This past week, as promised, I cleared a portion of the surrounding “edge” garden beds, an action undertaken in small increments, and in keeping with the Kaizen philosophy of small continual improvement. I distributed more of the paving material to various places around the garden. The picture (above left) shows a pile of “rubble” I plan to use under the compost bins, more on that later.
I also began recessing the brick threshold pavers into the turf of the garden pathways. (picture above right) Since it’s an experiment, I might end up modifying the process if I’m not happy with the results. The goal is to have a uniformly level pathway composed of various materials of various thicknesses. So I might dig it all up and start over. This week I managed to acquire more reclaimed landscaping materials for use as paving at Overleaf Gardens (thanks yet again to Emma and Matt). I accepted the offer of some reclaimed flagstone pavers (pictured below, left) ideal for use in creating the character I want in the fire pit court at Overleaf. In addition to the economic advantage, I am committed to achieving the environmental benefits recycling, re-purposing and reusing such materials offer.
Inspired by two courtyard floors I’ve seen through out the years, I want to invoke the atmosphere of both. The courtyards are from different times in history, and from different cultures, but they have a similar character that I find appealing. The first is in the French Quarter of New Orleans, a tucked-away courtyard that offers a sense of hidden privacy and escape, with an aura of mystery. A quiet and cool respite from the noise and action of the street, it’s filled with lush green plantings and illuminated by gas lanterns. A trickling fountain is surrounded by paved portions consisted of reclaimed bricks, terracotta tiles, limestone and sandstone flagstones brought in from upriver, and rounded cobblestones recycled from the ballast stones of ships docked at the international port.
The second courtyard is located in the ruins of a villa in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. Damaged in an earthquake about 17 years before the massive eruption, reconstruction of the villa was still underway when the famous end came. ( See picture of the House of the Vettii, Pompeii, at top) Similar to Overleaf, the Pompeian courtyard has a series of regular rectangular planting beds and paved open spaces. Most of the pavement is executed in regularly placed limestone or marble tiles, but stretching across the floor in one corner is an area obviously disturbed in the earthquake and later repaired in a Roman masonry construction technique know as Opus incertum, (pictured above, right) which translates to “indefinite work” Frequently used in monumental walls, it can also be found as pavement, and is characterized by irregularly shaped and randomly placed uncut stones. In the case of this villa, the pavement was composed of rubble – reclaimed terracotta, fine marble tiles and river rounded cobbles. It turns out the ancient Romans were recyclers too, but that’s a subject for another post.