The Big Dig

Having a hillside garden means everything eventually wants to end at the bottom of the hill.  Water, top soil etc.

And with the slope is a greater chance of slipping and falling for mom and her friends.  It made sense to slow the slope with a series of low terraces and designated paths.  It also made sense to use that good top soil in the garden and create a depression to collect any rain run off.

And thus the big dig began, load after load dug up and pushed up the hill.  Down came the last of the old fencing, distinct paths around trees were created and terraces started.  We even have room to park a trailer now.  But what a lot of work!  And all in the summer heat no less.  This included removing two old palm tree stumps too.

We also did a bit of canning and picking of tomatoes

Added a sprinkler system and changed the drip system

 And added a run to our chicken coop

It has been a busy 16 months!

Roses Roses

Our new neighbor did not like the lolly pop effect of the standard roses that lined the entry walk.  She gave them away and we were lucky to get a bunch of them

And then the big lower garden project started.  It was a secret and a ton or two of work

More Yard Work

With our well used little garden shed set up, mom found her roll of old green house plastic.  So of course a hoop house style would just not work... Not the prettiest of green houses, but for the price it works

Once the green house was in the corner, we could not just sit in the dirt!  We needed a patio.  The boys and I bought enough 12x12 pavers to get Mom a nice new patio to enjoy her birthday on.  She enjoys sitting there with her friends for lunch.

Since some of her friends are her age, and sitting there is not so private, we added a fence section and a hand rail.  And just because we were bored, the irrigation water line sprung a leak and while repairing that it was obvious that the days for the old line to the house was in bad shape.  Up went the old walk and the old lines.

January brought us the neighbors picket fencing no longer needed and in the way of their remodel

We now have our winter garden in a cute fence and mom does not want to see any more white picket fence paint.

By April, we were cleaning up a few areas and adding roses and more roses and...roses.

And a new driveway entry arch!

The Garden Shed

We had no plans to build a garden shed right now, but when you get a stack of 7 sheets of 1" plywood, needed bad edges cut off so we had a stack of 3 1/2 x 7 sheets. Two for the front, two for the back, one for each side and one cut in half for a roof.  Perfect!

We even had some antique windows to match the house... so why not!

First the shell

Then some trim to match the old house

A window ledge, a shelf inside and a cat door.

 Some paint, inside and out, and an unimpressed Camilla with her "Little Hoe House"  Painted HD oops lavender inside.

Wow, it has been a busy year.

Guess it is time to catch up on the blog.

May 2011 is kind of where I left off.

June was busy, a minor repair turned in to a redo of a room, dry wall repairs, new window casing, paint carpet, lighting etc

Also a fresh coat of paint and some beadboard for the kitchen.  As of today it still needs a tile back splash and some other trims.

The Forth of July brought a street party to the home next door

August saw me busy fixing the entry walk, adding a trash corral and clearing out a street planter and trees.

I had to use 16x16 tiles to cover the stump of a bottle brush tree, it had finally died so we could remove the stump and make a better access point to the deck and ramp.  This included breaking up an old sidewalk or two.

Mom fussed a lot about the redo of the front, but the neighbors are remodeling and moving their driveway.  Fixing that part of the entry makes it easier for her friends to turn cars around too.  And just as we were making the trash corral, the providers changed and we suddenly had massive bins.  The neighbors liked the bin corral design and are thinking of how to do theirs.

Of course all that sidewalk "urbanite" could not go to waste and is now the patio around our fire pit.

And then we were offered some junk plywood on it's way to the dump......