Category Archives: Landscaping

Apr 10 2 comments
Landscaping, yard

Yard Cleanup

The weather turned nice last week, prompting the grass to start growing.  Since we moved in in 2004, I have done nothing to encourage my grass to grow, yet every year it grows vigorously starting about the second week in April.  Sometimes, if it is a dry summer, by August things slow down.

All in all, the yard is in pretty good shape.  I took a day in February, after the double blizzard, and picked up all the branches.  The white pine lost three large branches.  Today, I got out the trusty Toro Lawn mower and cut the grass for the first time.  There was a lot of leaves stick and other debris that I mulched up too.  That is going to make excellent compost.

Before things get too far along, I need to repair all the damage done when installing the solar system last November/December.  Basically, I need to rack out all the stones and reseed a around the footings and where the trench for the conduit was dug.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Jul 15 4 comments
Garden, Healthy Eating, Landscaping, yard

Edible landscaping

We have spent some amount of time fixing up the yard.  I think the worst of it was removing all the asphalt around the back of the house.  What a terrible way to make a patio.

As a part of our long term goals for the house, landscaping is somewhere in the middle of the list.  The parts that we can work on now, such as removing over grown shrubs, trimming back trees, and general clean up items have been nearly completed.

One of my goals is to make things as low maintenance as possible.  The other is to make things producing.  Planting fruit trees is the easiest way to create an edible landscape.  Most fruit trees bloom in the spring and thus make attractive ornamental tree.  In the fall, those flowers turn to fruit which can be picked and eaten right off the tree.

Only problem I have run into is bees.  In the fall, many bees, hornets, yellow jackets, and wasps like to eat the fallen fruit.  The good thing is the deer and the bears (and an occasional coyote) clean up the fruit almost every night.

When we moved here we had two pear trees and a peach tree.  The first pear tree was growing up under an oak tree.  It also had heart rot, so we had to take it down.  The peach tree was also suffering from some sort of blight and was planted in the wrong spot, so I took that one down as well.  Finally, I have been trying to rehabilitate the second pear tree, with some success.  However, this tree may be getting old and it may also be in the way of our solar system.

two year old peach tree, about 8 feet tall

two year old peach tree, about 8 feet tall

To replace the trees I cut down, I planted a new peach tree in the front yard.  This is a much better spot as it gets full sun almost all day long.  It has grown remarkably this year and I expect to get some fruit next year.

I also planted an apple tree, but the deer have nearly killed it.  It is still struggling but the issue is in doubt.  I will plant another apple tree in the front yard and fence it.

bunches of white table grapes on trellis

bunches of white table grapes on trellis

I also planted four grape vines.  I ordered these on line and they were relatively inexpensive.  This is their third year and three of the four vines are thriving.  The forth is not too happy and I don’t know why.  Two of the vines are Concorde grapes.  There is a variety of white table grapes too, but I cannot remember the name.

The other parts of the edible landscaping are the vegetable garden and herb garden, both are well documented elsewhere.

Some other local edibles include a whole forest of blueberries.  Last Sunday the family went blue berry picking and came back with several containers full (not to mention our stomachs).  These are the small to medium sized wild blue berries that are so good on cereal, ice cream and in yogurt.

We also have many many nut trees on our property.  Pin oak and white oak produce many acorns.  Shag bark hickory nuts litter the ground in the fall and across the street there is a large stand of black walnuts.  The black walnuts do not taste like their English Walnut cousins, they are a little more bitter but very good to eat.  Husking the nuts turns your hands black for several weeks, however.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Sep 23 2 comments
Landscaping, yard

The one dollar rose bushes

I was looking for something to put in front of the deck railing to spruce things up a little bit.  One day, a few weeks ago while on my lunch break, I bought two yellow rose bushes at the Home Depot for $1.00 each.  They were really in rough shape when I took them home.  They were really wilted and it looked like they had not been watered in many days.  I didn’t really think they had a chance, but for one dollar, how could I go wrong.  Often the nursery people that supply Home Depot are on sight.  What people don’t know is that anything that is not sold by the end of the landscaping season usually gets pitched in the dumpster.  If you want some good deals, now is the time, and don’t be afraid to negotiate.

The rose bushes have come back nicely:

rose bushes

When I planted them, I shoveled plenty of compost from our compost pile into the hole and mixed it well with the soil.  This is typical hard pan, a mostly clay and rock soil deposited by the Wisconsin glaciation on its last run through the area about 20,000 years ago.  In order to turn this into good topsoil, copious amounts of organic matter and sand need to be mixed into it.  The organic matter adds nitrogen and other nutrients.  The sand helps with drainage.

yellow rose bush

After copious watering, they are doing much better.  I hope that I planted them early enough to get the roots established before the first hard frost, which is likely about 2-3 weeks away.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Aug 18 5 comments
Exterior, Landscaping, Structure, yard

The deck is done!

The deck is done and ready for the final inspection by the town building department. When that has been passed I receive the CO (certificate of occupancy). This has been a fun project and I learned quite a few things. First, dealing with the town building department has been easier than I thought it would. I can’t imagine why somebody would take it upon themselves to build unauthorized structures on their property. It can create many problems with insurance, tax adjusters, and possibly transferring the property. Building codes are in place to insure constructed properly and are safe to inhabit.

deck completed

I found the building department personnel to be helpful, answering any questions I had, doing inspections in a timely manner, etc. If you involve them and ask their advice, often they become friendly and the inspections are a breeze. Now, it may not be like that in all municipalities, but in smaller towns and cities, it seems it would be pretty easy to get friendly with the building department.

As for the deck itself, it seems to have taken a long time to build from start to finish. I had a very busy summer this year, with several trips out of state for family reasons. I think if I added up the total hours I worked on it, it would come out to about 35 to 40 hours or so, including digging the footings. Digging the footings was by far the worst part of the whole project. Crawling around in the crawl space bolting the stringers to the side of the house was second. The actual framing was pretty easy, and screwing down the deck boards was easy, although repetitive.

I am not sure how these prices will hold up, but for the summer of 2007, the total cost break down looks something like this:

Nomenclature Number Cost Each ($) Total ($)
cardboard Sonotubes, 8 x 48 inches 3 6.38 19.14
#4 (1/2″) Rebar, 48 inch 8 2.12 16.96
1/2×8 inch J bolts 3 1.57 4.71
Steel Wire 18 ga, 500 foot roll 1 3.59 3.59
Sakrete ready mix concrete, 80 pound bag 8 4.95 39.60
Joist hanger, galvanized straight single 32 0.69 *
Joist hanger, 45 degree RH single 4 6.79 27.16
Joist hanger, galvanized straight double 1 2.19 2.19
Joist hangers, 90 degree corner bracket 4 1.19 4.76
Post mount brackets 6×6 3 16.27 *
Carriage bolt 1/2 inch by 5 inch galvanized 4 1.87 7.48
Carriage bolt 1/2 inch by 8 inch galvanized 12 2.00 24.00
Carriage bolt 1/2 inch by 10 inch galvanized 2 2.35 4.70
Hex nut, 1/2 inch galvanized 22 0.14 3.08
Flat cut washer, 1/2 inch galvanized 22 0.25 5.50
Screw, 4 inch stainless steel square drive, 1 lb box 4 13.49 53.96
Screw, 2 inch, galvanized square drive, treated wood rated 1 lb box 4 6.97 27.88
Butyl membrane, 18 inches by 52 feet roll 1 45.75 45.75
Aluminum flashing 18 inches by 50 feet roll 1 35.95 **
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X10 16 foot 4 19.59 76.60
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X10 8 foot 4 8.77 35.08
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X8 14 foot 9 15.97 *
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 5/8X6 12 foot 15 10.97 164.55
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 5/8X6 10 foot 16 8.97 143.52
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 5/8X6 8 foot 6 7.97 63.76
Lumber, ACQ .40 treated 6X6 8 foot 1 19.97 *
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 4X4 8 foot 1 7.97 *
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X4 8 foot 2 6.78 6.78
Lumber, ACQ .25 treated 2X6 8 foot 1 5.97 5.97
Lumber, white cedar 1/2X4 6 foot 10 1.69 **
1/2 inch wire mesh fence, 18 inches by 50 feet 1 19.98 19.98
Thompson’s Water Seal, gallon 3 9.98 29.94

*Some or all of these items were given to me by Jay, who removed a deck from the back of his house and replaced it with a screened in porch this summer.

**These items were on hand from other projects around the house.

The building permit cost $45.00 and the rental of the post hole digger cost $89.10, so therefore the total cost for building the deck was: $970.74

The actual deck size is 170 Square Feet, so the cost to build it myself was $5.71 per square foot. I estimate I saved about $1,500 in labor. The average cost for a wood deck in this area is $15-25 per square foot if you have somebody else do all the work.

By using some salvaged lumber and and joints hangers and things I already had on hand, I saved: $331.36

Treated lumber comes in several different flavors. Since about 2003 or so, the primary treatment product for pressure treated wood has been ACQ, which stands for Alkaline Copper Quaternary. This replaced
CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate), which contained arsenic. ACQ is a pesticide and is toxic to humans. You must take the proper precautions when handling this material such as wearing gloves and a dust mask when cutting, and disposing excess material in a land fill. You should never burn treated lumber and don’t use sawdust and scraps as mulch, etc. For more information, see the ACQ safe handling sheet.

Basically, pressure treated lumber is rated by retention of ACQ in pounds per cubic foot of wood (lb/CuFt). That give and indication of how much wood preservative is present after the pressure treatment process. These are the applications:

  • Above Ground – 0.25 – Decking, fence boards, hand rails, deck supports
  • Ground Contact Fresh Water – 0.40 – Fence posts, landscaping, piers, docks,
    etc.
  • Permanent Wood Foundations – 0.60 – Wood foundations, crawl spaces
  • Poles – 0.60 – Building, transmission and distribution poles

Overall, I can say that I learned quite a bit, and had fun building the deck.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Aug 10 0 comments
Garden, Landscaping, yard

Japanese Beetle Control

We seem to have a growing Japanese Beetle problem. I did not spot too many of them last year, but this year they are happily feasting on my grape vines, the peach tree, and other things I have planted.

japanese beetle damage to a concord table grape vine

Japanese beetles are an invasive species that came to this country about 80 years ago or so. They are voracious eaters and have no natural predators to keep the populations in check. They start life as a grub under ground eating the roots of grasses. They are one of the two main lawn killing grubs in this part of the country. Fortunately, I do not appear to have any brown spots in the lawn yet, so now is the time to get them under control.

japanese beetle on peach tree

I am not a person who uses or advocates the use of chemicals as broad preventive treatments. I think that using an insecticide like Grub-X or something else kills not only the grubs, but most of the other insects, and possibly poisons other animals higher up in the food chain. It is one thing to spray a dangerous bees nest for example, but unloading several 20 pound bags of insect killing powder on the lawn doesn’t seem right, especially since we and all our neighbors have wells for drinking water.

To that end, I decided to use Milky Spore or Bacillus popillae treatment on the lawn and garden.  Upon ingestion, these spores germinate in the grub’s gut, infect the gut cells, and enter the blood, where they multiply. The buildup of the spores in the blood causes the grub to take on a characteristic milky appearance. Milky spore disease builds up in turf slowly (over 2-4 years) as grubs ingest the spores, become infected, and die, each releasing 1-2 billion spores back into the soil. Milky spore disease can suppress the development of large beetle populations. It is a little pricey, a 20 pound bag of Grub-x is about $12.00, a 20 pound bag of Milky Spore is $35.00. All things considered, the Milky Spore lasts 20 to 25 years per treatment. The Grub-x lasts until the rain washes the chemicals out of the soil.

As you can see, this is not an immediate cure. Where ever I find Japanese Beetles I have been killing them by hand. This has kept them in check to some extent and will likely be satisfactory until the Milky Spore takes full effect.

Popularity: 3% [?]