Home Projects Vacations

The thrill of victory & the agony of da feet, da back...
Patios, fences, decks, finished basements, landscaping - there's not much the Broke Homeowners haven't tried their hand at. We're sure you can relate to extra trips to the hardware store, extra trips to the garage or basement for additional tools, budget overruns, schedule overruns, delayed implementations, and of course, long overdue successes.

Join us as we peruse some of our Home Improvement Projects.


Saturday, November 9, 1996

Scotch Pine Berm

What does one do with extra dirt? Why, build a berm, of course!

Trips to Home Improvement Centers: 4

This project started when they dug the hole for our patio. We had a couple of loads of dirt dumped in the back corner of the lot and the berm was born.

It was nothing more than a pile of dirt for most of the summer. We started buying mulch to keep the weeds down and then bought the pine tree in the fall - big tree sales then, you know. It still needs some work, but this is where it stands now.

The berm is approximately 8'x12' and about 2' high at it's highest point. The scotch pine was listed at 8-10' when we bought it but once the root ball was in the ground, it's only about 5' tall. 25 linear feet of edging was required to keep the twelve (so far) 40-pound bags of mulch in place. Other than a shovel, the only tool required was a utility knife.