After completing the ferrocement roof project we have started doing some minor landscaping projects around the house. We staarted with opening up the south side, chiseled off the rock wall to give way to a gravel pathway which ends up on the rotunda. This way we have an alternative way to enter the house, a path without steps or stairs. We leveled the dirt about 4 inch deep, put the 1inch aggregate, tamped it, then the small gravel and sand, tamped it.
Here we have dug out the edge to make a small French drain. This is where the rain water pools after a deluge. We made sure that the soil underneath is slanted to where we want the water to go. After we finished this, the rains poured that night and we saw that this French drain works. Also, opening up that south portion of the wall helps in getting the water to flow out towards the garden, instead of staying inside the wall.
We really wanted to have an open area in the south side of the house but when the rock wall was made we were not there to let them know not to completely encircle the house with a wall. Fortunately, in spite of the bowl-like wall, we did not have any flooding problems inside the house, even with the strong deluge of rain a few times last year.
We are also improving on our canal above the steps, to make sure that it is clear and able to divert any flood coming from above to where we want it.
In the next few months we will be doing some minor landscape work and prepare our land for the coming rainy season. We are very fortunate that in spire of te summer heat, drought forecasted all throughout the country, we have plants that have survived and are producing some fruit like the mansanitas or jamaican cherry, nang duc mai mango and of course our staples: coconuts, bananas and papayas. We are simply grateful to the Universe for abundance all around.
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