Making progress on all three planters and on the steps to the breakfast room. Steps to the study were the last bit of construction. By that time we were both pretty exhausted with lugging concrete and cinder blocks.
The other thing I like about this picture is it shows so clearly the eastern side of the garden in “before” state. There is nothing there except a few wax myrtles, the neighbor’s dog fence, and, I think, that sugar cane from Seabrook. I’m not even sure the boats are there. Where were they? Amazing! When I think of the jungle of brambles, pine trees, oaks, and sugar cane that I cleared out after the shed was built in fall, 2006, I am amazed at how rapidly the jungle grows in this climate.
The other thing I like in this shot is the magnolia flowers. February was the only time of year that that tree had any socially redeeming value.
The planters have concrete footers and are made of cinder blocks mortared together and topped with pavers at what I hope is sitting height. I’m pretty pleased with the designs, as a matter of fact. They are based on the size of cinder blocks to make two small planters for herbs near the kitchen, and one large planter for a shade tree and experimental plants near my study.
In retrospect, the completed structure had a lot more shade than I anticipated, partly because I assumed palmettos threw almost no shade, which turns out not to be true. Also, I had no idea that the ‘Natchez’ crepe myrtles would grow as rapidly or be as generally weedy as they turn out to be.
Built forms and poured concrete for footing of herb planter–5 wheeelbarrows full of concrete–killing. Lay out all concrete forms and rent a cement mixer! This, in practice, turns out to be very difficult. Rental places have just about given up renting out cement mixers because they get stolen even from garages. After the patio was finished, I discovered I could buy an electric cement mixer for less than $300 and I did. Used it for various projects, but it would have been a lot more to the point to buy it before mixing 53 (a guess) wheelbarrow loads of concrete for the patio.
I think the metal poles sticking up in the picture mark the position of the pergola.
Feb. 6. Potted up 2 tomatoes. Plants arrived from Parks. Potted up blueberries, clethra, pomegranate and gloriosa lily for later. The pomegranate and gloriosa are the only ones that survived, which just proves you shouldn’t buy plants in the middle of a construction project. They will be neglected.
This seems to be my only photo of grading the gravel. You stake out the whole area, string landscape twine between the stakes, hang levels on the lines, and measure down from the lines. A wedge-shaped 2 x 4 with a level on it gives you the slope away from the house.
My notes say: Made a horrible mess of the lawn with the Robot. Feb. 1. Finished grading gravel. What a killing job! Feb 4. Rented plate compactor and compacted gravel.
In the middle of all this, I discover from my scribbled notes, I was starting tomatoes and pimientos from seed and deciding we’d have to stay home this summer because the pimientos would need tlc.
With rare forethought, I realized that painting anything after the patio was finished would be a real pain because you’d have to keep the paint off the steps and pavers. (Which might not be a problem if you’re a tidy painter, but I’m not.) So here I am painting the main wing of the house.
I haven’t touched the garage wing, and I’m not going to because it is two very high stories high, and we don’t need a little old lady with an artificial hip falling off ladders onto the driveway. And Thom’s not going to paint it either. He can hire someone.
