Week 30 - Garden

I started the week by checking out the Flexcar truck and picking up a yard of compost for my mostly silt/clay front yard, so that I can move the shrubs that survived the summer back to the front. In the spring I'll get another truck load for the back.

With the shrubs in it looks better, but still very bare in front, and it will now probably stay that way till next summer.

Some of the shrubs also went along the wall on the west side of the driveway. They should fill in to create a sort of disorganized hedge to help prevent people who might be up there from stepping over the edge by accident. Luckily it is not a spot where people will generally be walking or I would put in something much more serious.

After considering plants like blackberries, raspberries and climbing roses for the 12" wide space between the garage and the parking lot/chain-link fence, I settled on bamboo. This seems to me the perfect place since it is sandwiched between two concrete walls. I only have to keep the bamboo from escaping at either end. It will be well confined, fill the space up nicely and eventually provide me with useable canes. I picked up three small green bamboo plants at the Hollywood farmers market. Eventually it should top the garage wall by a couple of feet.

The weather stayed good during most of the week so, in spite of the fact that I have lots of more important things to do, I indulged myself, bought a 16 lb. sledge hammer and started breaking up the carport again, (see carport) and producing my home made gravel again.

For now, the large rock goes behind the garage in the beginning of another level. The small rock goes in the front in a 10" deep trench along the sidewalk. This area is the setback in front of the retaining wall I want to build here. The rock will eventually be covered with gravel and pavers but for the winter, I am planning on storing future wall pieces here by stacking them in the same way I did the pieces at the top of the slope, which should make a good temporary retaining wall for the base of slope itself, which concerns me only because it is relatively steep and has been constantly disturbed during the construction.

With the gravel I extended the side yard path a few more feet. First the topsoil is removed and sifted into the bed alongside the path. At the same time I have been replacing iris, peonies, dahlias and bulbs in this bed as I find them elsewhere in the yard. I will still need to redig the whole bed once the path is finished

Once the soil has been removed the large gravel goes down.

The small gravel goes down next to make a stable surface, and then the pavers. Finally, sand gets spread on top of the pavers, partly to fill the cracks and partly to keep the mud buildup to a minimum, since there is still bare dirt at either end of this path.

I have also realized during this process that, if I end up with more chunks and less gravel than I need, I can simply take the sledge hammer to the chunks and turn them into gravel. Handy.

The other thing I did this week was order and receive the materials from I will need to build a garden/deck on top of the garage. I had everything delivered because it was just easier, and my order was large enough that there was no extra charge for delivery.

I plan to cut and drill all the pieces inside the garage, where everything is stored, but will likely assemble the pieces in place. And the planters will remain empty for the first winter (if they even go in this winter. Should the roof leak, I want to be able to get at it.

Week 31 - More Finishes