The Digging of the Pond and Digging in the Broken Concrete Patio

Digging of the pond has been the easy part of building my new pond-and Cuddle Bunny-our resident Fertilizer bunny agrees! He is my constant helper in the garden while I have been working on the pond. I thought I'd share some pictures of the frontyard transformation and also document my pond building experience. Today's post in only on digging the pond and digging in the new broken concrete patio. I do have a nearby broken concrete patio but putting in another nearby patio where I can set up a table to relax and read my morning newspaper seemed like a good idea to me. I'll show you the digging of the pond and of the new concrete patio today.

 November 30, 2011

This is the initial area of the frontyard looking north from the front porch of the house. My criteria for choosing this location for my new pond was simple. I wanted the pond to be visible from as many points as possible which included views from both inside and outside of the house. I also wanted a patio nearby to set up a small patio table which would not block my view of the pond from inside of the house. This was a challenge since the frontyard slopes towards the north and since the frontyard is mostly landscaped already. Nonetheless I found a spot right next to the existing Redbud Garden. The Redbud Garden is the garden on the other side of the hose in the above picture. This garden will be transformed quite a bit by the building of the new pond mainly due to the grade change and rearranging of some of the existing perennials and shrubs in this bed. The hose signifies the new prospective pond's location. By default the concrete patio was planned to be closest to the camera in this shot.

 December 3, 2011

The first step I had to undertake once I selected my spot for the pond was to remove the rock edging around the Redbud Garden. Let me say this about the pond location simply because it seems important to note the site criteria. According to all the literature I read on siting a pond the pond should  not be in full sun if you can help it, and it should not be sited under trees that will drop leaves and other debris in it. This was a hard one for me because I have lots of trees. This location I selected will receive a good 4 hours of sun and is near a deciduous tree but not too near that the tree is directly overhead and that the tree roots will interfere with the pond. I lucked out with the siting. Okay, on to the rock edging, I moved it out trying to envision where my pond edge would tuck into the Redbud Garden. Once the rock was moved out I began digging. All initial soil was moved into the Redbud Garden in order to build up that garden edge since it was lower on that side versus the side closest to the camera.

 December 3, 2011

Here I am standing on the other side of the garden/pond area which is actually the north side looking west at the house. This pond area has trees on the east side and the house on the west. There is enough of a gap in the canopy in order for the pond to get a bit of sun but not full sun. I suspect I'll have trouble growing plants that require a lot of sun but that's okay since I plan to grow a select few number of plants and as far as I know they are all shade tolerant. My resident orange cat we call Orkin (for pest control) joins Cuddle Bunny in the frontyard and likes to see what I am up to. She is a sweetie! I found a long 2x4 board that would span my pond length and placed it in place to help me see how much I had to build up the low side of the pond. I guestimated the pond would be about 10' long by 8' wide. This is the same size as my daughter's pond she had built and I loved the size and the pond itself. It is what inspired me to finally build a pond for myself and family.

December 3, 2011

As you can see I made quite a lot of progress on December 3rd with digging the pond. I am very lucky here in my garden to have stone free soil with very few roots in the way. I love digging in the dirt so I did not mind this part of the job at all. All soil was repurposed in the garden elsewhere. I used a good amount to build up the lower side of the pond area, to enlarge some frontyard gardens, to fill in holes in the backyard that the new dog AJ dug, and to build up some low areas in the yard. It is amazing how much soil can come out of a little hole but also amazing that if you try hard enough you can find a spot for all of that soil in the garden. I never like to bring in extra topsoil preferring to use only soil from my garden. I have had topsoil brought in before (three times) and two of those times saw the soil contaminated with weeds. One load had tons of bulblets (which I found out later were Star of Bethlehem flowers) and the other load was full of wild garlic. I am still working to get rid of that wild garlic but gave up the fight on the Star of Bethlehem. Since my bad experiences with topsoil I don't think it is a good idea to bring in outside soil if there is an alternative.

December 3, 2011

I placed the two cinder blocks in place to simulate the orientation and location of my proposed waterfall. This is a small and simple pond. I am not into elaborate major renovation in the garden so did not feel the need to build a big stream or a waterfall with multiple falls. My waterfall will be quite small and in scale with my pond vision-I hope. Deciding up front where the waterfall will go helped me to select the skimmer location and this in turn helped me to site the new broken concrete patio. I had a small metal patio dinette set I found while junking and while it had a perfectly good home on the Secret Patio in the backyard it was not getting any use. Of course that may have been due to the fact the chairs had no seats. lol I really need to fix that situation soon!

December 3, 2011

This angle is looking southeast away from the northern edge of the house. This area is the lower area of the front yard and you can see in this picture how the pond elevation angles up. This lower edge is becoming an issue for me and I am not quite sure how I'll deal with the grade change at this point.

December 21, 2011

This shot if from the southern edge looking north toward the pond area. My dear husband Mr. Fix-it and my son Jimmy helped me gather some concrete chunks from a local renovation project just two miles from my home. I wanted huge concrete chunks so that the chairs and table would sit would on solid ground without sinking into the soil. Getting the chunks proved a challenge which took us two trips on different days in order to gather enough chunks for the patio. My vision when first starting this pond was to make a small seating area around the pond for a bench. I quickly changed my mind when I thought of how much I love to read my morning newspaper outside. I decided on a table and a corresponding patio in order to accommodate the reading of the newspaper. This meant the second trip to gather more concrete blocks was needed because the initial amount of chunks we gathered were only for a small patio to accommodate a bench. These chunks are very big and weighed more than the three of us could lift even when working together. We wound up using a dolly and lever to move most of the chunks around due to the heaviness of them.

December 21, 2011

I began digging in the concrete patio on the 21st of December. It happened to be the day our new heat pump was installed. Our upstairs heat pump had really been on its last legs since last winter but finally quit working early in December. While losing that heat pump was a blow it was actually a good thing. Our local electric company has a low cost loan program for customers who need a new heat pump and we really needed a new heat pump. Our old heat pump had lasted over 20 years; which I think is great! But being so old it was pretty out of date and used the old style refrigerant which is isn't even sold anymore. Bottomline was we got a new energy efficient heat pump for a low cost and for the first time in five years all three upstairs rooms are the same temperature. That's a nice thing! At any rate the two men who installed the new heat pump were good sports and helped me to move some of these concrete blocks. They were a big help because I got a lot done that day that I wouldn't have otherwise.

 December 27, 2011

I had almost had the pond completely dug out when the rains came. And boy did they come. The ground became saturated and even when I pumped out this water the hole kept filling up with more water. It was a frustrating time trying to get the pond dug but I kept on digging even in the muck. You can just see the edge of the newly dug in concrete patio here. Right in this corner where there is a niche between the concrete and pond is where I plan to put the skimmer. We shall see how that goes when the time comes-I'm not yet to that step yet. 

December 27, 2011

Here is a longer shot of the concrete patio with the little dinette. Notice the missing seats? I need to make a template and cut out some plywood very soon as I've been a bit negligent on taking care of this set (Completed!). But hey, what can you expect when you find a whole patio set on the side of the road? It certainly won't be in perfect shape and this one needed some work. There was also no table top but I lucked out and found a piece of tempered glass for $30 in an antique store in Evansville Indiana that fit the table perfectly. I love glass in my garden and home. It is so shiny and in this case works well so when I am sitting at the table I can still see the pond through the tabletop! The seats will be plywood with pre-made cushions on them when I finally get around to making them. 

January 6, 2012

When this past Friday came I was very excited to finish digging the pond because it was predicted to be an excellent spring day (in winter??); then I had to work:( At any rate I got off work early and came home to hopefully finish digging the pond. It was vital I finish the hole since the weatherman was calling for rain this weekend and digging in a hole with water is like bailing out the ocean-a losing battle. Since the days are getting longer I actually had plenty of time to finish digging the pond and here it is Friday afternoon-complete-or so I thought.

January 7, 2012

When I spoke to an expert on ponds (a pond store in Louisville) on the phone he suggested I dig a few more shelves (this was while he was looking at my pond on my blog from the previous post-blogs sure can help you out in many ways in that you have pictures online that professionals in other locations can see!). That is why I added the third and lower shelf to the pond as shown in the above picture and the one below. My dear husband however, said I needed even more shelves and that I should dig another one or two. The final result is as above. I added a niche in the upper left corner of the pond for plants. 

Initially my plan for plants was to add them to the upper shelf in only two corners-the upper left and right corners on either side of the waterfall. Water garden plants need varying depths though and the upper shelf in my pond is actually what most pond folks call a coping shelf. It is where the rocks will go and I guess it will add interest. It is not really where plants are supposed to go but I will be putting some plants there. My plants will come from my bathtub pond in the backyard. My bathtub pond has two kinds of plants growing in it. The two are horsetail rush (Equisetum hyemale) and Louisiana irises (Iris brevicaulis or versicolor)? I plan to split them since they have done so well in the bathtub garden and add them to my bigger pond. I have not done anything special for them at all and I believe these two plants are the key to maintaining my small 35 gallon bathtub pond. I hope they will help to filter the water in the new big pond as well. I don't think I'll add any other plants. I might add water lilies at some point but they need still water to bloom so I'm not sure they would be a good choice. My friend Naomi plans to give me some pickerel rush so I might try them. This pond's purpose is to be more of a water garden pond than a koi or fish pond. I want it for ambiance only so it may morph into something more as time goes along. I am taking it all step by step.

January 7, 2012

The lowest part of the pond will be about 34-35" deep depending on where the water level comes up to. I cannot really envision it all right now. I had a grade change and built up the lower side. In doing so my pond seemed to grow a bit. Hopefully my 20'x25' foot liner will still cover the entire hole when it arrives sometime today or tomorrow (hopefully!). Not being an expert at pond building but being a pretty good hole digger I did not stay within my initial boundaries. This is problematic for me because planning is having to be off the cuff. We'll see how it goes soon enough. Fortunately my dear husband has a better capacity to envision things out than I do and he is helping to guide me a bit.

January 7, 2012

These last two pictures show the big picture and the grade change. Here we are on the north side of my home looking up at the pond. The rocks are my way of building up the lower side of the pond. Of course I expect to put a garden alongside the pond on this side as well. For me it is all about gardening. I am not sure how the liner will fold down into this area and how I'll edge it. That is the problematic situation I am having now. On the right side of the pond area is a small grassy path then the foundation gardens. I am having issues keeping enough of a grassy path which is vital if I want to get my lawn tractor around here in order to mow the front yard. It would be a good thing to make the entire front yard a garden but I'm not ready for that step yet. I like my grassy areas and they make perfect backdrops for the gardens so I think I'll keep them for now anyhow.

January 7, 2012

We're still on the north side of the house but closer to the road bordering my property and looking back at the house from the road area behind the Redbud Garden and broken concrete patio. The area slopes down to where I am standing and gradually raises up to the front of the house. Hence another grade change here on this side of the pond as well. The elevation change is gradual and not too great but it is still a change. The high point of the pond area is just to the left of the tulip chair you see on the new concrete patio. This is another grassy path around the gardens that I use for mowing the front yard. To the left is the Front Center Island Bed. The new pond is separated from this bed by the grassy path. It seems the longer I love here the less grass and more gardens I seem to have. But it's all good as I manage to make them work. I think gardens are a lot of work but are not as labor intensive as grass so if you find a good balance that you can manage you'll always have a beautiful spot of landscape. Problems come in when you can't maintain the grass or gardens and you get overwhelmed. It's easy to be overwhelmed but if you just take it one step at a time it all seems to come together. 

Next up will be the pond itself. I still have a lot to do. I ordered a complete pond kit custom tailored for my size pond and needs. It will come complete except I added a UV light to my kit. I expect it today or tomorrow. I will have to lay out the liner, finish digging the waterfall area and fill the pond. Once it is filled and settled I can then tuck the liner and add the skimmer (once I drain some of the water so I can cut in the skimmer). I chose a skimmer to filter my pond for ease of access. We'll see how that goes. It seems most of my friends have submersible pumps within their ponds. My daughter has an external pump in her skimmer though and I really liked the ease of access. 

One more general note on building ponds, I am no expert and have been watching lots and lots of videos online in order to teach myself but they can only help so much since each and every pond is a different animal. One thing that has helped me tremendously with building this pond is finding a picture of a pond online that I feel I like. It has become my inspiration for my pond and is saved as my desktop. I look at that picture often for guidance in designing my pond because there is no 'one size fits all' instruction manual out there. There seem to be a lot of videos online but some focus on only some areas such as siting the pond, adding the skimmer or bottom drain, or making a waterfall. They are all helpful but each situation is different. Even with the videos and studying pond books I am still feeling pretty ignorant when it comes to building this pond. I have no idea how to do the plumbing but think once the kit comes in it should be fairly explanatory for me. I am taking it step by step but just know it will be a good addition to my garden. My friends all tell me I'll want to be nowhere else but by the pond once it is installed. Not sure about that because I love all parts of my garden and rotate around it for sitting-hence all the sitting areas-nine at last count. I know this post is long but it sure helps me to remember my steps and processes in the future so it is a good scrapbook for me.  

8 January 2012

Okay, I lied about having the pond completely dug. In fact, the above picture is still not the finished product. While researching ponds some more tonight I read where you should not have shelves in front of the skimmer. I guess I'll be digging that area out tomorrow but that picture will have to wait a bit. The change in this picture and what I had to dig yesterday was the upper part of the plant/coping shelf where the waterfall is planned to be located. I had not dug that area down and while looking at my inspiration pond information I saw where the rock was stacked in front of the waterfall weir. I figured I needed a shelf for that and did not have one initially. 

I also think I figured out how to deal with my grade changes but I'll have to see once the liner is put in. For right now I have the lower edge of the pond edged with my large limestone rocks in order to build up that side. Relief! Now to more studying about ponds and pond building and that's it for now....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Building Planters from Leftover Timbers (4 x 4s)

From In the Garden

This post has been a long time coming and I am sometimes most ashamed at just how long it takes me to make things-not the posting. Obviously if I made these planters a bit sooner I would've posted it sooner-like last spring! At any rate, a project I've had on the burner for a few years has finally come to fruition. Many many years ago my husband brought home a wooden box with wheels on it. The wooden box was made of plywood with probably 2 x 6s for its base and corner posts. The wooden box was about 2'x2' and a perfect planter. I had it out front with a grass or something or other growing it. As the years went by the box deteriorated until the point it just fell apart last summer. Enter some old 4x4s I had in my garden. I don't like using wood for anything simply because it does rot and waste away but these 4x4s were in pretty good shape and I thought with the right set up I might just make them last for a while. I gathered all of the 4x4s and set them on my driveway in anticipation for the day I'd be able to build my new planters. You can see the wide variety of sizes and types in the picture above.

From In the Garden

Little did I know it would take about six months for the time to come that I could finally put my plan into action. I had a vision and also a plan, but as plans go mine changed. My plan was to have a somewhat tapered pyramid style planter (two). My challenge was to get all of the pieces cut from the limited amount of 4 x4 I had. I really had to be creative with measurements making sure I had no leftovers, but when all was said and done I did well and had enough pieces of the now much shortened 4x4s for my planters. In order to ensure it all worked I stacked as I went along.

From In the Garden

The next step was to attach the pieces together to form the squares. This took a lot of time and muscle power and resulted in a few blisters. The way I decided to secure these 4x4s together was with lag screws counter sunk into the wood and as an added security measure I added construction adhesive to the joints. Drilling each of the holes, changing the bit then drilling the countersunk part took a lot of time then screwing them all together took even longer. Finally! Once all squares were secured I painted the squares with a good quality wood stain. The product up to now is pictured above.

The next to the last step was to secure the 4x4s together. I managed this by using more construction adhesive and then nailing in five inch spikes through the wood. This took a lot of time as well. Hammering in five inch spikes was hard work and even though I am used to carpentry my arm needed quite a few rests. In fact, I could not complete each step on both of the planters and had to take a few days to get to this point.

The last and final steps were to secure a bottom to the planters, drill some drainage holes, add the casters (weight limit 300 pounds-these casters were found at Harbor Freight but any good hardware store should carry them for a few bucks), flip the planters upright then line the inside with heavy black plastic and completion!

I did add in a few large squares of hard Styrofoam to the bottom part of my planters to take up some room and allow for drainage. The bottom foot or so is nothing but Styrofoam. Lastly, I mixed my own potting soil and filled the planters. One planter holds a windmill palm (given to me by a fellow blogger), and the other holds an ornamental grass. The windmill palm is supposed to be hardy to Zone 7 and while we are in technically in Zone 6 here, I think with the insulating capacity of the 4x4s, and the reflective properties of the stone on my home that my palm should be fine outside for most of the winter. If the palm starts to look bad it will be a simple matter to wheel it into the garage where it will be safe. I have seen these windmill palms over winter in my area with nothing but a burlap wrap so I am hopeful it will be safe outside. Here are the finished products.....

From In the Garden

Windmill Palm Tree

From In the Garden

Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegata'

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Gardening WITH Dogs

From In the Garden

The way I see it gardens and dogs do not go together no matter how you slice it. People and dogs do go together however. So what happens if the people happen to be gardeners or if not gardeners, maybe just someone who happens to love dogs and appreciate good landscaping? There is the crux of the matter and we need to figure out some solutions. I have four dogs, three are very large and have caused some serious damage in my gardens. While gardens will heal and can be repaired the frustration of dealing with the damage is more the problem for me. I've had to figure out ways to reduce the stress of having these wonderful dogs in my backyard or continually be frustrated so here are some of my solutions. I hope they can help you if you garden with dogs..

The way I see it there are a few main issues when it comes to dogs in the garden and I will address each of them based on my experiences with my wonderful mutts-uh dogs. Those issues in simple terms are:

1. Running through gardens
2. Chewing
3. Relieving themselves
4. Digging
5. Drinking and bathing in water features
Running through gardens is probably the biggest complaint dog owners have when addressing dogs in the garden-next to digging. Dogs are just made to run. They don't care what they run into, over, or under, they just want to run. Let's hope there are no neighbor dogs your dogs are running after but most likely there may be another dog or two in the neighborhood; which will make the problem three times as bad. Trust me, I know. Here is the way to solve that problem. If you are able to, put in a privacy fence so your dogs can't see the other dogs and the problem will be somewhat alleviated. If this is not a workable solution for you then plant groundcovers and shrubs along the runway along your property line. In the picture above my dogs run along that fence fairly frequently. There are a few dogs that live on the other side of the fence and even with the privacy fence the dogs still occasionally run along the fence but not as bad as they would if the fence were not there. Next to the fence I planted a really strong groundcover that is low maintenance and is not fazed at all by a pack of dogs. The groundcover is Liriope spicata, aka creeping lilyturf. This liriope is also called monkey grass in some circles but this type of monkey grass should not be confused with Liriope muscari, aka lilyturf or monkey grass. Liriope muscari will also work as a great groundcover but it is a clumping grass versus the creeping grass like the spicata. Clumpers (muscari) work well but do not hold onto the soil as well as runners (spicata). Spicata cannot be bothered by anything. Tree roots, shade, weeds, and dogs are all laughed at by the spicata which grows and grows and grows and looks good pretty much all year long. As a bonus it is low maintenance. All I do to mine is weedwhack it or mow it at a high length in February of each year and that is it. You don't have to mow it but I choose to for aesthetics. Other groundcovers would probably work but there are none I would recommend planting in your garden due to the invasiveness of them so stick with spicata for a groundcover to protect your ground from dog paws.

The above picture shows my privacy fence with the spicata growing along side it. Bella still loves this area and has made a path through the spicata but the ground itself is safe and not prone to erosion due to the dense roots of the spicata. Spicata is great to stop erosion, weeds, and to cover a difficult area such as this area under a silver maple tree. Note: Spicata WILL run too but is much easier to get rid of if you decide it is not for you. If you do plant spicata choose your location wisely and be prepared for it to spread in shade or sun, dry or wet soil-it's quite adaptable.

I have also planted shrubs and trees along this and other fence lines in my garden. They help out but when a dog gets going even thorny shrubs are not likely to stop a dog's run to getting where they wish to go so you still need to protect the ground. Mulch is also a good ground protector but requires more maintenance.

Okay, when a dog is doing its business and not intent on playing with another dog or chasing a squirrel they are more sedate and more manageable in the garden. I have found that borders such as the stone edging along trenched garden beds as in the above picture work great to guide a dog's path. Rarely will my dogs venture into this garden even though they like running along the fence at the back of the garden. Once the dogs are done playing they will naturally gravitate toward the paths in this garden out to the turfgrass where they will follow the edge of the garden around to the next new spot they wish to explore. The rock borders and trenched gardens work like a charm and are attractive as well for directing a dog's run.

I do sometimes have to take tougher measures to control the dogs though. When it comes to chewing and breaking habits sometimes the only thing that will work are fences. I know most folks don't like fences in the garden but I am more of a functional gardener than an aesthetic gardener so I use fences when necessary. The first picture on this post shows one of my fences as well as a pathway. The dogs tend to stick to the paths through the turfgrass and don't usually venture into the fenced gardens. This garden really needed protection because it apparently had some nice and juicy trees and shrubs planted in it. One very expensive and desirable tree that was eaten by one of my goldens was a weeping Japanese maple. I was not a happy camper. Now whenever I plant a new tree or shrub I usually circle it with 24-36" wire until it is big enough to fend for itself. Sometimes this takes years but is worth it to protect the plant and the dogs. Shrubs like camellias and rhododendrons are supposed to be poisonous to dogs and for some reason my dogs have a taste for these shrubs. Fences are necessary in these circumstances.

Now we get to the last few issues. Relieving themselves is a big yuck for gardens but oh so necessary for the dogs. The best solution to deal with wastes from a dog is to select an out of the way spot in the garden and train your dog early to go only in that area. Training puppies is the best method but even older dogs can be trained to relieve themselves in a certain spot-far away from living areas. You will have to walk your dog to the designated spot (most likely on a leash) and build a habit for that dog to relieve itself in only that spot so it will take time and training but will be worth it in the long run. Once the habit is in place it should stick with the dog for its entire lifetime. I find that generally dogs tend to find an out of the way spot anyhow but in case they regress or like to use pathways you can gently retrain them not to do their business in such a spot by catching them in the act and redirecting them. They don't forget such indignities I can assure you. Cleaning up after your dog is an important part of maintenance chores in the garden as well.

One note on urinating. Many people complain the dogs leave a yellowed spot in areas of their lawn when they urinate. In the eight years I've lived here I have had only one yellow spot and that was during a drought in 2007. If you have a problem with urine concentrating and building up in your garden rinse the area with a hose daily. This should help. Otherwise I don't stress about urine unless it is on me!
Another issue we have to deal with when gardening with dogs is digging. This is a frustrating trait. My little dachshund was the worst when it came to digging when he was a puppy. He would dig and dig and dig and no matter how quickly I tried to fill the hole I never could find enough dirt to fill the hole up and still he would dig. I still wonder what happens to all the dirt! My solution to digging is multi faceted like my other solutions. No one trick will solve all issues with dogs and gardens. Being proactive I would try to catch a dog in the act of digging and severely scold them for it. This helps. I also try to limit the dogs freedom outside when I am not around. I know bored dogs tend to dig. This helps a bit too but it will not completely eliminate the problem. Here is the good news, as dogs age they seem to dig less frequently. My dachshund never digs and neither do my goldens, though they all had their moments when they were younger. Enter Bella, my daughter's rottweiler mix mutt, she digs. She is young. She is persistent and most irritating. I can always tell when she has been digging because her dirty nose gives her away. Bella's favorite spots to dig are near the house and wherever newly planted plants have been put in. Grrrrrrr! We've had a real issue with her this past year. I try to catch her in the act but even that is not enough to give her the message digging is not acceptable. In her situation I usually wind up placing a barrier over the hole. I usually use mesh wire like chicken wire, heavy rocks, or even the above pictured trellis to block off her current holes. This just sends Bella somewhere else to find easier pickings but at least the hole doesn't get any larger and I can fill it in. Sometimes I leave the barrier in place because the problem is ongoing, sometimes I remove the barrier. I do like to cover the wire with mulch when I leave it in place so no one can even tell there is a wire on top of the ground-but Bella! Barriers help but digging is one of those things I think dogs may always do, especially young dogs.

Another area of concern might be with water features. My goldfish in my little bathtub pond may have received a few shocks when a 100 pound plus dog jumps in and takes a bath. Perhaps BJ reasons it is a bathtub after all? At any rate this is not desirable and could wreak havoc with not only the fish, but the plants and the pump. When BJ is not dunking himself in the pond Bella is drinking from the pond. Sigh. My solution is to provide the dogs a pool of their own. I purchased a small hard plastic pool for them. The pool is less than four feet round and easily dumped and refilled as necessary. The dogs will always use this pool over the pond provided it has clean and fresh water in it. They also drink from it fairly frequently on hot days.

These are pretty much the major problems I find when trying to work with dogs and gardens. What are your issues with dogs and do you all have any tricks that help you when dealing with dogs?

in the garden....



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Making Turf Interesting and Stable

From In the Garden

Once upon a time a teen aged boy who drove a very big gas guzzler of the 80s era lived here with his wife. The gas guzzler was a huge ole black monster called Pontiac Grand Prix (circa 1980) and had big tires that made driving it very difficult for the wife. It was always a battle between the wife and car with the lawn winding up in the middle of the fight. You see, starting and shifting the car was most difficult for the wife and the car would sometimes lurch and move around on its own-while in its parking place. Old antique cars tend to do these sorts of things:) One such time the Pontiac made it into the section of turf you see pictured above-in the middle of a very wet season. Can you guess how deep the wounds were that the turf suffered? Six inch deep 10 feet long ruts come to my mind-okay maybe not that bad but pretty bad. Do you have any idea how much soil it takes to fill in such ruts? My daughter-in-law found out when she gamely sought to repair the damage caused by her battle with the Pontiac. I, on the other hand, sought to figure out how to lessen the damage to the lawn when errant automobiles tend to migrate to this spot.

The idea I came up with has been most pleasing. I took some plain concrete pavers and dug them into the turf area in a checkerboard pattern. It was my hope that should a large Pontiac (or other gas guzzler-er-antique much beloved old car) travel into this area that the concrete pavers would help to lessen the damage, all while providing some nice interesting patterns in an otherwise boring spot of turf. So far, my trick has worked and ruts have been kept to a minimum, actually they've been non-existent. Hmmmm, that might be due to the fact the Pontiac has been relegated to a storage area waiting for more glory days.

Mom-any ruts in your grass?:)

in the garden....



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Impatiens Tower

One of the gardens on the Montgomery County Master Gardener had a really neat tower of impatiens that everyone fell in love with. The gardener (David) was kind enough to share instructions for it with me. I have the instructions available if anyone would like them, just email me. There is also a picture of David's tower in that post where I talked of the tour of David's garden.

There are some of the supplies above for our very own impatiens tower. It has taken me about one year to finally get around to making one. It is not a complicated thing to make, just time consuming and we needed a special hole drill bit to drill the holes into the thick PVC. That took time to find. Mr. Fix-it actually made the tower for me. He is such a sweetie and helps me so much in the garden. He is really the brains behind mechanical things and without him I'd be lost. There he is drilling the small holes into the inside pipe of the tower. I had the bright of idea of drilling bigger holes so the water would drain into the outer tube faster. He said no no. You actually want smaller holes so the water will slowly seep. Dave's instruction call for 1/8 inch holes. I actually think that size is a bit too big, but we went with it anyhow. We were fortunate in that we had the PVC pipes laying around. A fellow Freecycler had passed them along to me. I think PVC works in the garden really well. It will not rot, rust or decay. A good thing. The smaller pipe with the water holes goes inside of a larger pipe. The larger pipe has 2" holes drilled in it wherever you want the flowers to go. I finally found what I think is a good spot and dug a hole about 2' deep in order to 'plant' the tower. Once the pipes were stabilized I hand filled the gap created by the inner and outer pipes with a good mix of humus and soil. I then planted the impatiens in each hole. Be sure to add Osmocote or some other slow release fertilizer to each hole. You can use other plants besides impatiens. I think begonias, marigolds, petunias, calicabroas, or sedums would look great as well. I have a lot of shade so impatiens make sense to me.

The impatiens are happy in their tower. My only complaint is with watering and the fact I might have drilled the holes closer together so the plants would grow together faster. Theoretically filling the inner pipe with water will water all of the impatiens. Not so. The water drains out faster than I can fill the pipe so only the bottom flowers get water from the inner pipe. I usually just hand spray each impatiens as necessary. It has not been a big deal but if I had to do it all over again I'd make smaller holes all over the inner pipe. I'd also make the planting holes a bit smaller. Maybe about 1.5 inches. Simply because once planted the roots will take over inside of the pipe and spread out, thus holding in the soil. Right now the soil sometimes washes out. Dave's tower works better for him though, so maybe the problem is just me. At any rate, I do really like this impatiens tower. Everyone who has come by is drawn to it. It is simple to make and a fun way to get a lot of plants in a small space....

in the garden....

An Extremely Aggressive Rose and a Garage Arbor to Be

Okay, okay, what monster did I create? Maybe not a Killer Rose as Frances once grew in her garden but a MONSTER rose nonetheless. I am kind of like Dave in that I like to propagate my own plants. I take many, many cuttings. Anything is fair game for me and I am game to try just about every pretty flower I see.

Three years ago during a beautiful spring I passed by a gorgeous rose bush in full bloom on my way to work. I stopped and smelled the roses-so to say. The next time I passed the rose bush, I had my clippers and snipped three four inch cuttings. The cuttings remained in a vase on my desk at work all day then got stuck in some soil when I got home later. One cutting took and the result is to the left and above. Or actually I should say this is the plant after a severe pruning and taming. It is not supposed to look this way at all.

Coming from New England I tend to have romantic views of my garden. I envision pergolas draped with roses and tons of windblown perennials providing non-stop riotous color in my garden. The problem is that I do not have much sun in my garden. The only really sunny spot is located on this south facing wall where my garage and office is located. I have visions of a pergola shading my garage and providing support to a lovely rose-the one I propagated. Something kind of like this pergola (picture from this website) will do just fine. Do you see the cedar shakes? Typical coastal New England if I remember correctly. I love it! The problem for me has been time and the availability of materials has slowed down my plans for the wonderful pergola and it has not been built, however, my rose will not wait. It wants to grow now!


At first the rose stayed kind of small. It is a nice rose. It blooms once per year with small white blooms which are fragrant. The foliage is semi-evergreen and free from disease all the time. It grows fast and has flexible canes, just perfect for a pergola. But this rose has many thorns and is a vigorous grower. So vigorous it was growing into the nearby clematis arbor and across the sidewalk, onto the parking area, into the house and across the garage door. Ouch! The rose was never bothered by misplaced footsteps or errant tugs when an unsuspecting victim walked by. Nope, on it grew and grew.

I decided to take action to control the rose until Mr. Fix-it and I can build our pergola. What to do? I did not want to chop the rose all the way down to a manageable height, but also could not have it growing willy nilly all over the garden. At the same time the rose had to be in a position so that when the pergola was built it could easily be laid over across the supports.

Fortunately I had a few trellises laying around. I took two and also two long boards (left over from another project), joined them all together in a ladder fashion, pulled and tugged and pruned the monster, then stood up my new trellis. The tallest board worked perfectly as it fit under the eave, giving me a place to secure it to the house. Problem fixed. The monster rose is secured and out of our way (at least for now), and the garden is tidied up. The rose had to be a full 15 feet tall, if not taller. I cannot believe it grew so fast in not even three years.

The trellises hold it up for now, and it is blooming...for yet another year has come and gone, and no pergola yet....

in the garden....

A New Brick Patio Made with Freecycle Bricks

I have been extremely fortunate to be the recipient of many wonderful things for the garden. Last September I posted about Eric and the nearly 400 bricks he kindly gave to me. He was doing a landscaping job for a client and she did not want bricks edging her garden (what was she thinking??), anyhow he gave them to me via Freecycle. I have always wanted a brick patio, but was not entirely sure I could make it work with just 400 bricks, and was not prepared to buy more. I also had no idea where I would put the patio, but knew it should be near Mr. Fix-it's garage since it was to be a gift a for him. After letting the bricks sit on a pallet all winter I have finally chosen the spot, a perfect spot not far from the pool and close enough to a garden and the garage so as to be accessible, yet secret and cozy and private.

Once I chose the spot (next to a wide raised bed with two oak trees and an Eastern Red Cedar growing in it) I dry laid all of the bricks on the grass to make sure my plan would work. This is not as easy as it sounds. While bricks by themselves are rather easy to work with, try laying out 400. Not an easy thing to do. The really bad part was I then had to move them all. Thankfully the Jimster came home from school and took over for me. My body still aches! The rocks show the outline of the new 'Secret Patio Garden'. More on that later.

Now that the bricks were all moved, excavation could start. The area had a very slight slope to it so I had to compensate for this by digging deeper on the upper area of the patio spot. All of the excavated soil and sod was turned over into the garden area surrounding my new patio. What I did was actually turn over the soil in the garden area, then dig the patio area and place that excavated soil on top of the turned soil. This created a raised bed equal to the existing raised bed. I had plenty of rocks to line the new beds around the patio. I had planned for two entries onto the patio. These two entries were diagonally across from one another with easy access from Mr. Fix-it's garage and the swimming pool. Excavating the site to a good 8" deep on the high side and about 6" on the low side while building the new gardens took about 3 days. Phew!

The next step was to get the #8 drainage fill from a local trucking company. One ton of this fill is enough to do a 10'x 10' square area 4" deep. I knew one ton would be more than enough since my patio was a 10' circle, and not a square. The extra was placed under the roof overhang on Mr. Fix-it's garage. Thank goodness Mr. Fix-it downloaded the gravel for me. He made it all look so darn easy!! I made sure the gravel was fairly level and packed tightly before moving on to the next step. You can see we were working in the dark trying to get the job completed.

The next step involved another trip to town to get 1 ton of sand to cover the gravel to a depth of about 2-3". One ton more than did the job, but I made sure I kept the extra to apply to the top of the bricks after they were laid and to fill in low spots as I laid the bricks. However, before I applied the sand I laid a good quality landscape fabric on top of the gravel. I prefer this separation between the sand and gravel and have had good results in the past. I always overlap the landscape fabric and leave plenty of extra around the patio. I started down the middle of the patio by laying one complete row of bricks. This would be the baseline. It is vital to get it perfectly level.

Once the sand was spread and leveled it was time to lay the bricks. Initially I had desired a circular pattern for the bricks, but there was no way I was going to chip every single brick. Economically and realistically using a basket weave design made much more sense to me, and it was the design I had dry laid earlier. I love the basket weave design and tend to use only that pattern when laying pavers or bricks. It is simple, attractive and quite functional.
I used both a level and a small 2x4 to ensure the sand was level and packed down. I also checked my brick level ensuring I had about 1/4 of drop per foot in order to allow for drainage of standing water. I did not want water puddling in the patio. You cannot even tell the patio is sloped but it sure helps with drainage and is very important. I built my patio away from my home, but if you build one next to your home drainage is vitally important-always drain away from your home.

Finally I swept extra sand into all the grooves and packed it down as best I could. I let the rain do the rest. I find regular sand works fine and packs down really well over time, but many folks and experts recommend polymeric sand; which is a sand that expands when wet. This is a hard sand to find in my area. I know Cameron said she found some in bags at a store in her neck of the woods in North Carolina, but it is nigh on impossible to find it here in my area. If you can find this sand, it would not be a bad idea to use it and I may add it to my patio at some point. With light traffic and proper building techniques I believe I'll be fine with mine the way it is for now.

This entire patio costed me a total of $70; which included $15 for the landscape fabric, $25 for the sand, $8 for a composite edging, and $22 for the gravel. A real steal that required only a bit of labor on my part, and the kindness of strangers who are willing to give away products that would otherwise wind up in the dump.

And now the patio is complete! Don't mind the sand. I am letting the rain wash it down to ensure the bricks are very tightly packed. Now all we have to do is sit back and enjoy-yeah right! Seriously, Mr. Fix-it and I have been enjoying this new sitting area tremendously. It is quite comfortable, small and cozy. We do relax here often.

I'll post on the surrounding garden at some later point. Stay tuned for a very BIG addition to this garden and a fellow blogger's signature plant that is so 'squeaky' it just must go....

in the garden....

Can you guess what kind of plant might squeak? Do try to guess prior to checking out the link if you are of a mind. Another tip is that the plant is also known as pigsqueak. You all have a great weekend.

Gate within a Gate In the Garden

Continuing on with some backlogged posts.

Echoing shapes, textures, and colors in the garden is a must for me. I like the familiarity of similar items all around me. I like to think it brings a bit of cohesiveness to the garden as well. Most of the time I intentionally plant, and build with this thought in mind. Not so with my Gate within a Gate.

I was struck when I realized the shape of the metal clematis arbor echoes almost exactly the shape of the PVC arbor welcoming one into the vegetable garden. The clematis arbor is the entrance to the backyard. It is our private area, but because our home is on a slight slope, one can usually see the vegetable garden and its center piece, the banana tree, from the road out front. The PVC arbor is massive compared to the clematis arbor, but due to the perspective it looks so much smaller.

When planning hardscaping for your garden, consider all views and perspectives and angles of anything you put in your garden. You will find so many more ways to enjoy it all by coordinating all pieces of the landscaping puzzle. Each arbor serves a purpose and looks great on its own, but together they give that added dimension of working together to become a 'Gate within a Gate'....

in the garden....

Icy Arbor

All I could think of this past summer when looking at the sweet autumn clematis growing on the PVC arbor was ice. The flowers were sparkly and frosty and white, though they didn't cool me down!
I don't need any cooling down now, in fact, thanks to the recent ice storm I have a truly 'Icy Arbor'. No need to try to feel cold looking at it now, it is cold!

in the garden....clearing ice and tying up trees.

Serenity, Water, and Veterans

I wish all Veterans a great Veteran's Day today. Especially the servicemen and women returning to Fort Campbell from overseas after a long tour of duty. Enjoy a bit of serenity and water in your lives today, before you have to begin doing this again.
in the garden....grateful I no longer have to ruckmarch the six miles to the turn around point and back again to the start point.

Wisteria Arbor

Finally, after nearly seven long years the adjacent property owner has moved. It has been a huge relief and we are very relieved to have new neighbors next door. What do they have to do with the wisteria arbor? I will explain.

Our houses are about 100 feet apart, but there was no privacy and division between the houses. Not a good thing. I have endeavored almost from the first day we moved here to provide a block from this property.

I looked long and hard to find some before pictures but was unsuccessful so I will talk you through the issues. Due to the set up of the adjacent house, their parking area is in their backyard, straight out from my deck. I wanted an evergreen block and a structural block as well. I found some junipers (thanks Barry for taking me to the fields to handpick the ones I wanted) that have worked well. The junipers are the straight and tall evergreens behind the arbor. You can just see the top 5-6 feet of them. They are slowly thickening up here. I am very impressed with this type of juniper. It has done well considering all of the trees are planted in amongst mature oak tree roots and under a large canopy of oak leaves. I am told this is a 'Columnar' juniper. Mr. Fix-it planted three, while I planted the other three. It was not an easy job digging the huge holes under oaks, but ever so worth it. The junipers themselves were 10-11 feet tall with 27" rootballs. VERY heavy and large. We had to roll the trees into the holes. Even at that, help was needed in the form of my oldest son Brian, and his friend Jesse.

I always wanted an arbor and wasn't sure where I would put it. I decided on this area between the two houses because it would provide privacy and I could make it much higher than a standard privacy fence. It would also provide a bit of a physical as well as visual barrier, the structural block I was seeking.

I came up with a workable design I thought would be functional enough to hold vines like wisteria. I purchased the wood (5-6x6x12, 8-2x6x10, several 2x4s, 4-4x8) privacy lattice panels, hunter green oil stain and miscellaneous hardware, then began building. I notched all joints to make the arbor structurally stronger. Mr. Fix-it rented a power auger and dug the post holes and together we 'planted' them. I did the rest. It took a while but I was SO happy when it was done!

Initially I left the lattice panels white and chose to add various accouterments to decorate the glaring white. After a few years the glaring white turned a dirty black with dirt and mildew forming on both sides of the arbor. Since I now have new neighbors, I decided to make a few changes to the arbor. I washed the dirt off and used Fusion plastic spray paint to paint the lattice panels green. I think the new color makes the arbor blend in better with the landscape, but Mr. Fix-it liked it better white. I just couldn't see washing that big thing (35 feet long by about 9 feet tall) every few years. I hope the hunter green color will not show the inevitable dirt. I painted both sides even though I don't ever see the other side of the arbor.

I did have a huge woodpile here next to the chain link, then the junipers then the arbor. I removed the wood pile and planted a few silverberries and four white Crepe Myrtles. The buffer of the shrubs and the arbor should provide both a noise, physical and visual barrier should I ever get such neighbors again. I am truly enjoying my new neighbors. I have lived all over the world in several subdivisions and apartments and never had a problem with neighbors before, but I do realize all people are different and respect that. That is why in my own little way, I chose to build the barrier and block with the arbor in order to provide me my freedom to do my thing.

So that is the story of my wisteria arbor. There may have been better methods of handling this situation (a 20 foot tall electrified concrete wall comes to mind), but I did try to be practical in an extremely difficult situation.

I guess I should talk about the wisteria. I am not a fan of wisteria due to its tendency to take over. This arbor is on the north side of three oak trees. The arbor does get some morning and afternoon sun, but is mainly shaded. I planted a Chinese wisteria on each end of the arbor, and the Dropmore honeysuckle in the middle of the arbor. I am hopeful that someday the two wisterias will meet in the middle and the honeysuckle will hold its own amongst them. So far the honeysuckle is winning and is reaching toward some low hanging oak tree branches. That will have to be rectified soon. The wisterias provide even more height and are doing OK. Last year's freeze almost killed them both. Neither wisteria has ever bloomed and I don't expect them to since they are in shade. That is OK, the foliage is fine with me, especially since it is so full and tends to add height to the arbor. The picture above shows the wisteria on the east side of the arbor. It is tied up all neat and tidy-for now.

in the garden....