My Adventures Where in the world is ….

Last week Carl finished the rock wall project.  He dug a ditch that was about a foot deep on one end and two feet on the other ending in a dry well.  He put in a layer of gravel which he had been collecting as he had screened dirt in our garden the last two years.  Then he laid a drainage pipe and more gravel so if water melted and ended up below the rock wall the wall would not fall.  He put cloth on the back of the wall to keep the weeds out but allow water through.  The pictures show the beginning of building the wall.  Before the rocks had been stood up on their sides.  He laid them down so the wall would be more stable.  It took some time to fit them all together.  The first layer is rocks he could not lift himself but could slide if on a wood piece so he would lever them up onto the wood and then slide the wood into place.

After digging the ditch and digging a dry well, Carl used the gravel gleaned from dirt in our garden over the years to fill in a layer and then added a drain pipe. Then more gravel until it reach the top where he was now ready to start building the rock wall.

Starting to put the first layer of rocks in.

The finished wall. It is nice in the picture and even nicer in person. Carl honed his skills in New York where we also had lots of rocks to build with.

Now the fun part.  Our potentillas are starting to bloom.

This Potentilla has the most blooms but they are all beginning to bloom now.

Unfortunately the blue flowering vines behind are weeds and we are digging them all out.  There are also some in the trees in the back of our house and we will leave those.  The flowers are nice but they are short lived.  Our potentillas should bloom all spring, summer, and fall.  All ten are doing well so we hope they will survive our dry hot summer and then winter and keep progressing as the years go by.

This was a lot of work for Carl but he did such a nice job.  Our neighbors have all commented on how lovely it is.

The secondary water was finally up to enough pressure to test the system this last week and so Carl filled in the trenches.  It is nice to finally have all the Potentillas planted. We look forward to seeing them in bloom.  The day lilies continue to grow and may not flower this year but they seem to be established so hopefully next year.  My kale was up in both spots and I transplanted one where there were three, but now there is only one place where kale is growing, there are two plants, one purple and one green.  I have replanted the other spots.  Hopefully I can end up with two plants.

Finally, this week the secondary water was on with enough pressure to test the new sprinklers. Carl filled in the trenches and we were able to plant the last two Potentillas. Now all ten are in the ground and yesterday we noticed that the yellow ones are starting to bloom. We are excited to see them in full bloom. Hopefully the pink will soon start to bloom as well.

The next project will be to tear apart the last of the rock wall and then build a base for the new wall.  That includes sorting rocks, a big job on its own.

The rock wall disassembling includes sorting rocks by size. Here is a far away view.

Close up here are the medium sided rocks.

This is the smaller rocks with lots of debris which Carl will sift out. These will go on the bottom of the trench he will dig to support the wall.

These two piles are divided with the line on the driveway. On the right are the rocks that Carl cannot lift but may be able to push. They will be on the bottom. Then on the left are the rocks he can move with two hands and perhaps some help. They will go on the next level.

On the left, near the dirt pile, are the rocks he can easily lift with one hand that will fill in the gaps as he builds.

Finally, here is a closer view of the remnants of the old wall. This was before he had taken out the last of the weeds that were growing there. We bought some landscape cloth to put up so that hopefully weeds won’t grow through the new wall.

Carl also bought some pipe that has holes on one side.  He plans to put that in the bottom of the trench so that if water comes up it won’t take out the wall but be funneled down into the gravel trench underneath.

Hopefully, this will soon be a beautiful memory of all the work he has done.  It is almost time to start turning over the soil for our garden and then he will work on the area where we had the trees trunks mulched so that we can move the Yucca plants from the front yard to the back.

It is all a work in progress and certainly fills Carl’s days.  I am so grateful he has the ability and inclination to work so hard to make our yard so beautiful.  Truly I am blessed.