I'm have to add to it at times until it's all good and settled. I will also step the slope a little so the mulch has more to grab onto.
I have thought about using it for the whole thing, and a couple types of gravel as well. They are all still on the table but going to start with free mulch and see how it does.
Oops just saw this. We were going to use mulch on the one the patio side (which is sloped down towards the pool) and used river stone and it actually slows large rain runoff too and gives it time to absorb down and hit the drain that they put in underground.
I was thinking gravel would be a great match for the patio. I dunno exactly what it's called, i call it *all* gravel
(blue chips maybe ?) The tiny grey-ish chunk one. The next preference is rocks, but both are a pain to work with and plant in, and if I change my mind, hard to get rid of. 
The typical blue gravel is just blue granite. Sounds like you might be thinking of decomposed granite. Decomposed granite is kinda pricy but it sure looks good!I was thinking gravel would be a great match for the patio. I dunno exactly what it's called, i call it *all* gravel
If I don't like the mulch next year I can blow it into the yard and it will become topsoil in no time.
And mulch is free from the town. The others are $75 a yard which is reasonable but still adds up to a few hundred.
Are you putting a spigot near the pool using a sprinkler line. Great for when you want to top of pool, you can just run that zone for however long you want with no worries of overdoing it due to forgetting about it? Plus its great to hook up a hose to clean deck off when you need to.Anybody else just utterly sick of dirt ? Just me ? OK then I guess.
I'm making some progress with the yard but my hatred of the dirt grows by the day. I didn't want grass against the patio so I added stepping stones and I'll fill the voids with 3/8 bluestone. I didn't go too crazy leveling everything as it's all fill and will settle over the winter. I had a side quest to build a clothesline because this area is perfect for it and we won't have to get dirty feet going out into the yard. I also started running 2 new sprinkler lines from the now buried control box under stepping stone land.
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Other side to match.
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The old bricks are working great for a 5 ft strip around the pool for mulch. The aggregate shows from being 20 years old so i flipped them upside down and its fresh cement/concrete that never saw the light of day.
Then I need topsoil, and then I can finally finish the sprinklers once all the driving in the yard is done. Then a stupid amount of grass seed at an equally stupid price. I read somewhere the other day it was up 7X normal. Ouchies. Home Depot is getting 20lbs for $145 and the farm suppliers are getting up to $300 for 50lb bags. That's gonna hurt. But first, more dirt things.
It's funny you mention this as this year it would have come in handy with the drought. Most years I was draining instead of filling.
Oh, just run the fill line - doing so almost guarentees you'll never need it.
He won't need any of that he's using Baquacil...
The hose is already right there and the sprinkler controller is alllllll the way in the basement. When I'm back there working it will be easier to toss the hose in the pool (with a cellphone timer), keep mowing the lawn (etc etc) and pull the hose. Otherwise it's take off the boots, go get the dogs all riled up, take them out, forget why I went inside, remember I was mowing the lawn and go back out.
Ever try and get 80 of something that wasn't chipped or twisted at Home Depot ? Yeah. It took going to 2 Home Depots.
