My husband and I live in a neighborhood where the homes were built in the 20’s and 30’s. Over the years the street has been overlaid with asphalt many times decreasing the height of the curb. This fact has allowed rainwater to flow over the low curb and into the grass islands, across the sidewalk and into the lawn. We are lucky that the house was built high. There are 3 steps up to our front door so water getting inside has never been a problem.

The second problem is when visitors park in front of our home, they drive up onto the grassy island area and smash or take out sprinkler heads. This has kept my husband busy digging up and replacing broken PVC pipe and purchasing replacement sprinkler heads.

What to do about this problem? We discussed purchasing huge boulders and placing them strategically along the islands to prevent vehicle invasion. That is a solution we have seen around town, especially on corner property or for protection around an object. It’s not particularity attractive, nor can I imagine how heavy it would be to place boulders and possibly have to move them if we changed our minds.

Our solution was to place some landscape fabric in cinder blocks, adding soil and planting succulents (Aeoniums). This inexpensive project has worked since last spring. Drivers now “see” these two barriers and park away from the disappearing curb. There have been no quick trips to the hardware store to purchase PVC or sprinkler heads. And we had the cinder blocks and landscape fabric in our garage. Propagating some succulents from our garden was a cinch and PRESTO, two barriers were born!