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Natural-stone use is the 'green' way to go. My childhood home is landscaped with such stone -stones we hauled down from neighboring fields and wooded areas. My father worked in a granite sand-blasting plant. Our home's natural stone walls were topped by beautifully sand-blasted granite slabs; gleaned from natural granite quarries, yet cut and polished in a man-made fashion. I must, therefore, put in a good word for man-made stone, just this once. There are mitigating circumstances in play in my scenario.

I now live in Arizona suburbia. Yards are small. Weather can be harsh. Xeriscaping with indigenous plants is ideal. That being said, here is my scenario for the use of man-made stone.

One-third of our back yard is concrete slab - definitely man-made. The slab is concrete mixed with small stones for filler. We are about to build a workshop on this slab. After all permits were obtained, we set out to cut the 'footer' out of the slab and dig down 18 inches into the underlying soil to pour this footer for our workshop - in order to meet city code requirements. Initially, we had researched the cost to have the concrete hauled out by a contractor, and had planned on where to put the excess soil - both labor-intensive and costly. Instead, I came up with this brilliant and 'green' idea.

The widest piece of cement cut out is 12 inches, and no more than 5 inches deep. The breaks are random and non-uniform. This allows for a non-prefab appearance when stacked up in a retaining-wall type design. I've arranged the pieces in a staggered and layered figure-8 configuration, 4 layers deep at the highest point - for a raised flower bed about 15' long by 10' wide. We are filling in this figure-8 area with the soil being dug out of the footer. This soil and broken-down cement slab has produced a good supply of small stones that I will use as a ground cover, where appropriate, when all is said and done.

Not only are we saving on hauling fees, but also on any costs associated with the purchase and delivery of local landscaping stone, soil, and ground cover. We are making good use of materials already at hand and will have the satisfaction of having completed two projects ourselves. We are taking our time, as the physical labor can be intense, though much less than the alternative; we consider it a great workout!

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