Watering and Weeding

The weather has been very weird here this year. It rained almost every day in May and most of June. Then it stopped utterly. I was so used to the soil being well watered that I didn't think about it when it didn't rain for 3 weeks.

The Cucumbers wilted, so I watered them. Then I tried to push a finger into the soil next to the tomatoes and couldn't! So I spent the past 2 days watering everything. I don't water the lawn, often. If it goes dormant, that's fine; it always comes back.

But I gave the vegetable garden and the flowerbeds a good soaking. The veggies are in separate framed beds, so I don't want to water the spaces between. The flowerbeds are about 8' wide, and I don't have any sprinkler system the waters so narrowly. I have some drip hoses, but they are unimagimably slow and don't work evenly.

So, I did it by hand. By spading fork actually...

A few years ago, I discovered that the fan hose-end nozzle fit in the handle of my D-shaped spading fork. It occurred to me I could just set it in there and drive the spade fork into the ground to shower an area many minutes at a time.

It works great. I keep a kithchen timer in my pocket, set it for 4 minutes, and weed a dry area of the garden while the water showers down on the other parts. The fan sprayer nozzle is perfect for 6-8' deep beds and almost all the water goes to the plants. The timer gives me consistent watering.

To all you gardeners out there, don't worry, I watered the tomatoes and such by hand only at ground level. I know about the diseases that wet plants can get.

I also watered the flowers at mid-day when they were sure to dry off the leaves before evening...

It took most of 2 days to do it.

But everything seems recuperated now, and it is supposed to rain a couple times next week. Yay! The lawn needs it and the garden/flowers will appreciate it!

Harvest Time, Finally

Well, I spent a few days weeding the garden and flowerbed. Nothing worth taking a picture of or posting about. But I was amply rewarded!

I picked my 1st 2 tomatoes and a cucumber.



Some years ago, I started growing heirloom Brandywine tomatoes. They were so superior to even the best home-grown hybrid tomatoes that I finally stopped bothering to grow even Celebrity and Big Beef (the best tasting hybrids). I've expanded to include Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Caspian Pink, Tennessee Britches, and Aunt Gerties Gold.

While Brandywine routinely wins taste tests, I consider Cherokee Purple the best heirloom tomato. Brandywine is both sweet and acidic, but it is not very productive and it succumbs to disease too easily. Cherokee Purple has a more complex taste, and it is meaty, productive, and stays healthier.

Here is the Cherokee Purple, cut open (as well as the cucumber - note the small seeds):

Front Landscape Box Update

Some of the Caladium bulbs are emerging. Yay!

One is even opening the first leaf.



But I don't think I will try to save the bulbs each Fall. It seems like a lot of work and I am definitely a low-maintenance kind of person. So I am going to try to correct one bad decision happily in my theory of landscaping.

You see, I used to have another landscaping box (the OTHER side of the front steps) filled with Snow-On-The-Mountain. But I made the mistake of planting some other stuff (temporarily, hah, hah) there. That box seriously overgrew, and when I cleared it out last Fall (a seriously hard project), there were only 3 individual surviving "Snows". I carefully set them aside while emptying out the other plants.

I decided to replant 2 Nandinas in the back corners with 2 salvaged azaleas in between. The entire rest of the bed became a hosta and japanese painted fern bed. And because I had the 3 surviving "Snows", I stuck them in.

Bad move!

The Snows thrived and spread several feet. Among the hostas and ferns, the place just looks way too "busy" with different foliage. The hostas look great individually, but with all the Snows intermingling and filling up the spaces, it is just plain ugly!



So there I was with the very nice low-maintenance Snows not working with the equally nice low maintenance hosta in one bed, and the high-maintenance caladiums in the other bed...

You can guess where I'm going with this, I hope. I dug up a dozen individual Snows and moved them to the Caladium bed. I will enjoy the caladiums for this season and maybe even save a few dozen in the Fall for use elsewhere (but don't bet any money on that). The new landscape box will become a permanent "Snows" box, the older box will be just hostas and ferns (I'll dig out the Snows there) and neither will require much maintenance (a litle weeding, and good mulch will take care of most of that).

The remaining caladiums will become indoor hanging houseplants (out of reach of the cats - the caladiums are toxic) where they will brighten up dark corners (they love deep shade).

When I am sure the transplanted Snows are taking root in the new landscaping box, I will rip them out of the old one.

Win-win!

Removing Vines From Garden Beds

Well, I started pulling vines on out of another garden bed today. I loosened the soil around the roots to get out as much vine roots as possible.

Even with a leverage fork, it wasn't easy. That a great tool. BTW. The whole thing is solid metal and the bar behind it provides great leverage. It works great. You stab it into the soil then pull back.






When I came across a poison ivy plant in the bed, I stopped and went inside to wash my hands and arms and douse them with rubbing alcohol. I used to be immune to it. Several years ago, I developed a terrible case of it that lasted 2 weeks. I won't risk that again!



But I did dig up a real pile of vines as deep as I could get at the roots.



I'll dig up the poison ivy plants and deep as I can dig, and wearing rubber gloves for protection. I'll have a bucket of soapy water to put them into before I so much as touch a door to the house.

I'm getting there...

Impulsiveness Attack!

I stared at the "hedge" yesterday morning and suddenly decided I just couldn't live with it another day.



It started out a decade or so ago as one red twigged dogwood shrub. It really did have bright red stems in the Winter. I liked it so much that I bought a dozen more (from a cheap catalog source). Bad decision. Yes, none of them ever had red stems in Winter. I cut them down twice, but they wouldn't die. And I couldn't cut them down low enough with loppers to mow over, so they grew back. In fact, I eventually got used to the ugly things and mowed around them. Naturally, "other stuff" started growing up alongside them and soon it was the ugly thicket shown above...

So it HAD to go. NOW! I plugged in my electric chain saw (no more attempts with the pruners) and hacked into everything at ground level. I got this far before the chain saw wasn't cutting through anything anymore.



After that, I used a hedge trimmer to take out the soft stuff, and an axe to chop out stumps and junk saplings. The hedge trimmer is a rechargeble electric type (I hate noisey gas-power tools and can never keep those 2-stroke tools working anyway). Then I couldn't find the recharger transformer... Argh.

OK, pruners for the vines and the ax for the shrub roots and saplings... I finally got to the top where the one good original red-twigged dogwood is (still surviving, amazingly). It took some real work to get the junk out from around it without damaging it!



And least I had some company! I seem to have made a new friend.



He (I think - well it didn't seem appropriate to investigate too much) seems to live across the street as a daytime outdoors cat. I had never seem him (?) before, but his predecessor was also friendly and would come over for scritches whenever I worked outside in the front yard. He sat in the shade of a bush watching me work and whenever I sat down for a minute, he was right there rubbing and curling up at my feet. Apparently, I am very cat-attractive. He enjoyed investigating the garage thoroughly whenever I got too active with tools.

Well, I managed to fill the trailer with "hedge" debris.



I'll bring it to the brush recycling center Saturday so that I can have the trailer filled with free mulch. The new front landscaping box needs a couple of inches worth and I have places in the backyard perennial bed that are bare ground and want to grow weeds.

I could take tip cuttings from the "good" red-twigged dogwood shrub, but I bought a primo plant of that type named "Arctic Fire" that is suppose to be even brighter red, So I will plant it next to the orginal dogwood and see which looks best. I'll take tip cuttings from the winner next Summer. I LIKE having the hedge along the driveway; I just want it to be something worth looking at and maintaining...

And if the tip cuttings work, I will eventually plant a row on the other side of the driveway.

BTW, the big shrub that appears in some of the pictures is a "burning bush" (Euonymus alata "Compactus"). Praying mantises love it (I sometimes get a couple on me while mowing around it) and it IS a spectacular crimson color in the Fall.

But I have to say that, between moving the upright bar yesterday and all the cutting work today, every muscle in my body hurts. Heck, my toes hurt! Just lifting a beer to my lips hurts (it's the triceps). But I'll manage. ;)

Furniture Rearrangement!

I decided I can't live with the Big Screen TV in the living room. I had the old regular TV in the dining room where I could see it from the kitchen while I was preparing food. But the guidelines said I would see the new HD TV best from at least 8' away and that required the living room. So I had it installed there on a good solid TV table.

A year later I just can't stand it. I am LISTENING to more TV than I actually watch, so that needs to change. I measured how far away it would be if I moved it and sat there for a few hours. It looks just fine. So I am going to move it to the dining room. (very carefully)

Of course, there is furniture that has to be moved. The first thing that had to be moved was the upright bar. That's a neat piece of work my Dad made decades ago. Basically, its a 30" door built into a frame 8" deep and 38" wide. It has glass shelves and a fold out bar shelf 10" wide for mixing drinks on. It is a real wonder of construction. From the back, it is a nightmare of boards and pieces of scrap plywood, but it is as solid a a rock. Typical engineer construction. The outside surfaces are are highly varnished pine and oak. Visitors marvel when they see it. I love it!

But it was where I needed to move chairs to watch the TV, so it needed to be moved. It is "solid" because it is very heavy. I can't even lift it up an inch, for example. I'm not the strongest guy, but I'm not weak either. Moving it takes 2 guys minimum. So I had to think about where to move it and how to move it by myself.

I have lived alone for 40 years, so I've gotten used to figuring out how to move large awkward heavy objects by myself. I decided to put it in the guest bedroom. First, I had to figure out if I could even get it into that room. Obviously, I couldn't just carry it there (it must weigh 200 pounds). And at 7' tall, I couldn't get it through any doors upright. It had to be moved on it's side.

I tried to visualize moving it on the side through the house and into the guest bedroom. I decided I needed a piece of something the same height to practice. I looked through the house for something that length. I could have cut an 8' pine stud to 7', but I kept looking around. I finally realized I had a 7' fishing rod.

I took that upstairs and carefully manuvered it through the rooms, hallways, into bedrooms, etc until I was certain that there was sufficient manuvering room. By about an inch! Then there was the carpet to consider in the guest room. The bar door is flush with the bottom of the frame. The frame would sink into the carpet and prevent the door from opening. The entire weight of the frame sits on the 2 outside ends. I cut two 5"x8"pieces of wood to sit the frame on to lift it enough for the door to open easily.

So, how to actually move it? I had a 2' square wheeled support I made years ago. After taking out all the various bar glassware out (wine glasses of several types, beer glasses, steins, etc), I detached the bar from the wall leaving the door open 90 degrees for surrort. It will fall down if not attached to the wall into a stud. From there I "walked it around carefully until I could pull it over on a corner to lay it down on it's side of the wheeled support. It was heavy, but I was careful.

I managed to keep it from tipping over as I wheeled it out of the dining room, into the living room, and slowly into the hallway. Near the guest room, I realized I had it oriented backwards, so I had to push it back ito the living room and slowly turn it around. Then back through the hallway!

To get it into the guest bedroom, I needed to angle it into the master bedroom then into the guest bedroom. It wouldn't make the turns. Not because of the length of the bar, but because the wheeled suooprt was too wide. I stopped and had a beer.

Well, I had some small 3-caster support things. Not very supportive, but they were narrow. It took 30 minutes to get the bar off the large wheeled support and onto the smaller 3 caster supports. The hard part was getting the large wheeled support out from under the bar. I could lift one end AND remove the large wheeled support at the same time. I finally tied twine to the support, looped it around a foot, and yanked one foot while lifting the end of the bar. It took many tries.

That wasn't the end of the problems. The bar kept wanting to fall sideways when I moved it on the narrow casters. And they slipped out several times as they were pushed and pulled from the wood hallway to the carpeted bedrooms.

But I did manage it eventually. I had the bar in the room and the back to the wall. I was finally able to rise the bar upright. I had to open the door to prevent it from falling forward. But then, the door had to be open so that I could drive a couple of screws throuth the back panel and into the wall studs to hold it in place anyway.

There were, of course, some problems I hadn't accounted for. There was an elecrical outlet I didn't want to block, there was a closet door molding I couldn't be up against because it is not plumb, and there was only a few inches of distance to the fully opened door. Fortunately, it turned out that I could expose the entire electric outlet inside the bar by moving it 3" from the closet molding and that left enough space for the room door to open fully. But knowing how awkward access to the electrical outlet was, I put a short extention cord out one side just over the baseboard cutout in the bar.

I had used a stud finder on the walls before I started, so I knew where to attach the bar's back boards to the walls. I missed one somehow, but I got one spot on, so the bar will stay in place. I even pulled on it a bit roughly just to be sure.

So I made dinner and had a whole bottle of wine in celebration! Afterwards, I cleaned all the glass shelves (very carefully) and interior wood and replaced all the glassware. I am quite pleased.

Pictures...












Next, I dare try to move the heavy Flat Screen TV and table myself!

New End Table Plans

Here are the tables I plan to build.



There will be some changes. The basic end table will be built exactly as designed. The "sofa" table will be built to the width and length, the same height as the end table. That is because I want an "end table" that is narrow to fit between an easy chair and a wall. The third table will be a smaller version of the standard end table to serve as a plant stand. I may actually make 2 of those, I just haven't decided yet.

The tops of the tables are made from Baltic Birch furniture grade plywood, and there is considerable waste from the 2' x 4' sheets. I need to sit down and see if there is enough leftovers for the size plant stand tops I need. The plant stands have to have enough spread between the legs to be sturdy enough to prevent the cats from knocking them over. I am considering making the plant stand tops round, but I might make the square just for consistency of design.

I might have to angle the plant stand legs outward or attach them to a larger plywood base for stability. I might build the coffee table, but I'm not sure where I would put it. As I don't have a sofa, I'm not sure where I would use it. I might build one taller to use as an eating surface. I like to watch science&nature TV while eating, and TV trays are wobbly.

Happy 4th of July

I'm just laying back today and cooking a couple chickens in the smoker... As usual, I read the Declaration of Independence out loud on the deck, and thought about my uncles who fought in WWII. It is good to remember these things.

I did reassemble the table for temporary use, found a good design for a new one, and made a list of the wood I need for it. Three tables actually. One end table, one skinny wall-side table, and one small one as a plant stand. At least I will have some matching furniture!

Making some progress on clearing the vine-overgrown framed garden beds. Will try to post on that tomorrow! I need to dump the pictures into the computer and crop them, etc. But not now; the chicken is ready and I'm starving!

But before I go, I want to say "Let freedom spread. Let it spread. Let freedom ring through the valleys and to spread from every mountainside, from every shore, from every field, from every hill and trench, from the cemetaries of wars to the memorials to the fallen, to the homes, to the bed of the last soldier veteran".

May it rest in all our hearts every day.

I honor and salute you who have fallen in the service of the nation...

Refinish Ocassional Table Project -2

Well, I took the table downstairs and examined it carefully.



It doesn't really look as good as I thought.

When I disassembled it, I discovered that there were some broken boards glued back together. Perhaps someone fell on it decades ago. I couldn't tell from picking up the whole thing, but the individual pieces are extremely light. Some off the receded screw-holes and plagged, and I don't want to damage drills removing the plugs. It appears to be pine that was painted, then stained in some way that appeared to leave a hardwood grain, then varnished (or shellacked - I can't tell). The unfinished wood (under the connections) is even a bit punky. The whole thing is butt-jointed which is not very solid.

It's no family heirloom...



So, I looked through some of my woodworking magazines and found a couple I like. One is even designed so that the top appears to be floating above the frame. I'll decide which one I like best, follow the exact design for 2 regular size end tables and scale it down smaller for 1 as a matching plant stand, get the wood (oak), and go from there. Well, I DID want to build all my own furniture eventually anyway. Might as well start now...

But not this week. I think I will turn my attention back to the garden. There are still 3 framed beds overgrown with vines. It will be better to tackle those now, rather than wait until the heat of late July and August. The temperatures are forecast to stay in the low-mid 80s for a week, and that won't last for long.

A Frustrating Day

I didn't start work on the table today. I got up late, vacuumed the newly renovated jon boat and attempted to put the new boat cover on it. I bought the cover months ago, before I had "done" the boat. The box clearly described that it fitted 16' pointed front and square front boats and that it had reinforced corners.

If you aren't familiar with "square front" (jon) boats, you can slightly see it here.



I unfolded it and found 2 narrow reinforced corners and hooked them on the front corners. I stretched it out toward the back and hooked a third reinforced corner and hooked it on 1 rear corner. No 4th corner! I went round and round the cover trying to find the 4th corner.

Well, sometimes I an more persistent than mentally swift. It took a bit to realize that there were only 3 corners on the cover and I had it backwards. I reversed the cover on the boat after a few minutes. The back corners fit nicely, but I realized the thing was really only designed for a V front boat, not a square front one like mine. I went inside and examined the description on the style of boat the cover was supposed to be designed for.

Yep, it showed a picture of a square front 16' jon boat. But it won't fit. I can hook the front reinforced corner over a trolling motor attachment in the center of the front, but it will NOT stretch out to the sides (and there is no reinforcement there anyway).

I repackaged it (no easy task, they must use elephants to squeeze the cover small enough to fit into the box) and returned it to Walmart. They refused to take it back even with a receipt because it was over 90 days. That wasted 40 minutes of driving there and back and standing in the long return line.

I'm going to email the manufacturer to see if I can mail it to them for a credit. It clearly will not work as advertised.

So I got home and decided I had to weed the garden some. I had added compost from the Compost-Tumbler I bought a few years ago. Don't ever buy one. It will NOT heat the compost up enough to kill viable seeds. I ended up with hybrid grocery store cantalope seeds EVERYWHERE. Now, that wasn't a problem among the tomatoes, corn, or pole beans. But I can't tell which seedlings are cucumbers that I planted and which are unwanted commercial cantalopes!



I THINK the cucumbers have a slightly more pointed leaf, but I am not confident enough to pull the blunt leaf plants out yet. I knew I could pull out everything that wasn't directly under the trellis. I left 2 large seedling not in the row so that I could see what the melons looked like as they grew. Hopefully, I can use those to differentiate between the melons and the cukes.

After weeding the corn and the new herb garden, it got dark, so I came inside to make dinner (steak, fresh corn, and salad). With wine, of course.

Hopefully, I can start on the table tomorrow...

I suppose that, since this blog is about projects, I can brag about the boat work. After years of making plywood floors that rooted in a few years, I decided to end the problem by getting some heavy duty aluminum plate floors. It wasn't cheap ($300 for a 4'x8' plate) but I think it will be worth it.

I had the sheet cut to 2 pieces, attached outdoor carpet to the aluminum with exterior double-sided tape, and attached bolts with fender washers at the corners. Then I attached seat pedestals in the center (being careful to straddle the ribs of the bottom of the boat. I found there was a slight flex in the aluminum plate which caused some noise walking on it, so I lifted them off and put some cheaper outdoor carpet underneath. That solved the problem.



I have to say it looks a feels "right" now.

Refinish Ocassional Table Project

I have an old table that my Dad built in the 1950's. It was originally built to hold one of those "new-fangled" hi-fi record players. The front part held the "new" LP records and the turntable sat on top.



Your eyes aren't deceiving you, it really does narrow slightly toward the back. I don't know why. Maybe that was the style of the time. I don't remember; I was a kid then. But when I got my first apartment, that was one of the pieces of furniture that my parents were willing to let go and I have brought it with me from place to place to place ever since. I have been using it as a lamp table and magazine holder.

And I'm not surprised they gave it to me. It is a bit of an odd thing. I think Dad is actually a bit embarassed to see it still around (but pleased that I like it). Well, aside from the fact that my Dad made it (which matters to me) it is a bit of a quirky, eccentric piece.

I like weird furniture with a family history. My dining table dates back to when my mother was a child. A matching writing desk serves as my bedroom "collect-all" surface. My bar is a framed door with 8" sides and glass shelves (built by Dad).

I don't like up-to-date, fashionable furniture. Even my swivel-rocker chairs are unique because I sent the manufacturer black fabric to use in place of their standard peach/aqua/brick selections (they were thrilled by my request and did it at no additional cost). The only mass-produced furniture I have is the TV table (I needed one THAT DAY) and the 7 ceiling height bookcases I bought from an office furniture company (because I couldn't find old matching bookcases and REALLY did not feel like making so many).

So this table needs work. It hasn't ever been refinished in its nearly 60 years, it is scratched and stained. And it has a peculiar design flaw (I hope Dad doesn't ever read this) because the back end is supported by a single point. It is tippy when weight is applied to the back corners.



Most of the original finish is gone. I don't know what the finish is (lacquer, shellac, varnish?). I hope modern strippers will remove it. I'll be finding out soon. I might have to plane 1/32" off some surfaces. As far as I can tell by looking at the construction, that shouldn't cause a problem. But it would mean I will have to remove and clean the planer knives afterwards I think.

I plan to add support to the back leg. Cats (and myself) have knocked it over a few times because of that. I think attaching a 1"x3"x12" board inside the back leg should solve the tipping problem. It shouldn't be difficult to match the bevel of the tapered leg. I may notch it in to the leg.

I can't tell what kind of wood it is. It isn't pine or oak. It might be poplar or ash. It might even be maple. I suspect it is even mixed woods. The front bottom on the record holder appears to be baseboard molding. I may be able to tell after the finish and stain is removed.



It has a number of attached smaller boards that make up the surfaces. I hope it doesn't fall apart when I disassemble it... LOL! Well, if the boards separate, I have a biscuit cutter and modern glues.

Some thanks Are In Order...

First, my thanks to all the kitty blog friends who have visited the new blog.

Second, my thanks to Scott (Foot Butter Guy) who suggested that Caladiums are toxic to cats. I checked and he is correct. Caladiums are routinely listed among the top 10 toxic houseplants to cats (and probably other animals).

As a result, I will grow them only in the hanging pots the cats can't reach, only in the front yard where the cats never go, and in some pots on the top of bookcases (where even Ayla cannot reach). And I will not attempt to save any (except for a few dozen for the indoors hanging baskets next year). And that is assuming they grow well indoors.

The front left landscaping box will become Snow on the Mountain next year.

Thank you, Scott, for the advice. I didn't suspect caladiums were a danger...

Planted The New Landscape Box

I don't believe I planted about 500 Caladiums today! Oh my back...



Well first, I set down 4 paver blocks (so I can reach my hose faucet and the water company can read their meter without trampling emerging plants). I rooted tip cuttings of Nandina to be planted in the back corners (which matches the Right Front Landscaping Box which is full of hostas and Japanese Painted Ferns).

I was careful not to compress the soil. I spread a plastic tarp 2' shy of the back edge and dropped a sheet of plywood on it to spread my weight (no sense in getting the plywood dirty). Every few inches, I jammed a trowel into the soil, lifted a bit and slid a Caladium bulb in (a corm, if you want to get technical about it).

I put them in irregularly, but every couple of feet I pulled the tarp and plywood forward.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat...

I saved the forward front corner for the 2 dozen tulip bulbs I dug up mixing the soil. That should be impressive next Spring.

The soil level is at least an inch lower than the frame. That leaves room to add shredded bark mulch. That part was planned.

I'm annoyed at the person I bought the Caladium bulbs from. I emailed him saying I had a 12x8' area. He said I needed the 40 pound box. Right! There must be 3,000 bulbs in the box and the instructions say to plant them 6 inches apart. So I used 500 of them. They're not perennial even in my area, so I can't just plant them all over the garden and ignore them. Any I want to save for next year, I have to dig up this Fall.

I'll pot up a lot for inside the house (they love deep shade). But aside from that the rest are expensive compost. I hate waste like that. I tried to give buckets of them to neighbors, but no one wanted them (They didn't even know what Caladiums are). I think I will just give it up as a bad idea. I can transplant Snow On The Mountain from my hosta bed next year and that will fill the spot up for a decade. For free.



Well, you live and learn... I went to a garden catalog rating site and gave the company a negative rating. And I think I will contact the company and complain about be seriously "oversold". They might respond.

A Few Days Without Rain?

Wow, that will be amazing! I was able to mow the lawn yesterday. It was 6" high and falling over. I had to do it slowly because there was so much grass it was choking even a lawn tractor. And I think I have to get at the bottom of the mower deck and pry crushed grass off of it. It reduces the area where grass blades can be recut. I bet the stuff is an inch thick.

Speaking of the lawn tractor, I have to start it with a portable battery pack these days. The battery is just dead! But the problem isn't the battery. I replaced that last spring and late last summer. The problem is whatever recharges the battery. I'm not good at that stuff.

I assume there is an alternator or a generator that has failed. But the last time I took apart an engine, it stayed "taken apart".

I've taken a look at the engine and couldn't even figure out how to GET at any of the parts. Things are actively designed these days to deliberately thwart owner repairs. I can't even get at the spark plugs without detaching the engine and raising it, which I can't do.

It seems I will have to jump start the mower, drive it onto my trailer, haul it to a repair place, then jump start it again just to drive it off the trailer into the repair shop. ARGH!

I am very close to just buying a new one. Consumer Reports says great things about a John Deere 42" lawn tractor. I've only had this White-Outdoor brand lawn tractor 8 years, and it has given me nothing but trouble. It doesn't even cut level no matter how I adjust the tire inflation. My cheap Hechinger model lasted 12 years and worked better.

Hmmm, I think I've talked myself into a new lawn tractor... Now what do I do with the existing one? I bet it can be fixed, so it must be worth something... Sell it $200 "as is"?

Front Left Yard Project - 5

COMPLETED IT YESTERDAY! But not planted... I can't step on the soil until it dries out, and it rained again today (and will tommorow too). At least all the construction work is done and the soil has been added.

First, I finished constructing the frame. That went easily.



Then I took off with the trailer to get topsoil. There is a local nursery that has all sorts of useful stuff in bulk (soil, mulch, compost, sand, gravel, etc). But I had to stop by the recycling center to empty the trailer of a load of brush and fallen branches. The recycling center turns yard debris into free mulch for county residents. If you go on Saturday, they even load your trailer or pickup for free!

So I returned home from the nursery with 2 front-loader bucket loads of excellent topsoil (for $20 per bucket - way cheaper than bags of poor quality topsoil from Walmart).

It proceeded to start raining again (of course), but I had backed the trailer up the driveway with the back end under the roof overhang. Because the front of the main floor of the house is cantilevered out 2 feet beyond the garage/basement and the roof extends another couple feet, I had some protected area to work from.



So I shovelled.



And I shovelled...



And I shovelled. It's not bad if you get your mind into robot-mode and just keep "doing it". I soaked 2 towels wiping off the sweat. Well, it was 100% humidity due to the rain and nothing was evaporating. I did stop to rest 15 minutes several times, and I made sure to have plenty of beer in the process (having a basement refrigerator is very convenient).

Finally, the trailer was empty. It took about 3 hours and 4 beers.



After that, I spread out the soil...



Then levelled it. Hurray! I have a very nice 24" rake with a flat blade opposite the teeth. It is GREAT for levelling soil.



I brought the trailer out streetside, uncoupled it from the car, and put the car in the garage (first taking advantage of its absence to sweep out the garage).

That was about 5:30 PM. I went inside, collapsed into a chair for an hour's worth of TV, dragged myself up to fix dinner, had a bottle of zinfandel with dinner and another couple of hours of TV and went to bed at 9 PM. That is REALLY early for me, but then I had stayed up all night the day before. So I had done all that work on no sleep for 33 hours. I paid for that by sleeping for 14 hours! Retirement is wonderful - no schedules to follow. :)

Front Left Yard Project - 4

Hurray! Finally the frame is going up... But a few words on problems I have had:

1. Rain. It has rained more days the past month than I recall at any time in the past 20 years. That probably isn't true, but it sure seems like it. It isn't the volume so much, but the consistency of it. So, I note that it DIDN'T rain yesterday and it DIDN'T rain one day last week rather than mention the days it did rain. LOL!

2. Pressure-treated lumber is EVIL to work with! Not safe around gardens either, but this bed is all ornamentals. I'm talking about just drilling and screwing the stuff. I tried all the right stuff. I used coated exterior deck screws, the proper drill bit for the pilot holes, and the proper screw bit for #8 phillips heads. The bit started to slip 1/2 way in. So I lubricated the screws with soap. That helped a little, but not much. I went to the next size drill bit. That helped some, but not enough. I went up another 1/64th on the pilot hole bit. I don't remember having this much trouble when I built the decks 20 years ago! But then, I was mostly drilling straight down against joists with all my weight on the screw bit. With this project, it is all sideways with no support.

3. The edge of the driveway is not square to either the house or the sidewalk. I had to decide whether to match the box to the sidewalk and house or match the driveway/sidewalk angle. I chose the latter. It isn't very visible, but the only corner I have is not 90 degrees. Fortunately, the piece of 4x4 I am using in the corner is not exactly squre either and I found one corner that matched the imperfection very well.

4. Cordless drill batteries that are put under a lot of strain don't last very long. I drained 2 batteries just doing 12 holes and screws. Granted, I had to do half the screws 2 (and several even 3) times because the heads stripped out).

5. I wish I had gone to the hardware store and bought square drive screws. Those things hold the bit great! I have a good selection of various sizes and styles of them for furniture work, but none of them were long enough for this project. Never use what you have on hand "just because you have it"...

6. The area to be framed was nominally 12' wide and 8' deep. But guess what? It was actually 12' 4" wide and 8' 1" deep. I'll have to do something at each end to hold the soil in. Argh!

But I did make some progress (before the rain came again):

First, I dug all the support holes. They are every 4'because the 12' side needs an 8' and a 4' board. The frame will be 2 boards high, so I alternated the 4' pieces. Most of the supports will be 2x6" P-T boards. All the holes were about 12' deep.

Second, I constructed the corner. It gets a 4x4" post for strength and to allow screws not near an edge. I attached the 2x4s to each other, so the 4x4 was just there for clamping purposes at the moment. It is not going to stick up.



Third, I cut the 4x4" post and the 2x6" posts to exact height for each hole (they weren't all identical depths, of course).

Fourth, I attached the connected frame boards to the 4x4" post. The stain you see under the screws is the soap I used to try to lubricate the screws. The rain will wash it off. That held most of the other boards in place. Keep in mind that I am actually building 2 sides of a box. The house and the front steps serve as the other 2 sides.



Fifth, I started attached the 2x4" framing boards to the support posts (2x6"). I got (with great frustration as mentioned above) 1/2 of them done before the drill batteries drained. I would have pulled out the corded drill, but it started to rain again (naturally). I wanted to use the cordless drill because the quick replace chuck makes it so much eaier to change the drilling bit for the screwing bit and back, which I had to do constantly. I should get one of those add-on changeable chucks for the old corded drill.

But here's what it looked like when I quit for the day.



At least I'm getting there (if far more slowly than I originally expected). I thought this was going to be an easy "2 afternoons and done" project. I'm up to 4 days now, I haven't finished, and I still have to fill the box with topsoil!

Be back tomorrow with more progress (pending rain delays)...

Front Left Yard Project - 3

No new progress. I stayed up so late last night that there wasn't much daylight by the time I got up (4 pm). I decided I was better off doing a grocery shopping expedition and a few other chores instead. I did take pictures though.

Here is the area before I dug out the azalea and barberry stumps.



This is the barberry stump. For a shrub that is only 7' high and wide, they sure develop a heavy trunk and root system!



Here is the area to be framed. There were also a lot of 1' thick vine roots and I dug them out, too. Digging out roots that extended under the sidewalk was not much fun... But better to fight with them now than fight with them after the area is planted.



And just because it looks so good right now, here is a picture of the Stella D'Oro daylillies around the mailbox. I made the green fish with the brass street number a few weeks ago. The stick-on numbers fade too quickly and I got tired of replacing them each year.

Front Left Yard Project - 2

Well, I went out and looked at the area this afternoon. The Japanese Barberry stump was 8" above ground and the soil level was a bit high there. The 2 Azalea stumps were sending up new shoots. So, I decided they had to go! That wasn't an easy decision. Azaleas send out lots of roots and I took out a barberry stump elsewhere that took hours to dig out.

But sometimes you just have to do it the "right way". I collected some tools that I recalled being most effective previously. I had my solid steel spade, an axe, a soil digger knife (basically a serrated dagger) and a "mutt". The mutt is a straight blade about 8" long and 4" wide, with a chisel point, mounted on a thick strong straight wood 5' shaft.

First, I took out the azalea stumps. Those weren't too bad, taking only 1/2 hour of digging, chopping, and prying. I was drenched in sweat, but pleased I had removed them.

When I looked at the barberry stump, I nearly cried. I REALLY tried to figure out a way to cover it and let it rot in peace. The soil around it was covered in stones, the stump was 12" wide, and I knew from the previous time that the roots are deep and thick. I sat there for 15 minutes trying to find a way not to dig it out.

It had to go, though, so I started digging away the soil around it. The first thing I hit was the original burlap from 20 years ago! That stuff is supposed to rot away. It must have been synthetic. That took a while to cut through and remove in pieces.

I dug a trench around the stump and started working my way inwards. When I found a root, I tried to chop it with the spade, but mostly had to use the axe. I tried to use the mutt, but the straight down chop of it does not equal the force applied with an axe. Each time I cut through a root (they are up to 2.5" in diameter), I pushed the steel spade under and levered it. Dont try that with a wood handled spade, it will just break.

When the stump started to move slightly, I could tell where the other large roots were and dug out more soil with the spade and digger knife. When I got a major root exposed, I went after it with the axe. More prying, more digging, more axing, more levering.

I finally got to the major straight down taproot. I couln't get at it with the axe, it was too thick and movable) for the spade. I finally went inside and sharpened the Mutt's edge on the grinder wheel. It took 15 more minutes of pounding the mutt into the taproot, but I finally felt it go right through. Yay!

There were still some minor roots holding the stump to the soil, but I was able to cut through them with the spade when I figured out where they were. Lifting the stump out of the hole was a great pleasure. I felt like I was Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa aloft!

I took the tools into the garage, went upstairs and collapsed for an hour. I lost 2 pounds doing the work. I was so dehydrated that I drank a glass of orange juice, a glass of tomato juice, and a glass of green tea. An hour later, I drank a whole bottle of wine with dinner.

I think I deserved all that.

It was too dark by then to take pictures, so I left everything in place to take pictures tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I begin to build the framed bed to which to add soil and compost...

Front Left Yard Project - 1

To the left of my front steps is an 8' x 12' area enclosed by the house, the steps, a sidewalk and the driveway. Years ago, I planted a thorny Japanese Barbery bush under the basement window for security and a couple of azaleas for color. I decided it was just too ugly.

Here is a picture of it last year.



I cut the barberry down last month. Some shoots started to grow back, so I sprayed them with Brush-B-Gon. I try to stay organic in general, but I don't mind using serious stuff in some limited situations. I use it for poison ivy that keeps crawling into my yard from the careless neighbors on all 3 sides, for example. It's not like I use the stuff where it gets into the water table...



I finally got the whole area cleared a couple of days ago. It was 4" deep in sweet gum balls and old dry barberry thorns and below that was the black plastic I had put down 20 years ago to prevent weeds from growing. The plastic was so old it came up in pieces only a few inches long at a time. And I kept stabbing myself on barberry thorns I hadn't raked out...

That was a dilemma! My leather gloves were too thick to grab the bits of black plastic. I finally found a pair of rubber gloves that were sensitive enough to pick out the black plastic, but thick enough to protect me from the thorns if I was careful about it.

My plan is to build an 8" high framed bed around the area and add topsoil and compost. I've going to cover the entire surface with newspaper and the roots of the barberry and azaleas with cardboard. Since they have been sprayed with Brush-B-Gon and will be covered by cardboard and 6" of soil, I don't expext to see them again. If they push through, I'll have to dig them out.

I'm going to plant caladiums there (it is on the north side of the house - deep shade).

I'll post pictures as this project progresses...