Garden Notes
The case for slow hardscape
Stone laid well outlives everyone who argued about the budget. Why the expensive path is usually the cheap one.
Hardscape is the part of a garden that cannot be fixed later. Planting can be moved, thinned or replaced; a badly laid terrace is there until somebody lifts it, and lifting it costs more than laying it did.
The economics are unusual, and worth stating plainly to anyone weighing the quote. A terrace laid properly on a proper base will be there in thirty years. One laid quickly will need doing again within eight, at which point it has cost more than the expensive option and taken the garden apart twice.
