Ordinarily I would find myself in agreement with almost anything Gardengal would recommend, but not in this case. Setting concrete stones at or slightly below the level of existing grass is going to result in constant dirt washing onto the soil with a sandy soil mix, and in a high desert with the constant need for irrigation for a lawn, it will also tend to wash the dirt onto pavers. I personally wouldn't want all that lawn in a climate where it will increase your water bills so tremendously, but recommended mowing heights for a Tall Fescue/Blue Grass lawn mix will be 3 inches, so having it slightly raised about 1/2 to 3/4 inches isn't going to create problems for the lawn mower. Don't forget that when rain does tend to come, as infrequent as it is, it can be the season total all at once, again likely to wash soil onto surfaces that are set too low. As to a pathway set right up against the house, it is a more common design detail in contemporary as well as spanish influenced designs, and can be a classic Spanish/Californian design detail. A desert garden doesn't lend itself to the PNW garden style with tons of foundation plantings; more widely spaced plantings and more sculptural plants placed in a more architectural or natural to the desert way seems more sympathetic to the surroundings to me. I can understand the desire to have a large green lawn in the high desert, especially if you are used to British Columbia conditions, but it is not practical in the long run, and lawn substitutes make more sense. I guess you will have to suffer through ever increasing water bills and constant battles to keep the lawn alive and looking good to understand the potential wisdom of working with your climate instead of against it. A Kentucky Blue Grass lawn doesn't even make much sense here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they tend to want to go dormant in the summer heat and take much more water and care to keep looking decent than other lawn grasses. I'd suggest that you look into real water miser grasses such as Buffalo Grass for the high desert. Admittedly it will go winter dormant in your area, but it fills in quite quickly with desert heat, and needs hardly any water in comparison to cool season turf grasses such as Tall Fescue or KBG. If your area has a good low water demonstration garden to visit, I'd recommend a visit. Most California Water Districts do have such a display garden to show the merits of plantings that take less water and care. There is a very nice Display garden in Las Vegas, which isn't exactly close, but is similar in climate to your conditions, and illustrates the wealth of plants that actually make sense in your climate.

Hello, I think your walkways look very nice; in fact I had to look at them a second time when I read the material was broken concrete...looks like stone at first glance. Great job! We live in Wisconsin, so our climate is totally different from yours, but we have had success in burying limestone pieces similar in size to what you have at ground level. We have a sandy soil here, so we did not bring in additional sand to set the stones and have not had major problems. If the frost heaves a few here and there, we simply would dig the stone in deeper. If you want to leave the concrete 3/4" above ground level, are you going to mow the pathway? The concrete will have to be very level so the mower blades do not strike their surface. In our experience with stones set in at ground level, the grass grows quite well between them because there is moisture under the stones to sustain the grass, and we mow right over the top of the stones with a riding lawnmower. As to the design, well, it's a matter of personal taste. Generally, a straight path is more of a formal look; a curved path is more nature-inspired. Either one looks great in my opinion. We have a meandering garden here, so all of our paths have a curve to them. One of the things we've done with new garden construction is simply rake the area and then pick a destination and walk in the loose dirt to see where the traffic pattern seems to flow. In this way, you also gain a sense of how wide the paths need to be. In our case, we have found the narrower paths which we use for utilitarian purposes, such as the path to the garden hose spigot to be ok, but walking in the dark can be a problem. Our favorite garden paths here can accommodate two people walking side by side, but once again, this is a personal choice and path size will obviously be limited to the size and scale of the area. Try to keep in mind what the path will be used for; will there be a need to push a wheelbarrow or other wide object (garbage cans, etc.) down the path? Will the path be used everyday to get to the mailbox or other essential areas or only occasionally? As far as the walkway against the back of the house--I agree it would be nice to have some area left for plants as it may be difficult to trim the lawn otherwise and (being a plant nut) plants soften and naturalize their surroundings. Another trick/hint we use in deciding where to put paths or plants or trees is to use garbage cans or large cardboard boxes as temporary props set up in the area to be landscaped so we can get a feel for how things will look after the work is done. We found this approach to save a lot of work for we know stone and concrete is heavy and the less you have to move the stuff, the better. :-) Hope this helps...and I hope you get your lawn in before it gets too cold. Good luck! Karen

In San Antonio near Stone Oak Area and Potranco Area they are building all kinds of Shopping Centers, Hospitals ect...I just get out of my truck and ask a hint..if you bring a six pack they will load them for you!! And with a smile

i failed miserably.. when i tried moving moss ... it grows everywhere but where i moved it ... this was pre WWW.. so it was probably my fault ... but then i heard a talk about putting buttermilk and moss in a blender ... and painting that goo where ever you wanted moss ... but i already had a hate on for moss .. so i never looking into it further ... see here: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=propagating+moss&t=ffcm&iax=videos&ia=videos then i bought this 5 acres.. and moss is everywhere ... go figure ... lol ken ps: i have recycled concrete .. i used it to build a low retaining wall .. stacked ... i dont know about lining a natural dry creek bed with it ... it seems contra to your natural area???? ... and btw... didnt you post pix of this area long ago ...??? .. or did i link you to bridge building video... or did i dream it all???