driveway.

You need to compact your pavers to make sure they are packed together tightly and to completely even out your paved surface. You should be extra careful to avoid chipping the surface of your pavers. To protect your pavers, you can roll out recycled cardboard to prevent the compactor from having direct contact with your pavers (figure H). Another option is to rent a rubber coated compacter or even duct tape a piece of carpet on the bottom of your compactor.