I Wet My Plants

I’ve been wanting to improve the border on my flower beds for over a year now. I really like the look of stone and the existing stone wall in the front yard looks very natural and appealing to me. After admiring a friend’s front yard garden, I decided to go hunting for rocks. Here are the rocks that started it all:

I was told that it took five loads of rock at $5 a load in the back of a Subaru to put all this together (it extends to the other side of the stairs too). Of course that was about 20 years ago. What a pretty bed for $30!

Posting a “wanted” request on the Kemptville and Ottawa Freecycle gave me two offers: one in Aylmer and another near Franktown – both a lot farther than I was wanting to drive. One my way home, I took a number of different routes through farm fields and construction sites but I was too chicken to ask if anyone was giving away rocks. I read up on where people go to find good rocks and to tell the police that you’re part of the Rock Relocation Program if you’re caught. I really don’t want to steal rocks or involve the authorities on any suspicious behaviour. I stopped by a stranger’s house and asked where they got the rocks for around their drainage pipe and he didn’t know as they had just bought the house. I asked the guy at the local dump who said they don’t get rocks. I stopped by the place where I had bought my patio stones for my front walkway and saw these:

At $3.66 a ton for one and three quarter inch Kingston Buff flagstone, I had no idea how much I would need or how much it would cost. They looked a little too nice.

I drove past a quarry with a guy sitting in a dump truck, mustered up the courage to talk to him, turned the car around and found out that I could get stones from the Kemptville Quarry just down the road. I drove in, talked to the receptionist and found out that I could pick up a load of rock in the back of a small truck for about $10. I drove my little car down into the huge quarry and had a look:

They looked pretty good and it was a big enough pile that I would have a lot of selection. Checking out the other local quarry, I found out that I couldn’t go down into the quarry for another three weeks as there is a crushing crew working down there. Also they estimated a load would cost between $15 and $25.

I think I’ll be going to the Kemptville Quarry.