MOVING THE FLOWER STEPS

Part of big Backyard Project requires removing the stepping stones that are there.  I call them Flowers because they look like flowers.  They were poured-in-place stepping stones that have probably been there for 50 years.  We were conflicted about getting rid of them.  They have character and add some interest.  There are more in the front yard, too.  But the area surrounding them really looked bad.  

My bright idea was to move them to the front yard and place them next to the exisiting sidewalk.  All of the walkways here are extremely narrow and almost useless.  The one in the front yard especially because the foliage hangs over it and forces you off.  In the winter you're walking in the moist lawn (mud sometimes).

So the next big question was should I just move them out of the way for now and tackle the front yard project at a later date, or place them as I moved them?

I opted for placing them in their new home as I moved them.  I'm glad I did.

I forgot to to take a before picture,
here is after I've place several of the flowers.

I used a dolly to move them.

I dug the dirt away, leveled the area and then placed the flower.
Then put the dirt back around them.

I used a big pry bar to lift them out of the ground.

Here's where they used to be.

Right near the end, in the shallowest part I discoverd some large roots.
They were from a tree on the other side of the sidewalk that we removed last year.
I had to get the axe out and hack them out of there.  No fun.

Of course they didn't come out spaced evenly,
so I added some broken pieces to fill in.

The red brick outline really makes it nice.
I'm really happy with the way it turned out.