Spring Planting

Oh my. What's on the schedule here?

Wonderful weather...finally! And the plant expert has arrived for a month or so.

Bushes lined up for planting above the retaining wall.

And the other small wall is almost complete.

Grass looks great from a distance and lot's of greenery from the tree foliage. Oaks are yet to show.

Spring Green In The Mountains

Even my lawn is green....







What else would you expect after the massive rainfall the last three months? Off to Florida until April 28.

Wall Solution - Make Use Of Leftovers

I don't know why I didn't think about it before, it just didn't come to me. Now there will be an extension of the existing block walls covered with rock. It will run about eight feet out and allow for a landing area from a newly created walkway above from the driveway.

Shown above is a footing I worked on yesterday. It took (11) 80 pound bags of quickcrete, measuring eight feet long by 12 inches wide and eight inches deep-- with rebar. I must be getting old dammit. 11 bags equals 880 pounds but the mixing in the wheel barrel beat me up along with digging the footer...roots again!

What happened to the days when lifting 13 tons of beer was a typical workday? I wasn't that freaking tired. Yup, that's what a friend and I calculated we handled on an average day back in the 80's when I spent time in that crazy business. I still dream about it...it was fun!

New walkway needs some adjustment, but I was getting tired. Found a place for those PT boards but I will stain them. They now provide some separation from a planned parking area and the walkway. Added benefit is another drainage route; making three.

White arrows indicate new drainage under the walkway. Blue highlight is a source of another troubled rain water runoff area. Now I wouldn't mind seeing if it works but I'd be glad not to see rain for the rest of the year.

Hard To Make A Decision

I've been battling with this area for weeks, trying to figure out what would work. Could use some help. Should I just extend the scattered rocks along the path up to stone wall the or go with the pressure treated lumber?

Another problem is that danged drainage pipe under the elevated area I've pushed dirt into over the last few months. It's interfering with the placement of steps which I think I'm just going to use irregular stones to make do with. Make it look rustic or so. Red line indicates pipe buried that runs across.

Large flagstones to be used for steps. Probably cut them down to size.

Forget The RotoTiller

I have what I need, time on my hands. Preparing the area in front of the stone walls for grass would have been a nightmare last summer because of the lack of rain. Now the soil is soft but sticky, so the only real work is breaking up the clay chunks. The area shown took about three hours to turn over by shovel.

More known about the nasty storm Friday evening. Could be some of the seed for the main part of the lawn was washed away but it's difficult to tell. One thing is clear; if the weather doesn't get some kind of consistency this lawn won't do well in the summer heat. I understand the best growing times are when daytime temps are between 60 and 80. Yesterday it didn't go over 56. And the new seed needs a certain soil temperature to germinate.

Big difference from last spring eh?

And more of that lovely rain is on the way Monday!