Have you ever done cement and mortar work at home? How about landscaping?

@nanajanet (4436)
United States
September 20, 2008 5:05pm CST
I've been doing, with my husband, a lot of landscaping and yard work. It's a large piece of property, so it's an ongoing thing, each year for upkeep and improvements. I have been making stepping stones out of mortar. I found this form that you put on the ground, poor in cement or mortar (I use mortar as it comes out smoother), and when it's set, you pull off the form, smooth the edges with your hand or trowel, and let dry. Then I put some dirt and moss between each one. It takes 50 lbs of mortar per form. It's time consuming, but easy and looks great. I am going to do it all over the place, so I am doing it just a little each week and hope to have it done before next spring. Also, we have an outdoor fire pit. Since we live in the woods, we burn our paper and cardboard trash and wood that falls onto the property. We made it out of some old cinder blocks, but our property (we have 19.3 acres), is covered with old stone walls and rocks galore. So we are using these stones, with mortar, and building a newer and nicer one. I take the leftover mortar that we don't need from making the stepping stones, and add a few rocks each time. It will take time to complete it, since I am doing it this way, but I don't want any waste. It will look nice as it will be made out of natural stones from the property. It's a lot of work but it's also quite rewarding to see the progress we have made over the years. It was a blank slate when we started, as we built the house 15 years ago and had no landscaping done, just grass and stone pathways. Does anyone else do a lot of work on their property, instead of having professionals do it?
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