New Planting bed coming soon...

Well, I got the sprinkler fixed last Thursday which is great news.  Didn't have to call anyone out and got all of the sprinkler heads in zone 4 (back yard) located.  Well almost all - I think there is one under my dirt pile and one under my semi-compost pile.  I got the frame built for the new beds, but struggled a bit getting them leveled as there was a 10 inch difference between the top right corner and the others...  I used the excavations from the drainage to back fill the box so that I can use a lot less than a foot and half of Mels Mix... 

 I put a bit of rock in the bottom of the 1x4 box.

Not shown is the above pictures is the work I did on Sunday where the weed cloth and chicken wire was put down in each box.  Hopefully I can plant this weekend.  Already have the soil ingredients...

Oh yeah, here is the topsy turvey...

And one last shot of the 2x12 box...   The lettuce is going crazy!

Back at the Homestead

Sunday began the next phase.  With the french drain all done except for relocating the extra dirt, I finally got to begin clearing the spot for the next raised bed.  Actually two new beds are going in  - a std 4x4 and then a bit smaller version of a 1x4 next to the A/C system.  My wife also stated working on the Topsy Turvey - one bag of strawberries and one with a beefsteak style tomato plant.  Reviews seem to be mixed on these planters, so we will have to see how it works out.

As far as watering, I got the foundation drip line behind the 2x12 bed and got the 1/2 black poly pipe for the drip irrigation set for the bed.  Only problem is that the sprinkler system is not working.  I suppose I am going to have to call someone out...

Anyway, lotsa of work, but hopefully I can plant the next beds this weekend!!

I know what they sell at Lowe's and Home Depot...

WORK!  For the end of spring break vacation last week we went to my mom's.  I spent the first few days trying to finish my french drain.  Mom had a suprise for me...  She wanted me to "fix" her landscaping...  Back to the shovel....

Anyway, I put in several new shrubs, moved some rocks, planted some flowers and put out new mulch.  As a bonus, I put in a mini-herb garden...  Rosemary, basil, oregano, and thyme...

Garden update

The raised bed is doing well.  Things are starting to grow!  The new radishes, mesculm, and spinach are coming up now.  The lettuce is starting to perk up and the broccoli is showing small florettes in them now.  I am hoping that they all finish up in the next 30 days (except the onions and carrots) so I can get some peppers and tomatoes working!  

Clockwise from top right - cauliflower, spinach, radishes and broccoli

Other half of the right bed - clockwise from the top right;  cauliflower, barely visible carrots, mesclun, and broccoli

New spinach is barely sprouting in the bottow two squares....

Newly planted radishes and mesclun in the bottom squares

Two pics of lettuces and onions... (and a bit of swiss chard...)

End of the line

I needed a way to keep critters out of my drain line, so improvised by buying an end cap and drilling numerous small holes in it.  If it gets enough pressure, it will blow off the end, but it should do the trick for normal thunderstorms. 

Anyway, I should finish up the drainage project with another days worth of work.  I have some more backfilling to do.  I have extra rock to put around the A/C units as well as behind the 2x12 box and maybe enough to make a drainage area around a couple of other trouble spots.  I will also need to move all the extra dirt to build up some low areas or the area under my next 4x4 bed.  This has been a lot of work to put in another garden box.  Why did it have to go where the gutter downspout was located?  I guess the next big project will be sprinkler conversion to drip irrigation.

Rock me Amadeus...

A titular tribute to Falco...  I couldn't resist and another "Driving the shovel" title would have been too much.  Today was major work on the French drain project.   I bought a bit over 3000lb of rock from the local rock  yard to start the day.  Since I am truckless, I rented the Lowe's truck.  Since the rate was hourly, step one was shovel all the rocks off the truck and onto the driveway.  It took about an hour to move them all and to clean the bed up of all the dust and "rockettes".  First flaw in the plan...  I needed a tool to move the rocks to the yard.  I don't have space for a big wheel barrow, so I picked up what  I have come to call "El burro piquito" - the little donkey.  It is technically a yard cart with a 3 cu ft capacity.  I didn't fill it up because I was worried that it would break.  I felt like Sancho Panza from the novel Don Quixote pushing this little cart  around that was barely adequate to the  task.

Anyway, I set the drainage bed and then started putting pipes together.  I then put more rocks over the top of the pipe and began to back fill the "dirt"  I put that in quotes because most of the dirt is nothing more than hardened clay now.   I bet I could make bricks out of it!  So here are few more pics.



Driving the shovel - day two....

With church and bible study, I only had a few hours to work today, but I managed to get the main line almost complete.  As far as excavating, all the is left is the north end gutter pipe across to the french drain and the end out from  the end of the house under the fence and to the alley way.  We also planted the last of the 24 original squares today - 2 spinach, a radish and a mesclun - Maegan actually put the seeds in the ground and then we gave them a quick blessing.  Time to update the spreadsheet.

I have to figure out how much drainage rock I am going to need....  let see...  pi*r squared or something like that...  8"x8" x 70' - pi x 2.25"squared x 70' = some calculations, etc - say 3 cu yds should do the trick and leave a bit extra for around the A/C's.