Edging Done...

... for the gravel path surrounding the raised garden beds.

First, I dug a narrow trench; I marked guide "holes" at the end and the middle, and then set to work:

After digging the trench, I carried the stones back over (you may remember that this is where they WERE before I moved them across the yard... back again) and laid them out:

I was careful to choose only stones with a relatively flat edge, as I hope to have the edge flush with the grass for easy mowing.

I chose NOT to use landscaping fabric for two reasons (actually... three):
1) It's made of plastic, and I don't want to add more. (Please ignore the landscaping fabric in the fire circle... it was installed 2 years ago).
2) It isn't fool proof; see fire pit from two years ago.
3) It's expensive.

I'll line under the gravel with heavy sheets of newspaper; the edging stones will just have to accept grass growing between them.

Here is the finished edge; now I need to remove about an inch of soil between the edge and the beds to make room for two inches of gravel.

We are trying to decide between straight 3/8 inch crushed rock, and between the 3/8 minus (or breeze) rock that creates more of a hard packed path. Also trying to decide on color... I'm thinking grey would be nice. Not buttery yellow... but maybe rose/red. It's the cheapest. Seems funny to be buying rocks... especially since I see craigslist adds of people giving away landscaping rocks all the time. It's usually the 3/4 to 1 1/2 inch rocks, though... the kind that don't make a nice path... or pea gravel, which I am not a big fan of.

Filling in the Garden Path

We have been hard at work in the yard; one of our tasks is filling in the garden path surrounding the fire pit. We decided to do a path of flat stone in random shapes and sizes. This involves a sledgehammer, a hammer, and a stone chisel.

Or, if you don't have a stone chisel... a hammer turned around!

Here, we are beveling the edges slightly in a random pattern, so that the stones aren't too sharp on top and so they look more "natural". This is a great way to chip off a larger portion of stone so as to make a better fit in the walkway.

We are filling in between the flat stones with homemade gravel. Much of the gravel comes from the beveling and shaping process; the rest is coming from a few chunks of limestone that have no other purpose in our yard. The sledgehammer is INDISPENSABLE in gravel making!






We are about two thirds of the way done with the path, but have run out of flat stone. Our "supplier" is gathering another pallet or so for us to use... no finishing until then!

More Stone Beds

Three more stone garden beds, in a neat row (you can see the EVIL bush poking up over the fence- what IS it?):


The dogs knocked over a stone on the last one by playing body-slam tag into the wall right before I took the picture; I hadn't filled the cracks with stones chips yet. Funny pups never even blinked! I'll assume that the stone wasn't a good match for that spot, and replace it with another. The beds are generally steady and firm; filling with dirt/compost/manure will help their stability as well. I wouldn't recommend stacking these stones THREE deep in a single stone wide wall.

Each bed is approximately 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long, with a 2 foot path between each and along the fence. I ran out of newspaper, and so only covered the edges of the beds; I will fill in with massive quantities of newspaper later to smoother the grass poking up in the middle of each. One more bed to go!

Any Idea What THIS Evil Plant Is?

This plant/bush/vine has been terrorizing me for 5 years. It seemed innocuous enough when we moved in, just a nice bush with small pinky purple flowers drifting over the neighbor's fence. Then, it started to take over the yard.

You can see a bit of it coming over the neighbor's fence in yesterday's pictures... and here's a few old ones of it at it's finest:

(complete with garter snake and small purple flower)

(complete with fuzzy puppy who is stalking the garter snake).

The growth you can see appears to be second year growth... the first year's growth appears to be non-woody and have much larger leaves. The bush has runner type roots. I can pull or dig a plant up as far as I can, but I won't have gotten it all. A few weeks ago, I went all out and clipped EVERY bushlet in my yard down and painted each remained stumplet with stump killer. Last week, those stumplets were covered in new green growth.

Save me from the bush!

What is this plant?

Clearcutting the Jungle

We've spent the last few days working in the yard. The first job, of course, was to remove all excessive vegetation...

... which is no easy task!

We used a combination of a very sturdy lawnmower, a hedge trimmer, hand clippers, a rake, and a weedeater/edger to reduce the backyard to THIS:


It only took 2 truckloads (and counting) to haul the debris away to the recycling center, where it will be industrially composted.

Of course, we DID have to move all of that stone before we could cut the weeds... here is where it ended up:



The rubble stone (rough, rectangular chunks of rock) is going to be used for raised veggie beds and possibly a paved area and path edging. The curved pieces are going to finish out the flower beds. The balusters (the turned columns) are slated for a special project all of their own... we're pretty excited about it, too! The only hint I'll give is that they are NOT staying in the back yard.

The Best Laid Plans... (Backyard Plans)

Here are our two sketched backyard plans. They aren't completely to scale... we realized that the backyard is considerably shorter in the second plan. The width is right, as is the garage, and general size and location of the patio. The trees are marked with "A" (Ash), "S" (Spruce), "A" (Apple), "E" (Elm), "T" (Tree). North is at the top of the page, as standard, the house is at the bottom of the page. Right now, all of the stone has moved to the area inside the curved line along the fence on the west. Constants between the two plans are likely permanent, or already constructed features.

Here is the FIRST plan:


Here is our SECOND plan:


Plan Two didn't have as much care put into drawing or labeling. Pity the second child.

We are leaning towards plan TWO, as in retrospect I feel the veggie gardens (VG) will do better on the eastern side of the yard. Any thoughts?

A Jungle...

This is our jungle:

I fully believe there are tigers, monkeys, and elephants out there. Or, at least, killer grass seeds and garter snakes.

Under all of that vegetation lies a couple tons of rock. Rock carefully stacked, ready for used. Rock directly in the way of a good mowing. Rock that now must be moved AGAIN, 40 lb stone by 40 lb stone, for the FOURTH time. I'm feeling a little like Sisyphus.

THIS time, though, we aren't moving it to build a fence, or to cut tree branches. THIS time we have a plan. We are moving all of the rocks into the partially constructed flowerbed on the west side, to await further instructions. It's hot, it's heavy... but someone has to do it!

Well, it wasn't food allergies.

The sudden change for the better when we switched foods was just a coincidence. On Sunday, we looked at her paws, and decided that they just weren't getting better (and in fact, looked to be infected), even though she had stopped (for the most part) trying to chew on them. Time for the vet!

We took her in yesterday, and the vet found 5 grass seeds stuck up in her paws. It was so GROSS! There was blood and pus everywhere... the room looked like a murder scene when we were done. She was SUCH a good girl, too... she let the vet dig around in her paws to get all the grass seeds out without complaining (much).

Anyway, this is yet ANOTHER injury caused by our unlandscaped mudpit of a backyard. (Previous ones included the lump scare last summer). We've now spent enough on vet bills for our pups related to grass seeds to have fully sodded and installed a sprinkler system. Which, I think we need to finally do. We've been putting it off for years, getting the rest of the house presentable and then front yard looking nice. But, the wild annual ryegrasses and other poky weeds NEED to go, if only to protect our pocketbooks. Not sure where the money is going to come from... but it sure seems like a sound investment!

Lilac Mayhem and Rejuvenation

Our tiny old house came with a HUGE OVERGROWN LILAC BUSH. Two beloved pet ratties and a young robin are buried under this bush.



It has seven or eight thick old trunks that have been chopped off about 3 to 4 feet up, giving it the appearance of a bundle of wood. I have only seen one flower on it in the four springs we have been here. After much pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth (and research), I decided to "start over" with the lilac. This time of year is perfect for lilac rejuvenation:



Here is the lilac bush now (with a visitor who loves the camera and wouldn't stay away). I removed ALL of the thick, old stems with a sharp pruning saw. This is NOT recommended if you would like lilac blooms anytime in the next three years, as it takes three years for a stem to produce flowers. If your lilac is in better health/structure than mine, I would recommend taking off 1/3 of the branches each year right after blooming instead of this drastic haircut.

Hopefully, my lilac bush will become a contributing member of our backyard garden now. Lilacs can be beautiful bushes!

Look What We Did!

Houseblogs.net is having a little contest where we get to show off our proudest moments in DIY home ownership. It's sponsored by True Value. I could surely use the $300 prize for my house fixings!

I know what my proudest moment ISN'T... but thinking of a favorite moment is a little harder. After careful deliberation, and a morning cup of tea in my favorite space... I have an answer!

Before:

This space is right behind the house and next to the garage. It is shaded by two apple trees.

During:

While we worked, we used the picnic table as a workbench. Using a circular saw with a diamond blade, we sliced limestone slabs salvaged from my father-in-law's scrap pile into varied rectangular pavers. We beveled the edges with a belt sander to give a little more interest to the patterns.

The edges of the patio are salvaged railroad ties; we laid the pavers in 4 inches of sand.

After:

The after picture is in need of a good pressure washing to remove construction dirt, but you can see the finished patio. The shape is two interlocking rectangles. We built the patio around the smaller apple tree; since no cement was used, there is plenty of water flow to water the roots.

We have since added a patio table and chairs, and have spent many a summer evening grilling or summer morning reading the paper while the dogs romp through our jungle!

This post was written for Houseblogs.net as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by True Value.

Bought Some Patio Chairs Today...

Don't mind the dirt and apple blossoms on the patio...

They have red and orange striped cushions on them, too... nice and cheery!


It will be so nice to have actual outdoor chairs around our patio.

They need a light sanding and restaining, but were only $50 for the four chairs and a table (which isn't in the picture)! Our current table is a little nicer, though slightly smaller... we haven't decided which to keep yet.

Repairing a Metal Firepit

A few years ago, we acquired this lovely firepit:


Sadly, as you can see, though we left it covered, it has rusted.

Close up of the rust:


I am not one to let something ruin through neglect, so I sanded down the firepit and used a can of Rustoleum fireplace paint to return it to its former rust-free glory. I found that my dremel with a sanding drum attachment made the best rust remover...



Careful back and forth motions with the spray paint will prevent drips... and placing newspaper underneath helps your driveway.



No more rust! I think we are ready for summer.

A Backyard Fire this Summer

We finished up the hardscaping for our backyard firepit this weekend- LOTS of digging involved. Here's a picture of the semi-finished product:


We used a hard limestone rubble stone to edge the surround path that encircles the sitting area. The slabs of rock inside are old sandstone from under an ancient clothesline (cut down before we bought the house, sadly); we are going to find (or make) nice chairs to set on them. The inside circle (for the firepit) is created out of limestone arches. All stones were salvaged from either our yard or my father-in-law's scrap pile.

A close up of the rocks:


Still to happen:
Plant woolly thyme in the dirt around the seating slabs for a nice smelling lawn effect...
Kill weeds inside the firepit area and walkway with vinegar...
Add crushed rock and pavers to the walkway...


Cost:
$10 in landscaping fabric (bought a year ago)

Salvaged Materials:
Stone

New Materials:
Landscaping fabric (bought a year ago)

Found a Blue String...

attached to my apple tree.




I followed it up the tree...



to a bird nest!



Now, who is making their home in my apple tree?

A Porch Post

Craigslist strikes again! Despite not having the time to do anything productive on the house, I glanced through my local Craigslist listings. I noticed a post offering 12-8' posts for $120... and I bit, as porch posts (even in poor to fair condition) can cost $60 or more a piece around here.

The posts are redwood, and in fair condition (though much better condition than the rotting and broken posts on our porch currently).

Due to some unfortunate removal processes, the bottoms of most are broken; luckily I only need 4 for my porch, and there are four in good condition up and down the entire 8 feet.

I'm thinking of making a backyard gazebo out of the rest (I can cut the bottoms off for that purpose), or possibly using them to construct the deck we want to build off of the back. It might be neat if the back porch mimics the front! Then again, I can always sell off the rest of them and make most of my money back.

Three cheers for the man who sold them to me; he was working a job site and saw the workers hacking them up and tossing them in a demolition. He was able to convince them to save the last 12 from the landfill. Here's to re-use!

A Fence Gate

Last summer, we put up a fence. Today, we installed the thing that holds the double wide gate closed. It takes us a while to finish projects around here- it took us 6 months to complete a task that took us 10 minutes when we actually sat down to do it.

We had previously drilled the hole in the cement with a hammer drill and a 1 inch masonry drill bit. Today, we installed the post and brackets. First, we installed the top bracket, which is what will hold the post up to allow the gate to swing. Then, we carefully balanced the post on the top bracket, lined it up with the hole, and slid the other two brackets into place to mark their position.

Cost: $12 (6 months ago... this doesn't count in my February challenge)

Before and After the Fence...

Before: (Last year in 3 feet of snow)

After: (This morning in 1 foot of snow)


The dogs LOVE the fence. LOVE it. Happy snow day!

Our Limestone Patio- 200 hours of work!

Before:

The front part of our backyard, with two apple trees, an old picnic table, and a large quantity of gravel and wood chips. Oh, and 12 bottle caps, a rusty spring, a door hinge, a bunch of broken glass, including the bottom of a beer bottle, and more!

During

What a great workbench that picnic table makes! It is serving as jack-of-all-trades in our house remodel. Notice the wonderful "gate" into our backyard, too... the vinyl lattice we wired up!

After:

How we did it:
We are very lucky to have access to a large scrap pile of stone, from which we can pick whatever we want and have it delivered for the price of a case of Negra Modelo or Bass Ale. My father-in-law runs and owns an architectural stone cutting shop. He works on multi-million dollar houses. We get the rejects, overages, and off falls!

The patio is made out of Cottonwood limestone. It is all from the waste pile, where it was headed to be ground into aggregate. It is approximately 3 to 4 inches thick, and sitting on a bed of about 3 inches of sand. It is framed in with recycled railroad ties that are dug into the ground and anchored below the frost line with 3 foot rebar. We used a circular saw with a diamond blade to dry cut the limestone, and used a belt sander with garnet sandpaper to finish the stone.

We went through a LOT of sandpaper, and a LOT of beer. A long, HOT project!

Where the materials are from:
Railroad ties- Freecycle
Limestone, Diamond Blades- Father-in-law's shop and waste pile
Sand, Sandpaper, Rebar- Home Depot

What we spent:
$20 for a case of beer for my dear father-in-law
$200 for sand and rebar
$10 or so for gas to haul the railroad ties
$40 in sandpaper
___________
$270 total cost for patio!