Our Garden re-Birth Project

April 29th Update

I made more good progress on the garden rehabilitation project this week. Susan, the professional gardener who we have engaged to help with the design and content of our front garden is coming tomorrow with some plants and we are ready for her. Here is a picture taken earlier this evening:



The tasks that I hoped to finish before Susan’s arrival have all been completed. Well anyway completed enough for tomorrow’s purposes –some refinements (such as cutting a bevel on the sidewalk curb where it meets the city sidewalk) will be done later. The main tasks that have been completed are:
Below are a few more details.

First, is a photo of me part way through the installation of the sidewalk curbs:



Here is a close up of the installation of the driveway curbs:



Boy, are those things big and heavy (at least 100 pounds each).

The garden where the walkway used to be is now ready for planting:



Not only does it contain good soil but that’s three wheelbarrow loads of well matured compost piled on the top (and there are about another 8 loads available in our compost bin should they be needed).

The back garden was not ignored either. Our herbs are starting to grow and they need their new home. To that end, I excavated where the base of the wall is to go.



I hope to get the trench filled with stone, the wall built, the raised garden filled with soil and compost, and the herbs planted next week.

The delivery costs of material are prohibitive and my two main suppliers are each about a ten minute drive away so, at least so far, I am picking up all my material myself. Sometimes this is not a lot of fun as I found one day when I was unloading limestone screenings in the rain with the temperature about 7 (I think that is about 42 Fahrenheit):

I'm not getting as weak as I thought I might be

Frank Pellow said:

...
Here is a close up of the installation of the driveway curbs:
View attachment 8127
Boy, are those things big and heavy (at least 100 pounds each).
...

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As I reported in an earlier post, I found the driveway curbs hard to lift and to maneuver. The guys at the place I bought them told me that they weighed about 100 pounds each. That weight did not use to be a problem for me, so I chalked my difficulty up to old age.

Today I decided to double check and found that the curbs, which are exactly one metre in length, weigh in at 55 kilos each (that’s 121 pounds). Now I feel better.

Frank,

How did things go with Susan? Any new pics of the new plants?

Shorts in this weather? Still too cool for showing off bare knees here!

What herbs are you planting? The garden layout should be nice when you're done.

Yep, 55kgs will make you grunt and groan for sure..

Greg Cook said:

Frank,

How did things go with Susan? Any new pics of the new plants?

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Thanks for asking Greg.

They went even better than I hoped they would. In half a day of hard work by the two of us, the makeup of plants has been dramatically transformed. I have lots of photos but will attach only one -a shot of the whole front yard which can be contrasted with the first photo in my previous post.

Greg Cook said:

Shorts in this weather? Still too cool for showing off bare knees here!

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With my knees, I certainly am not showing off. I am confortable working out side wearing shorts in anything above 10 degrees (I think that's about 50 Farenheit).

Greg Cook said:

What herbs are you planting? The garden layout should be nice when you're done.

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We are replacing our previously existing ugly but very functional herb garden and I have managed to save all the perenials. As to which herbs, the answer pretty well is: "You name it, we have it".

Greg Cook said:

Yep, 55kgs will make you grunt and groan for sure..

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Yep.

Looking good Frank!

Take it easy, 55kg is nothing to sneeze at!

I carry two cases of large bottle beer sometimes, and that is right about the same weight, and yeah, makes for a bit of a heavy lift (no "light" beer here in Japan )

Your garden is going to be really nice!

I guess you will be done in time to avoid working in the heat of summer?

Cheers!

The Bushes/Trees look nice and really accent your house. Looks like you're putting in flower beds along the front walk. Very nice.

The progress is looking good, Frank. You're a stronger man than I am...moving 120 pound curbs and such. Keep the pics and updates coming.

Greg Cook said:

Still too cool for showing off bare knees here! ...

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I'm too cool to show off bare knees here. Don't want to scare the neighbor kids or embarrass the wife with my bony, pasty-white legs, pretty much any time of the year.

May 13th Update (post 1 of 2)

(post 1 of 2)

Last week, as well as the planting and replanting that I showed in a post on May 3rd, the curb on the east side of the driveway was completed. A couple of the blocks had to be cut and it was not possible to do this with the tile/stone wet saw. Rather, I resorted to a masonry blade on my Delta grinder in order to score around the block and then breaking the block apart with a masonry chisel. I am happy with the job. The first picture below shows the joints formed with the shorted blocks and the one to the right of that shows the entire curb.



Some progress was also made on the raised garden wall in the back:



But, my objective to complete the job and to get the herbs re-planted was not achieved. By the way, that’s the broken chunks of concrete from the old buried wall at the front that have been dumped at the bottom of the new raised garden. The structure is looking somewhat more imposing and uniform than I had anticipated. In an attempt to make it less formal, I have decided that the finished perimeter will have three different levels –part 4 blocks high, part 5 blocks high, and part 6 blocks high.

May 13th Update (post 2 of 2)

There was good progress on the garden this week in spite of the fact that I did not start until late Tuesday afternoon and was away again on Saturday. The raised herb garden was completed and even partly planted. Here is a series of photos taken from the same spot as the photo shown last week:

Wall completed and bottom filled with rubble:

Mostly filled with soil:

About to shovel on second load of compost:

Some herbs have been transplanted:

As I talked about earlier, I decided to build three levels of wall in order to make the structure look less massive and monolithic. I think that this works well and others (and Margaret, in particular) agree with me. Once we get some plants growing up the sides and over the sides, I believe that the garden will look more natural and even a little bit old.

In the front garden, I completed all but a very small section of the trench of the wall (in places, digging/hacking through very dry clay and large tree roots) and built about a third of the wall. Here is a small series of pictures showing work progressing:



The last of these was taken this evening.

There is quite a slant from the house down to the city sidewalk necessitating level changes. The photo below shows one bottom level ending and another about to be started:



Also shown in the photo, is a tamper that I purchased last week. It does a better job than the home made tampers that I was using previously. As always, using the "right" tool makes the job easier and better.

Frank,


It's been a couple of weeks since your last update.... Have you finished your gardening projects? Pics?



Thanks,

Greg Cook said:

Frank,


It's been a couple of weeks since your last update.... Have you finished your gardening projects? Pics?



Thanks,

Click to expand...

No Greg, I am a very long way from being finished. In the last two weeks I have spent:
-3 days helping my brother-in-law re-shingle his roof
-1 day helping a friend dry wall his daughter's kitchen
-1 day sanding and refinishing the surface on my daughter's deck
-1/2 day helping a neighbour with plumbing
-1 day on a wood finishing course
-3 days on a vacation trip

That has not left much time for the garden projects. But here is an update on progress.

In the front, I built as much of the wall as possible because my supplier has run out of one type of brick that I need. Here are two photos:



The more work that I do on the front garden, the better I like it. If only the back were progressing as well, I would be very very happy. As it is, I am simply happy.

Since the wall task is on hold waiting for bricks, I worked on the finicky job of placing a small brick border between the pea gravel and the lawn on the east side. I had not planned to do anything there, but Margaret commented on the lack of such. I figured that she was right, so commenced to build one after the pea gravel was already in place beside about 2/3 of the walk. We have a large supply of paving bricks in a Herringbone pattern that have been taken up from walkways that are being removed, so I decided to attempt to use them placed on end for the border. This involves a lot of cutting, chiseling, and grinding in order to flatten the ends and this work is quite time consuming:



and the resulting brick dust makes a lot of mess:



It is difficult to get an absolutely straight border with uniform height using the cut down bricks, but I think that it will be OK.



I will attempt to curve the border as it reaches the city sidewalk and continue it along the edge of the sidewalk in the same relative location as the wall on the west side.

We have been collecting colourful flagstones to be used for a path from the front door, through the garden to the driveway. Here are some of them roughly placed:



I think that this path is going to be one of the neatest features of the new landscape.

In the back yard, the area normally occupied by the vegetable garden is piled with dirt and debris, so we are going to cut away back on the size this year. But, that reduction will only be for one year. The only vegetables that we are going to grow are tomatos (8 plants instead nof the normal 30), green peppers, lettuce, watermelon, and pumpkins. They are all planted but only about 20% of the garden is in use. We have already planted all the herbs and the raised bed is looking good:



Here is a closer view of the herb garden:



You can just barely make out the eight new brass herb markers that we bought this week. Here is a close up of three of them that I captured from the Lee Valley web sight:



There is another addition that appears in the top picture if you look closely and that is a set of eight solar powered lights. Each light switches between eight colours and the lights are quite independent, so it makes for a mesmerizing light display.



I also started carting away the clay pile from the back yard. This time, I am loading it into the trailer and dumping it in a spot nearby that requires clean fill.

Finally, a bit of carpentry

I finally got to build something out of wood for the garden. It is a simple garden bench made from scarp cedar that I rescued last year while fixing up my deck, replacing my daughter Kathleen's deck, and building my daughter Kristel's deck.

The wood is attached with overlapping butt joints screwed and glued together, then finished with two coats of Sikens SRD stain.

Wow, Frank! That is one solid bench!

...art

Art Mulder said:

Wow, Frank! That is one solid bench!

...art

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Yep Art, it definitely is solid.

But, because it is made of cedar, it does not weigh much -only 40 pounds. We live in quite a safe crime-free neighbourhood and have never had anything stolen, but I am thinking of screwing an (enclosed in cedar) chunk of concrete under the seat part to bring the total weight closer to 100 pounds).

I second Art's comments about the bench. Great-looking work, Frank.

June 10th Update

I am very happy to report that the front garden sub project is now complete. Here are a few pictures:

Here I am with our garden consulatant Susan Fedorka who assisted with the planning and with some of the planting:

Here is the walled rock garden and refurbished front walk:

And last, my favourite is the multi-coloured flagstone walkway from the driveway to the front door:

Now, that unplanned work on the front garden is complete, I can get back to the project that I had originally intended to do this year, that is a flagfstone patio in the back garden. I will be away most this week, but work should get underway on the patio in about a week.

Frank

Great job

That bench is too good looking to kludge it up with a weight box.

How about some rebar expoxied into holes in the bottom of the legs and then set into the ground? Or into concrete in the ground if you don't have to move the bugger!

Maybe with a cover for the winter like on a grill?

Oh heck, if they want to steal it, it only shows that they've got good taste, let them have it and you can build another one!

Frank,

You've been busy! It looks great.
That bench looks pretty hefty. Don't have to worry about that blowing away in a stiff wind.

Best part is not much grass to mow!

Thanks, Jay and Sean.

Jay, I have more or less decided, like you suggest, that a weight box would detract too much from the appearance of the bench. Right now, I am inclined to leave it, as is, to test my theory that the bench is very unlikely to be stolen or damaged in our neighbourhood. And you are correct –it would be very easy to build another one.
However, I will think about your rebar suggestion.

June 24th Update

Things are (finally) progressing well in our back garden. The gravel foundation is now in and I am expecting a delivery on 4 tons of flagstone tomorrow.

Here is the way things looked three months ago:



One week ago excavation was underway:



And today, we have: