Prepare for garbage area
To-day I spent probably 5 hours straight digging and weeding the side and back yard as part of moving the potting table. That was not supposed to be the main activity but I just went with what I felt needed to be done rather than stick with my plan.
Eventually I would have had to do what I did, so it was not a waste of time.
I dug a rake-wide area over four feet north from the house at a point which would be the wall of the 3-story extension. I got a slope which I judged was 1:12 and then moved bricks which were piled next to the current dry-well and created sort of a short brick wall on that dirt slope.
Also named bricks were moved to the back porch and given a small cleaning. I left a few named bricks in taller piles next to the heat exchanger as the back porch was not ready for more.
By creating this short brick wall I delineated the extension of the house. Within the 4 foot area I am not going to be concerned with the level just yet, but I established the level on one side with the bricks.
Non-brick stones in the area of the old-drywell were moved to the rock garden proposed site.
This leaves stacks of bags of sand and gravel by the old dry-well and a temporary wall of blocks circling the 3-foot diameter area. There are a bunch of ledge slivers and a few odd rocks and concrete pieces inside the well. Eventually I will move the bags to the proposed rock garden site or consume part of the bags to create a small garbage area wall using the blocks.
In any case I am one step closer to preparing the garbage area and retiring the old dry-well.
While I was in the proposed rock garden site I noticed a lot of weed straw which needed to be removed. Also I wanted to remove some of the weeds, so brought my shovel. One of the weeds was a small tree. It took a while to remove it, but it is down. Also rooted were blackberries and "wild sorghum" which is what I call this weed with wide leaves and a tall brown stalk. A lot of the straw was put into the compost bin, but I left a good deal on the ground to fetch later. There is much more hacking, digging and hauling to do to get rid of weeds in that area.
I worked until I could barely see anything and was not thinking straight: I needed to eat and see!
However, I leveled the area as best as I could and established a dirt pile just before the rock garden site.
To-morrow I still plan on painting the fascia where the gutter will go. I need to do that now so I can install the gutter next weekend (allow the paint to dry).
Eventually I would have had to do what I did, so it was not a waste of time.
I dug a rake-wide area over four feet north from the house at a point which would be the wall of the 3-story extension. I got a slope which I judged was 1:12 and then moved bricks which were piled next to the current dry-well and created sort of a short brick wall on that dirt slope.
Also named bricks were moved to the back porch and given a small cleaning. I left a few named bricks in taller piles next to the heat exchanger as the back porch was not ready for more.
By creating this short brick wall I delineated the extension of the house. Within the 4 foot area I am not going to be concerned with the level just yet, but I established the level on one side with the bricks.
Non-brick stones in the area of the old-drywell were moved to the rock garden proposed site.
This leaves stacks of bags of sand and gravel by the old dry-well and a temporary wall of blocks circling the 3-foot diameter area. There are a bunch of ledge slivers and a few odd rocks and concrete pieces inside the well. Eventually I will move the bags to the proposed rock garden site or consume part of the bags to create a small garbage area wall using the blocks.
In any case I am one step closer to preparing the garbage area and retiring the old dry-well.
While I was in the proposed rock garden site I noticed a lot of weed straw which needed to be removed. Also I wanted to remove some of the weeds, so brought my shovel. One of the weeds was a small tree. It took a while to remove it, but it is down. Also rooted were blackberries and "wild sorghum" which is what I call this weed with wide leaves and a tall brown stalk. A lot of the straw was put into the compost bin, but I left a good deal on the ground to fetch later. There is much more hacking, digging and hauling to do to get rid of weeds in that area.
I worked until I could barely see anything and was not thinking straight: I needed to eat and see!
However, I leveled the area as best as I could and established a dirt pile just before the rock garden site.
To-morrow I still plan on painting the fascia where the gutter will go. I need to do that now so I can install the gutter next weekend (allow the paint to dry).