Monthly Archives: March 2018

Weekend March 17-18

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Was perfect weather this weekend and last weekend sunny and dry we had Julie and Geoff out last weekend so not much got done.  Even with  March Madness got a fair amount of stuff done.

This weekend got some of the small tasks done, besides chipping and gardening

  • Replaced the GFR outlet by the greenhouse.
  • Painted out the white with green  spray paint on the the T-bar posts
  • Moved the Refrigerator  out of the studio and into the garage.
  • Cleaned out the green house.
  • Turned the water back on for the irrigation system.
  • Purchased a Makita Jig saw, pine planks, and shelf brackets for the Live edge in the studio.
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Planting and Flowers

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We did some planting of vegetable, strawberries, Mardi put strawberries in with the raspberries in  one of the raised bed.  We added cilantro,  Wally Wally onions to the herb bed. We put in tomato plants into the orchard. The soil is really shallow, you hit rocks about 4 inches down.  Tried to move a rosemary bush out of the herb raised bed and put it into the yard, not sure if that will work. The Rosemary looks good in the new location but not sure if it will live.

Purchased the tomatoes, herbs, strawberries as starters 4″   5 for 15 dollars from Home Depot, around $38  for 22 plants. We seem to be late for doing things from seeds all the starter kits were packed up. Need to figure that out sooner. Looks like a December / January thing. We do have a greenhouse.

We also purchased some seeds and will try to get them started in the green house this week. Cantaloupe, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers. around $2. per pack.

Turned on the water for the irrigation systems, but have not turned on the  remote control system.  We be interesting to see how we the sprinkler system does. It has 12 zones, I guess a rain sensor. So something else to figure out.

Lots of work  to be done in the yard, but it is looking good, things are flowering.

Chipper photos

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The Powerking  PK903  Chipper has been working so much better now that I know how to run the right material.

Spent some time clipping Salal (will be a constant defensive battle) the Huckleberry and Salal has been allowed to grow and needs to be pushed back. So 2 hours of clipping created about 2 sq yards of  yard waste. This took about 30 minutes to run through into the green stuff and started digging into the existing debris pile. Ran it for an hour and cleaned up about 3 sq yards into 3 x 64 gallon trash cans load. That is the pile with the tree trunk shadow.

From the pictures you can see it does not mulch and does not grind up the Salal or the bamboo. But most of the  clippings are pretty finely ground and can be  used as a base for composting.  This is the area where we are thinking of the fire pit and gabion walls.

Now considering a staging area right by the front yard. A place to store yard debris to chip,  Or store a chip drop or a rock dump. Where we can get it off the driveway and out of sight. We could have a fair amount of rock drops for the gabion walls etc.

California Poppies and Lupines

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Can not get away from loving California poppies, We spread a lot of seeds behind the orchard and along the street side north of our driveway. Along with the  poppies we added alpine lupine  as a  back drop. Will be interesting to see if this work and they flower or turn up as food for the rabbits and deer.

Be nice if the poppies and lupine could self propagate.

https://www.amazon.com/Outsidepride-California-Poppy-Seed-LB/dp/B004J0XZBS

https://www.amazon.com/Outsidepride-Lupine-Perennial-Wildflower-LB/dp/B004I7DJR2

Ivy in the Trees

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Tuesday we had James Moore come and prune our fruit trees. He was very knowledgeable about the garden and a great arborist. He noticed ivy growing on the trees and said if we do not do something about that or else the ivy will kill the trees.

IMG_4029

This is an ivy stalk, just under 3 inches.

Little did I know, that the ivy has been growing up the trees for years. I went to go clip the root with a pair of pruning shears. I ended up bending the blade and going back for a pruning saw. One ivy stack was the size of my arm, Ending up being a work out and did about a dozen trees.

Two cuts on the ivy about 50% could be cut with shears the other cuts done with a pruning saw. One high the other low.  Leaving a big gap in showing now ivy stacks on the trunk. Now I guess we will live with dead ivy in the trees for a few years.

Ideas for Yard Projects

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  1. Single slope shed work area behind studio.
  • Link  $2000.
  • Pavers for 400 sq ft apps $1400 for sand
  • Then Electrician to add light and power.  $2,000

2. Material staging  area by driveway

  • Pavers for 600 sq ft apps $1800,
  • Support timbers. 6″ x 6″ x 8′  $25.00. 2 x 8 x 10′   $29.00

3. Fire pit.

4. Bridge

5. Gazebo

 

Weekend March 3-4

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Did a fair amount of  chain sawing and chipping and debris pile moving this weekend. We had good weather On Saturday afternoon, changed out the chipper blade for a new one boy what a difference had to chip the top part of the fallen tree and it just ate them down. Made 3 trash cans full in about an hour. Loved the branches.  Then later doing some smaller stuff and I think a rock got in and went to from self feeding got need a shove.  By the end of Sunday after about 3-4 hours of running over the weekend was going slow and needing to be pushed through.  But did 6 Trash Cans of chips over the weekend and completely removed the Debris field from the Green House Area.   Did  a fair amount of chain sawing and clearing the Fallen tree area to make it safer to walk through. Plus some of the branches are to thick for the chipper so cut into fire pit size. Have made a fairly good stack of fire pit wood.

The Chipper has been moved  to the Fire Pit area, South of the the firewood stack. Mardi came up with the fire pit idea and looking forward to making it happen. Trying to envision  some sight lines to add details.

Got radical on a few HuckleBerry bushes, I consider them weeds.  Cleared out 3 behind the Studio, will do more as time permits, uncovered 3 stumps the are far more interesting than the HB bushes. Plus there is a creeping ground cover that is slowing taking over that has to go. Will be hard to get all the roots dug out, but we have nothing but time. Just need to start playing defense and start pushing back this creeping unchecked growth.

Started pricing out gabion for a few sound wall, etc. Have started getting quotes for 3 x 3. 9ga  wire mesh in Stainless and hot dipped galvanized steel, Should be interesting to see the cost.

a 36 ” by 36 ” x 48″ base.,  with a  12″ x 48″ x 48″ wall on top. needs  30 linear feet of 48″ mesh. Need qty of. 3  of 48″ x 120″ panels wire panels  from Wilcox  $32 and  52 cubic feet of rock. Say 2 yards $80 for 2 yards. Then labor and clips and some posts   adds $20.  so a 4 ft section  7 ft tall is about  $150 or 80 ft is about $3,000. We will see

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