Our Garden re-Birth Project

Frank Pellow

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2,332
Location
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Our garden is still recovering from the disruption caused by an absence of six years when we lived in Seattle followed by the building of the workshop three years ago. This year, we plan to fix up the portion of our back garden shown in these two photos:

From north far back (03-27) -before start -small.JPG Back garden rebirth -looking into utility corner (03-27) -before start -small.JPG

Here is a rough plan for the work that I will be doing:

patio plan -spring 2007.jpg

The only woodworking involved is the arbour. I plan to build an arbor much like that shown on the cover of the March 2004 Handyman magazine:

arbor.jpg

As usual, I will do all the work myself. The biggest thing involved that I have never done is to lay a flagstone patio.

Some of the other tasks are:
-Remove the existing raised herb garden and replace it with one of simulated stone blocks. The new raised garden will have a much different shape.

-Dig a trench from the sump pump pipe exit in the corner of the house/garage to the back of our property, run perforated pipe in the trench, then bury it. The trench will be about 20 metres long.

-Erect some fences to hide the utility meters, pipes, etc at the side of the house.

-Dig and plant border gardens

-Sand, then stain the fence​

I got started on the job this week. So far, the raised herb garden is about half demolished and the trench is about half dug.
 
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Geez Frank, sure glad to see you are taking it easy in your retirement :D

Heck of a plan, I'm always surprised at how often people DO NOT make a little oassis in their back yards, especially when the kids are gone. Sure, we had a big back yard (Mowed it enough times) and we played all kinds of games there, but once the kids are left, why cut all that lawn? :dunno:

Look forward to the updates! :thumb:
 
Flagstones? Man, Frank, you're ambitious.

Re: the sump pipe.

I grew up in the country with a sump that dumed onto the back yard. My dad had also buried a (non-perferated) pipe to take the water away from the house to the roadside ditch.

However, in the winter he always disconnected it, as otherwise it would freeze up. Even with a perforated pipe, it seems to me that you might need to be conscious of that.
 
Flagstones? Man, Frank, you're ambitious.

Re: the sump pipe.

I grew up in the country with a sump that dumed onto the back yard. My dad had also buried a (non-perferated) pipe to take the water away from the house to the roadside ditch.

However, in the winter he always disconnected it, as otherwise it would freeze up. Even with a perforated pipe, it seems to me that you might need to be conscious of that.

Art, thanks for the advice, I had not thought of that. Sump pumps are new to me and I have a lot to learn about them. Ours was installed only about a year ago and the installers did a terrible job :( -including the fact that it just dumps our a pipe at the side of our foundation.
 
Geez Frank, sure glad to see you are taking it easy in your retirement :D

Heck of a plan, I'm always surprised at how often people DO NOT make a little oassis in their back yards, especially when the kids are gone. Sure, we had a big back yard (Mowed it enough times) and we played all kinds of games there, but once the kids are left, why cut all that lawn? :dunno:

Look forward to the updates! :thumb:
Yes Stu, we sure won't have much lawn left one this project is complete. And you are right about the nature of the garden now changing from when we had children at home. The place where the patio will stand was once occupied by a very large climbing frame.
 
April 9th Update

The weather turned cold again about 10 days ago and, since then, the high temperature for most days has been either a little below or a little above freezing. Outside digging has been unpleasant and, with the partly frozen ground, difficult. So ,I have not made as much progress as planned. Here is a photo of the unfinished ditch with a light fall of snow:

Partly finished ditch in the snow (04-05) -small.JPG

Here the partly finished ditch filled with water from the sump pump:

Partly finished ditch is full of water (04-04) -small.JPG

I was glad to see the water work its way a down the ditch from the sump pump because it indicates that the bottom of the ditch has a slope in the right direction. It’s kind of hard to tell when digging. I think that the overall drop from where the pipe comes out of the house to the storm drain at the back of our property is about 3 feet but the ground between the two is mostly level. The water sat in the ditch for close to a day because of the heavy clay under the lawn and garden. Over the years, I have improved the top foot of soil in the vegetable garden considerably but beneath that there is almost solid clay. Since the water does not really drain, there is no advantage to perforated pipe. So today, I purchased 70 feet of solid 4 inch pipe to place into the, now completed, trench. Here is a photo:

From gate looking towards veggie garden (04-09) -small.JPG

The plan is to run the pipe the length of the ditch at a steady downward slope. At the house end, I will put in a screw connection so that the water can be diverted should there ever be a freeze-up or a clog anywhere within the system. There is still a bit of digging to do at the house end and everything has to be connected, tested, then covered.

The old raised herb garden has now been removed and I have purchased a few concrete blocks mainly to confirm that these are, indeed, what we want for the new raised garden.

Blocks to be used for new raised herb garden -small.JPG

Having a few real blocks also assists in the planning and layout tasks.
Here is photo of the location where the old raised garden used to be:

From shed steps (04-09) -small.JPG

The concrete blocks are in position where part of the wall for the new raised garden will be and the four stakes in the ground mark the approximate location of the arbor.
 
Wow, I missed this when you first posted it Frank. Looks like a nice plan, but looking at all that flagstone-laying, digging, and otherwise being bent over makes my back hurt just thinking about it. ;) I'm sure yours is in better shape than mine, and you'll do a great job on the new landscape. :thumb:

One trick for checking the slope of your drainage ditch is to use a 4' to 8' 2x4 with a level taped to it. You can put a wedge or block under one end of the level to set your desired slope. You can get a pretty quick "inches of rise per foot" based on the length of your level. It doesn't have to be dead on, but it will help you get a pretty consistent slope when you're standing in the bottom of a ditch. (Or on the side of one with piles of dirt all around.) There are a number of other ways to gauge slope while digging a ditch, but for drain lines like yours I'd think this would be plenty accurate.

I did several years of civil inspection on things like storm drain, sewer, and water lines. Most often there were surveyors and instruments involved in setting the line and the grade, but the guys on the backhoes and their helpers usually relied on string, 2x4s, and 4' bubble levels.
 
April 15th Update

Well, the project has now expanded to include the front garden as well. Margaret is more interested in the front and I am more interested in the back. We agreed that it was not fair to concentrate this year’s budget and energy completely on the back. So, we now have a two year project where some of both front and back will get done this year. It is likely that the flagstone patio will now be delayed until 2008 and that the arbour will get moved to a small side garden and probably will not be built until 2008.

Here is a photo of the front garden as it looked this afternoon:

Front from road (04-15) -just starting -small.JPG

The tasks to be done in the front include (among others):

-replace the old 6x6 pressure-treated driveway curbs with concrete curbs,

-put curbs beside the front sidewalk,

-replace the pressure-treated wall around the front entry with one made of stacked concrete blocks

-install a flower garden right in front of the driveway side of the house
(where a walkway used to be and where the crushed stone is in the following picture)

Front of house taken from the east (04-15) -small.JPG

-plant some new bushes and move many existing ones

-install a new flagstone walkway from the front door to the driveway

-build a short (short height, long length) retaining wall to enclose the side of the garden that has the large tree, fill with a lot of top-soil and put in many new plants,

-fix the downspouts.

I started to remove the old 6x6 pressure-treated driveway curbs this afternoon. They are rotten in places but not in others and were installed with quite a bit of rebar spiked into the ground. This makes them very hard to remove. The best technique that I have been able to come up with is to cut the timbers into short lengths with my reciprocating saw, thus isolating the parts attached to the ground with rebar. I can then smash those small sections with a sledge hammer. Here I am sawing:

Frank removing old pressure treated 6x6 driveway edging (04-15) -small.JPG

Yesterday, I got the bulk of the sump pump drain installed in the back yard:

Drain pipe in the trench taken from the gate (04-14) small.JPG

It drains well! :)

At the house end, I temporarily hooked up to the sump pump drain pipe projecting out of the house.

Temporary hook-up to sump pump drain (04-14) -small.JPG

But, notice the 5 wires over the pipe :confused: . Altogether, I encountered 5 TV cable wires and 2 telephone wires buried very shallowly in the ground. Surely they can’t all be live! I am going to see if I can get the companies to move the wires. I don’t want to complete the job, until this has been done.
 
Gee, Frank. No one could accuse you of getting fat and lazy in your retirement... :rofl:

I was curious about your comment about building a raised garden on the left side where the big tree is. (did I read that right) Looks like a spruce/pine tree in that photo. Don't those needles do a pretty good job of killing most anything under them? Doesn't seem like the easiest place to maintain a garden.

How do you access the back yard? Your garage/driveway is on the right, but shed2 is on the left side of the back yard. Do you walk the left side of the house or do you go through the back of the garage? Just curious, as you don't mention anything about a path to the left.

Have fun!
 
Gee, Frank. No one could accuse you of getting fat and lazy in your retirement... :rofl:
!
And I certainly hope that I never give anyone cause to do so.

I was curious about your comment about building a raised garden on the left side where the big tree is. (did I read that right) Looks like a spruce/pine tree in that photo. Don't those needles do a pretty good job of killing most anything under them? Doesn't seem like the easiest place to maintain a garden.
It's a spruce and that has been our problem Art. Last week we had a (paid) visit from a proffesional gardener and she has given us a list of plants that can live in such conditions and are drought tolerent.

How do you access the back yard? Your garage/driveway is on the right, but shed2 is on the left side of the back yard. Do you walk the left side of the house or do you go through the back of the garage? Just curious, as you don't mention anything about a path to the left.

Have fun!
There is a very narrow path on the left of the house and a fairly wide side garden on the right beside the garage (where the arbour will go eventually). Our lot is not rectangular. You can also get to the back through the garage.
 
Man, that Margaret is a taskmaster. :D She'll come up with any plan to keep you busy, huh? :rofl: Looks like you've got your summer work cut out for you.
...It's a spruce and that has been our problem Art. Last week we had a (paid) visit from a professional gardener and she has given us a list of plants that can live in such conditions and are drought tolerant.
Right before we bought our current house the previous owners placed sod on most of the yard, but built up a planting bed in one corner around an well-established Japanese black pine. When the tree was analyzed post-mortem by the certified arborist a year and a half after we bought the house, he said two things had killed it: Raising the grade around the trunk and rototilling for the new sod, which had severed many of the feeder roots up near the surface. I don't know how much you intend to raise the grade in the corner by your spruce tree, or if you're planning to till the area around the spruce, but you might check with your gardener to see if there are any special precautions you might need to take to avoid harming the tree.

We'll be staying tuned for the next installment. :lurk:
 
Man, that Margaret is a taskmaster. :D She'll come up with any plan to keep you busy, huh? :rofl: Looks like you've got your summer work cut out for you.
I'm at least as guilty as Margaret.

That's just the work that I am doing at our house. There is also work at 5 other places that I want to do this spring and summer.

Right before we bought our current house the previous owners placed sod on most of the yard, but built up a planting bed in one corner around an well-established Japanese black pine. When the tree was analyzed post-mortem by the certified arborist a year and a half after we bought the house, he said two things had killed it: Raising the grade around the trunk and rototilling for the new sod, which had severed many of the feeder roots up near the surface. I don't know how much you intend to raise the grade in the corner by your spruce tree, or if you're planning to till the area around the spruce, but you might check with your gardener to see if there are any special precautions you might need to take to avoid harming the tree.

We'll be staying tuned for the next installment. :lurk:
We will be placing no more than 20 centimetres (about 8 inches) of topsoil over the tree roots, many of which are partly exposed and will certainly not be placing sod or grass there. We have talked to our gardening adviser and she thinks that what we are planning to do will help the tree.
 
April 23rd Update

The weather turned warmer this week and I got lots of opportunity to work outside. In fact it was unseasonably warm today with a high of 23.
Real progress is being made on the front garden. The main job this week was the replacement of the front stoop and what used to be sidewalk in front of the dining room. The picture on the left below shows the area a week ago today and the one to the right was taken Sunday evening:

Front of house taken from the east (04-15) -small.JPG Front of house taken from the east (04-22) -3 -small.JPG

Here is what happened:
 the old and somewhat rotten timbers were removed
 the bricks on the front stoop were removed and cleaned
 a 3 brick high wall was built around the front stoop and new limestone screens were inserted and mostly leveled
 the stone base (at depth of about 25 centimetres) below the old side walk was removed and saved for re-use.
 part of an old a buried concrete block retaining wall was smashed up with a sledgehammer then removed
 clay from an excavation in the back yard was placed in the bottom of the new garden
 top soil from an excavation in the back yard was placed at the top of the new garden (job not yet finished)
Here are a few interim photos (taken between the above start and finish shots) :
Front of house taken from the east (04-20) small.JPG Front of house taken from the east (04-22) -1 -small.JPG Front of house taken from the east (04-22) -2 -small.JPG

I had to cut a few of the bricks in the wall and this was an excuse to purchase a new machine :D –that is a tile and stone cutting saw. I figured out how many times I would need to rent such a saw this summer and the cost of purchase was only slightly higher than the total rental cost, so I bought the saw shown in the photo below:

Cutting a wall stone with my new tile saw -2 (04-20) -small.JPG

The saw, a Husky 7” Tile/Stone Wet Saw (THD950L), contains many plastic parts and it is certainly not industrial strength, but it is doing the job that I require it to do. I plan to treat in gently so it should last me many years. The instructions for assembly and use were complete and easy to follow. It does contain one of those useless laser frills, but everything else about the saw is practical. There is not enough clearance between the table that carries the block and the motor to cut a four inch wide block. Sop, I cut into each of the four corners, then finished the cut with a chisel. This proved to be easier than I thought it would be.

The most difficult task that I accomplished was to take up the remaining timbers beside the driveway. The reason that this was so difficult was the rebar nailed through the timers deep into the ground. Here is a photo of part of one timber (from around the old front stoop in this case –but the same thing was used beside the driveway) with a piece of rebar that I actually pulled out: A chunk of the old border timber with a piece of rebar still in it(04-19) -small.JPG

And here is the pile of removed timbers along with other removed material:

Timbers, smashed blocks, removed bricks, etc. at side of garage (04-22) -small.JPG

Meanwhile, in the back, the trench has, mostly been covered and we have agreed on the final location and shape of the raised herb garden:
From gate looking towards veggie garden (04-22) -small.JPG

And here is an overall view of the central part of the front as it appeared early Monday morning:
Front from road -straight on (04-23) -small.JPG
 
Frank,

Your hard work is inspiring. I have a backyard project on the horizon, but I may farm out my dirt work as a an excavator is needed and renting them is not cheap.

Jim
 
The most difficult task that I accomplished was to take up the remaining timbers beside the driveway. The reason that this was so difficult was the rebar nailed t
...
And here is an overall view of the central part of the front as it appeared early Monday morning:

Hey Frank, you're sure busy.

1- how did you tamp/level the front step? I've laid stone before -- nothing fancy, just some pavers around a garden, and getting a flat-level-tamped surface isn't easy.

2- you've had that house quite a while, so are you the one responsible for that rebar? ;) I just notice you've mentioned the rebar twice now, without identifying the culprit.

3- that last photo has a double layer of bricks on the front walk. Is that just there for checking things out, or are you planning to raise up the front walk?
 
Frank,
Your hard work is inspiring.
Thanks Jim -it's also sometimes tiring. :D

I have a backyard project on the horizon, but I may farm out my dirt work as a an excavator is needed and renting them is not cheap.

Jim
I agree that sometimes it is better to hire someone with the appropriete equipement to do a job. I have not done so very often, but have always been happy with any work that I have had done for me.
 
Hey Frank, you're sure busy.

1- how did you tamp/level the front step? I've laid stone before -- nothing fancy, just some pavers around a garden, and getting a flat-level-tamped surface isn't easy.

2- you've had that house quite a while, so are you the one responsible for that rebar? ;) I just notice you've mentioned the rebar twice now, without identifying the culprit.

3- that last photo has a double layer of bricks on the front walk. Is that just there for checking things out, or are you planning to raise up the front walk?
1) I used two rather primitive tampers: Tampers (04-29) -small.JPG

The one on the right is a spruce 4X6 and I provided the power using it as a pile driver. It (and I :) ) seemed to do a good job. When I get to larger areas, such as the flagstone patio, I will rent a power tamper.

2) The rebar was put in when we owned the house (we are the only poeple who have ever owned the house) and with my agreement, but the job of laying our driveway bricks and supporting curbs was contracted out.

3) I am going to raise up a portion of the front walk.
 
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