First Phase of Pleaching Completed

Today I finished the four tiers of pleaching of the east fence hornbeams. After inspection, T suggested we might also want to crisscross some branches between adjacent trees. I think this is a good idea. Without doubt, if this attempt is successful, it will take several seasons for the hedge to develop.

September 14, Pleaching

Started trying a couple of approaches to training the hornbeams along the east fence to create a hedge. For this first try, I ended up running a line of culinary twine between the trees and then bending and tying branches from each to the line. I completed the lowest line yesterday evening and plan to have a total of four or five tiers, with the top one 12-15 feet above the ground.

Three levels on the southern most pair of trees

Don't know how durable the cotton culinary twine will be. If needed, I will go to wire. All the literature sources I've seen so far recommend installation of a formal framework consisting of bamboo or cane and wires.

Our hornbeams are a little more mature than shown, but working with the supple branches, we are hopeful we can meld them together.

By the end of the day, I had about 50% of the first three tiers done. Still plan to put another one or two higher tiers. That will be ladder work.

We took the Audi in for its 55,000 mile maintenance. While that was happening, we had lunch and visited our favorite West County pond shop. T described to them the green stuff that has been growing in our pond. They took us out to their pond and, sure enough, they had it also. The lady said it was string (or hair) algae and said it was hard to prevent. She suggested an algaecide that supposedly works fast, is selective to algae and will not harm the fish. We bought a bottle. Doing a little research, it seems that it can be effective IF it is done correctly. If not, it can kill the fish.

September 12, 2016...John needs money

We got a call from John (landscaping) this morning saying he wanted to come out to see what else needs to be done. He arrived (late of course) and we toured the backyard. He made a list of items that needed to be accomplished including:

• Advise on how to deal with the growths from up from the root ball of the Canadian Cherry
• Replacement boxwoods along the west fence
• Replacement Junipers along the east fence
• Straighten the Zelkova
• More investigating into the fence and gates

I pointed out that I had already filled the cracks in the garage apron and sealed the aggregate. I also had installed a Watkins water valve in the skimmer of the pond.

John also brought with him a statement that he would make any necessary repairs should the pond cave in due to poor installation for the next 15 years. This was satisfactory.

We discussed the hornbeams along the east fence. I mentioned I would like to have these ultimately meld into a hedge. John suggested looking into a technique called pleaching. Turns out that hornbeams are often selected for this purpose. While the initial research I did mostly calls for building frames to train the tree, John said a common technique he has seen is to just use string to pull branches of adjacent trees together so that they weave into each other. We will try this.

John also brought along with him the most current invoice. It was actually a couple hundred dollars less than the previous one. He asked for some sort of payment. I jokingly accused him of only showing up when he needs money and I hesitated making any more payments until the job was finished. I reminded John that the landscaping work of his was started over one year ago. As many times before, John promised prompt action on the remaining items (by the end of THIS week). I told John that, other than the time it took, we have enjoyed working with him. He apologized (again) for the delays, and offered to knock $1,500 off the balance due in consideration of the delays and the work I had already done. I was hoping to have him knock of much less, so I quickly accepted his offer. I paid him the net balance due.

September 11, 2016 Update

Four weeks ago (August 15), we left on a three week road trip through western U.S. Around 2:00 am the morning that we left, we were awakened to a strange "popping" or "dripping" sound. I got up and found that we had water dripping out of the electrical box in the ceiling of our master bedroom to which the ceiling fan hangs. To make a tediously long story short, we had a massive leak in the eave above our bedroom. Water was running across the ceiling, between the 2nd and 3rd floors, and exiting through the electrical box in our bedroom ceiling. We spent the next several hours with buckets and towels trying to minimize the damage. Around 5:00 am, we had the situation, more or less, under control but the leak continued. I caught a couple of hours of sleep while T monitored the situation, with the aid of some Champagne. What made this very discomforting was the fact that we just spent $25,000 to have a new roof put on the main house so that we would not have to worry about this kind of thing happening for the remainder of our lives.

At 8:00 am, I called our insurance agent (Devin). He advised me to contact the roofer and have him cover the area and then determine whether the leak was due to poor installation or weather damage. Based upon my previous experience with the roofer, I was a bit doubtful I would even be able to contact him. However, the stars were aligned for us and Bret's (the roofer) wife not only answered their phone, but promised Bret would get back with me shortly. He did and arrived around 9:30 am. I showed him the leakage on the interior. Exterior, nothing was obviously wrong. Bret assured me he would find the problem and correct it and I should go ahead and leave town. He said he would call when he found the problem. He got four new shingles out of the garage in case they needed them.

We did leave town on our trip (http://summerfall2017.blogspot.com/). We did get a call from Bret the following day saying he believed the problem was with the flashing around the southeast dormer and that they would fix the problem. When we got back from our trip last Tuesday (September 6), I noticed the four new shingles were still right where we put them before we left. I talked with our neighbor and he said he did see them up working on the roof. Since our return, we have had over four inches of rain without any indication of leakage in the eave. However, the storm we had the night of August 14/15 was torrential with high winds. I hop the problem has been resolved.

Today is the first day that the weather conditions have been favorable for sealing the garage apron aggregate. The temperature is below 80F and above 50F. There is not supposed to be any rain for the next 24 hours. This morning I got up and swept the apron well and applied the first of two coats. This was supposed to have been done by John, the landscaper, but never was. I used a Black Diamond product and applied it with a roller. Previously, I had filled the cracks in the apron with concrete filler. This was another issue that John was to have addressed, but did not. In fact, John had mentioned to me that he was having trouble getting getting the attention of the concrete guy to implement the fix suggested.

 Before we left on our road trip, I bought and installed a Watkins water level controller in the skimmer of the pond. This device is commonly used in livestock water tanks. It is a simple device which I was able to mount to a bulk head fitting on the side of the skimmer. I hooked up the garden hose before we left. It appears to have done the job well. Our neighbor said he periodically checked the pond level and it was holding.

While the hose stretched across the chessboard is not very good looking, we only need it while we are away. This will also not be used during freezing weather.

The fish are all well and, overall, the garden has done very well while we were gone. The tomatoes are numerous as are the peppers. We planted okra a couple of weeks before we left and it the plants are now 4 feet tall and producing fruit.

We have a few boxwood along the west fence line that do not look too healthy. Not completely dead yet, but heading that way.

Raised Bed Expansion

We decided we needed more raised bed garden space. On the east bed, we had a demarcation line of stones separating the garden from the adjoining mulched landscape. On the mulched east side of the stones, the soil was essentially clay and John had not put in any compost, as he did on the west side. We decided to reroute the separation line to not quite double the size of the east bed (probably added about 100-120 sq ft). We left every other stone from the original demarcation line (as stepping stones) and I rerouted the wire anti-bunny fence. Today, we rented a mini-tiller (Mantis 7262 from Home Depot) and purchased six cubic feet of a Scotts humus and manure mixture.

I was not surprised to find the little tiller did not have the capability to bust through the clay soil surface. I got out the spade and loosened the surface which gave the tiller a fighting chance. It did well after that in turning up the clay. After I dispersed the humus/manure, I used the tiller to blend it all together. Turned out better than I expected and I did not hurt myself too badly.

Before

After

After

Now we should have plenty of room for the asparagus, globe artichoke and celeriac. T also found a Wormwood, Silver Mound (Artemisia schmidtiana) which she planted on the east side of the pond.

Not surprisingly, John (landscaping) never showed up this week as he had promised he would and we have not heard from him since he called on June 30.

Fishy

A week ago today, we introduced six goldfish into the pond. Happily, we have seemingly six happy goldfish today.
 

John (landscaping) called last Thursday saying he would be stopping by to review the status of the backyard landscaping this week.

A Golden Moment

We have spent the last few days cleaning up the garden due to our absence. The vegetable raised beds look good. The tomatoes are starting to fruit, the leeks are growing nicely, there are some baby zucchini and the chard, which we harvested severely before our trip, has leafed out again. Yesterday we added some new squashes, cantaloupe, okra and a new type of pepper (super chili). T says that is about all we can plant for now. We still have asparagus, globe artichoke and celeriac we have not planted yet. We will find spots for them. We don't know for sure, but since there is no evidence of rabbit attack of the chard, perhaps the marigolds are doing their job.

Zucchini

I sent John (landscaping) a note on Sunday telling him we were home and he should stop by to discuss the status of his work, at his convenience. We have not heard anything from him yet.

Today we bought our first fish for the pond. We bought six goldfish, three common and three Shubunkin. Each is about 5-6" in length. According to what I can find on-line, they could grow to a foot long and live for 10-20 years. I added some more detoxifier to the pond before introducing the fish. After introducing these first six fish, the pond is so big and with the stone bottom, it is hard to see them. We easily could accommodate a couple of dozen of these fish, but we thought we would see if these first six survive.

The parrot feather, horn wort, water hyacinth, iris, rush and water lily all seem to be alive and healthy. Even one of the pitcher plants is still functional. There are several dragon flies that seem to be enjoying the pond. T says that is a good sign. We will need to get some additional water lilies and/or hyacinth to provide some shade, hiding places and snacks for the fish.

The Scottish moss and Irish moss both seem to be doing OK, The Irish moss is propagating much more so than the Scottish.

Home Again

We arrived today from our Orlando journey. The backyard is not in bad shape. Our neighbor said he mowed our lawn once and filled our pond twice. The gates have not been fixed. Our neighbor said it has been very dry during the month. Accordingly, it started raining the evening we arrived home.

The chard was cut back before we left...it is back

The dill and cilantro are out of control

The Hydrangea does not have the pink we expected

The demin n' lace Russian Sage is about the only color in the backyard

Overall, it could have been worse...we have some weeding to do

Update

Since arriving home from our Mediterranean cruises, we have spent a lot of time (and money) populating the landscaping gaps in the backyard. We came to the conclusion that the leakage in the pond will not drive us to dismantling it so we could go ahead and put plants in and around it. We will hold off putting any fish in until we return from our Florida trip toward the end of June. Over the past week, we have planted almost 50 plants.

As for completion of the landscaping work that John promised would be finished and perfect before our return? It is neither complete or perfect. The saga continues.