not quite what I intended

 So the paddock footing I just put down wasn't exactly what I'd hoped.  The stuff I used in my previous paddock must have been 3/8 crushed pea stone, not round - it definitely packed better than this mix. 

What happened was right after the material was spread we had a downpour that lasted over a day, followed by a ridiculous drop in temperatures.  The stone dust part of the mix became saturated and froze solid, and a small amount of the round pea stone is loose at the surface.  I could feel the stones through my boots, so I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it is for the mules.  I'm very frustrated and have no way to fix this, so let it be a cautionary tale.  The only upside is that once the sun warms it for a few hours, about an inch of the top layer thaws so it's not as torturous to walk on.

Also, this happened.

I took these just after daybreak, because it's a few hours later and now we're getting rain; this will probably all wash away by noon.  I hope this isn't a harbinger of how this winter will play out.

the late autumn rush

 Although it's been uncharacteristically mild of late, you can feel the winter in your bones.  It'll be here any moment now.  Time to clean up, lock up, and hunker down.  

I have a list of pre-snow chores about a mile long, but I'm fairly certain they won't all get scratched off.  I've pulled all my annual plants, brought the herbs inside, planted any late season perennials still in their pots, put away flower pots, pulled garden hoses...all the usual garden tasks.  My neighbor gifted me a couple loads of mulched leaves, so I fashioned a quick leaf compost area from leftover fence panels and lined it with chicken wire.  Mom added a couple loads of her mulched leaves, as well.  This will probably rot down to 1/3 the size, but leaf mold  is an excellent compost and mulch, so I'm very excited about it.  It's conveniently located on the forest side of the garden, and you can see my not so excellent compost bin at the top of the hill behind it.

I'm doing an experiment that I'm praying the mice don't ruin for me.  On Gardeners' World, Monty Don is always setting up potted spring flowers in the autumn, so all he has to do is set the pots out in the sun once the time is right, and up pop tulips, crocus, daffodil, etc.  I filled the bottom of a pair of large plastic flower pots (we can't all afford terracotta!) with potting soil mixed with sand for drainage, then put some Rip Van Winkle daffodil bulbs in the center of each.  A layer of soil, then some woodland tulips, another layer of soil and some hyacinth, a layer of soil and some crocus.  I put the pots in the old barn, and tried to cover them as best I could so the mice won't dig in there and eat the bulbs.  We'll see how it turns out.

I had Corey the Tractor Guy out one last time.  He did some last minute things like filling in the old stone well that the tree guys uncovered in the woods (dangerous!), leveling the landing the tree guys created (future manure storage area!), setting my garden ring, and the big project - new footing in the mule paddock.

First, the ring...I love it.  

I know it doesn't look like much right now, but once everything is green again and this thing is covered with squash or cucumber or pumpkin vines, it's going to look awesome.

Now...the paddock.  

So when I had this paddock made, I had asked for a stone dust/pea stone mix as a footing.  What I got was pure stone dust.  This is fine for a limited use paddock, or a riding ring, but for a 24/7, 365 living space, not the greatest.  My biggest complaint is that it doesn't drain very well.  It packs so tightly that sure, it makes a solid footing, but water tends to sit on top and in the winter, it freezes into giant ice slicks.  Not fun.  This also causes the massive amounts of urine the mules produce to sit on top of the material, bake in the sun, and stink to high heaven.  You can see how well packed it becomes:

I will say the stone dust definitely prevented any grass from growing through it, though.  That was perfect.  For the first few years it was  fairly firm underfoot, but lately it's been churning in with the soil underneath in thin spots, creating muddy areas.  Anyone who has livestock will tell you how much of a pain frozen mud ruts are for both caretaker and the creatures who have to walk on them.  Also when I body clip the little guy twice per year, the stone dust packed in his coat from the rolling he does dulls my clipper blades in minutes.  What's that?  Give him a bath first? lololololololololololololol...be my guest.  I know better than to poke that bear.

This time around, I made sure to specifically order a 50/50 mix of stone dust and pea stone.  Here's what it looks like in a pile:

And here's what it looks like in the paddock:

It's a little deep in spots, but it was no easy feat getting it in the paddock and spread with the tractor.  Fargo nearly shot over the fence a couple times, and both mules got a pretty good workout running around like chickens with their heads cut off.  It was easier than me shoveling it into wheelbarrows and spreading it by hand, though!  Fifteen yards would have taken me a week or more to spread alone. We're supposed to get a good rain tonight, so I'm hoping it helps tamp it down and settle it in.  This is the stuff I should have used for my gravel patio...live and learn.  I feel better knowing the biggest chores have been ticked off my list.  

Behind the house my new turtlehead plant in the bog garden, the dogwood tree, and most of the surviving crimson clover have all been eaten to nothing by the deer.  My first project next spring is definitely going to be that cat fence! For now I plan to settle in for a long winter and try to come up with some kind of design for my gardens. 

Perimeter work

 I've taken down the fence around the vegetable garden and started putting up an all-encompassing fence around it, the shade garden, and the perennial holding beds.  I'm hoping to deter future woodchucks from ravaging my plants.  So far I've been able to get the front fence up, using the sections of wrought iron fence, old deck railing, and a set of vintage gates I picked up last summer.

Since that section of ground is nothing but stones and ledge, I decided to use grade stakes as posts.  Also, I couldn't afford the iron stakes that would match the iron fence...yankee ingenuity strikes again.  We'll see how long the grade stakes last.

I had some sections of old picket fence that I wanted to use up the sides of the gardens, but they don't follow the slope very well.  I've decided to go with three foot tall chicken wire fence and metal posts for the remainder of the garden.  I'll have to run it behind the front fence to keep the vermin out, so when it's done it should look pretty gnarly...which is fine by me.

I've also put out Jack and Tawanda for Halloween, along with some witches I was recently gifted.  I had wanted Jack & T to be in the cauldron, getting cooked by the coven, but no matter how I arranged them it looked absolutely obscene.  I settled for this display:

I'm calling it, "Witches?!?!?  In OUR town?!?!? *gasp!*"

Losing pea stone

I managed to lose some pea stone on the path connecting the upper area to the lower area.  The slope is a little steep, so I made some hand rails out of sumac saplings I had on hand.  The railings are offset on each side, but from a distance they create an illusion of one railing.  I'm planning to plant coneflowers and beebalm under them.

Oh, that little blaze of color at the end?  Well, I noticed this lonely Tiger Eye sumac at a local plant sale, and couldn't just leave it there. 😁 

This 'n That

 My ambition is waning at this point in the year.  There is much I didn't accomplish, much I can still work on, and much that I did (surprisingly) get done.  I've decided the cat fencing will wait until next year, so the only thing I'm concentrating on as far as the back yard now is...all that pea stone.  I've decided to extend the path from the lower patio to the upper pea stone path, so that should take care of my excess aggregate.  I've been doing a little planting, too; some perennials I'd ordered over summer have come in and I'm popping them in around the holding beds and in the back yard here and there.  I planted six Miscanthus plants (giant grasses); 3 Huron Sunrise and 3 Oktoberfest.  Looking at them side by side, it's impossible to tell them apart.  These grasses should grow up to 6 feet tall or more, and they spread into massive 2-4 foot clumps, depending on how you manage them.  I already have 2 Miscanthus; Porcupine Grass and Maiden Hair.  All of these grasses have a common trait as far as their seed heads.  They are stringy plumes, mostly burgandy, that dance over the grasses on tall spikes.

As the seed heads mature, they take on a soft, silvery glow.  They are absolutely beautiful swaying in the wind, which is why I wanted them.  The six new grass clumps will form a backdrop for my wildflowers in summer, and add interest to the garden in winter.  

I dug up my curly willow tree that had been temporarily housed in one of my mother's gardens and planted it near the bog garden.  I'm hoping it will shade the garden enough to help it retain moisture, because during summer the afternoon sun beats down on that spot and will dry it right up.  I also managed to add more humus, compost, and garden soil to the bog garden so it's finally able to accept plants.  I've started with a few small swamp milkweeds, a few primrose, and a turtlehead plant (Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips').  I hope to transplant a few more perennials in there before it's too late.

I realize the bank is a hot mess of grass, weeds, and native wildflowers, but I hate cutting down plants before winter.  Even though they die, they still provide shelter and food for many insects, rodents, and birds.  I'm just going to leave it for now and deal with it in the spring.

The hyacinth vine is really outdoing itself.  I honestly didn't think it would have enough time to grow and produce flowers, since I purchased the seedlings so late in the year.  

I think I'll use the same planting there next year, too.

My big push, other than the back yard, is my mess of a hill garden.  

Not having water the past few months and the ridiculous number of ground hornets really bummed me out, and I've basically neglected it.  Some things have thrived despite that - my herbs, the corn, carrots, onions, and most of the perennials are very healthy given the lack of care.  I have a vision, though, to revamp this area.  I'm taking down the fence around the vegetable garden and am going to reset it to include the shade beds to the left and the entire perennial holding bed area.  I don't have any matching fence, so it's going to be pretty eclectic to say the least.  I just dragged home an old metal round bale feeder ring, and I'm going to try to set it in the middle path halfway up the garden and use it as a squash trellis.  I need lots of chicken wire to keep out woodchucks, and I need to keep the grass mowed to discourage the hornets from nesting.  I also need to set up a better rain water collection system, so I'm prepared for a dry well again.  Maybe next year will be the year I finally don't give up on my garden.

Never let me calculate aggregate

 I ordered 5 yards of bank run gravel for the base of my lower seating area this weekend.  Once it was spread, I was finally able to get a feel for the area.  It's one thing to visualize it, it's entirely another to experience it.  It was thankfully a fairly easy job to spread this load using Reputa and my little york rake, with some hand raking in between.  There was a much larger area to work in with no fear of driving over a cliff edge, like with the upper seating area.  

A few people have asked why I don't use some kind of edging along the rest of the area, and my idea is that I want this to be a part of the landscape, not apart from the landscape.  I want the edges to blur, to feel as though this has been there for years, and that any moment the yard might take it over.  It's part of my grand scheme...

Once that was spread, I headed down to the landscape company and ordered 4 yards of round pea stone to top it.  Well, that was about 2 yards too much.  Once I had half of it spread and realized my error, I had to figure out what to do with the excess.  I put some in the low areas of the upper path, some in the water feature and around the rock edges, and quite a bit on the lumpy little road my tractor guy and I had carved out of the brush behind the two houses.

And still...

I barely put a dent in the pile.

I'm going to create a little off-shoot area for my iron fireplace insert that I'll be using as a fire pit, so I can lose some in that.  I may end up putting in a little edging and making a path that leads to the upper area, I'm not quite sure yet.  These are the times I wish we had a little tractor with a loader to make moving this sort of material easier!  Someday...

In any event, this is the last thing I needed to complete before the final push, which is the cat fence.  Next year I'll concentrate on establishing my perennials in the lower area and getting some trees and bushes planted.  I have other projects I'd like to get to before snow flies, if possible.

What it is and what it isn't

 No more calling the hole in the ground filled with water the p-word.  From here on in, I will refer to it as my water feature, which is what it really is.  I've had a few people misunderstand when I used the p-word, and they were thinking ye olde swimmin' hole...uh, no - nothing that grand.

Anyway!  Another day of deluge, and the p...water feature...is the most full it's been so far.  While the edges are clearing up finally, the middle is still quite murky.  The froggie doesn't seem to care, so I'm not going to worry.  This weekend I hope to set up a replacement fountain of sorts.  I can't wait to try it out. 😁  I bought some Ogon Sweet Flag plants for the edges of the water feature.  I really like the contrast of that yellow-green, grass-like foliage against the dark green of what's left of the grass and clover.  I'm excited to see it next year, when the area has recovered a little better. 

Froggie approved.

Happy first day of autumn!

(almost) Finishing touches and stuff

 The Rock on a Roll arrived and I'm not unhappy with it.  It's a bit like textured wallpaper, but obviously made for outdoor use.  I wish I had opted for the grey instead of sandstone, but it was more expensive.  I think once there is more water in the pond, and next summer when there are more plants in and around it, it will blend in better.  I went wading (holy cold water!) and did my best to scoop the sand and river rock off the black liner and redeposit it on the edges of the Rock on a Roll.  Obviously it roiled the water and it's cloudy again, but that will clear up.  I carefully placed rocks along the edges to hold everything in place, and while I was at it I rocked in the bog garden, too. 

I lost one frog; not sure when or how, but the OG froggie sat on the edge of the pond while I puttered.  When I was done, I climbed out of the water and he jumped right back in!  I also lost my floating solar fountain.  I didn't realize it was missing until I had finished the edges inside the pond and was half way through putting rocks around the outside edges.  I think it floated under the Rock on a Roll when I lifted it to scoop sand and rocks off the sides.  I didn't have the energy to pull everything apart to try to find it, so it's now considered buried treasure.

I tried to put the chunks of sod back along the edge; according to what I've read, you should have at least one area that has grass along the edge.  This gives smaller frogs and insects a place to hide when they leave the water, and many times the stones along the edge are too hot for little creatures to traverse, whereas the grass is cooler.  I'm not sure that it will take, but we have a couple more days of rain coming to help bind it back to the earth.  

Oh, that line of stones in the background?  That's the edging for my patio.

It's made from mostly square cut granite that's been lying around the farm since the beginning.  It's almost a shame half of the block is buried in the ground, but I wanted to use material on hand for this.  Now I just have to mark out the other edges and get some aggregate delivered.  I know it all looks rough, but that's how I like it.  If I wanted perfection, I'd use preformed blocks from Lowe's. I want this to look like it's been here forever.  I planted my yellow twig dogwood shrub at the end; I needed to get that poor thing into the ground!  Next year this area is going to look really good, once the grass grows back in and the patio is set up and the fireplace is out there.  Patience...Rome wasn't built in a day.  😊

If you build it, yadda yadda yadda...

 The day after the pond was (mostly) filled, I begged some water hyacinth off my mother and dropped them into their new home.  Lo and behold, the very next day, a frog had moved in.

See him there, just about dead center?

The last water feature I built had the same effect; it seems frogs just hang around the peripheries of your property waiting for you to fill something up with water so they can lay claim to a new home.  I can dig it.

I'm really pleased with how quickly the water cleared up, too.

I have a product called "Rock on a Roll" coming this week, and I can't wait to cover the edges with this material.  It looks really good in photos and video, so fingers crossed it hides the liner edges.  Hopefully it will reduce the amount of evaporation, too.  The bog garden isn't staying as wet as I'd hoped, and I'm going to try planting my curly willow tree near it to block the sun when it is at it's strongest [summertime] angle.  I thought this would be a shady enough spot for both the pond and bog, but it may not work quite as well as I hoped.

The frog isn't the only one taking advantage of the new features.  A little Phoebe has been happily using my garden stakes as perches when she hunts insects in the pasture.  In the past few days, she's discovered the bird cage and the lamp hook, too.

I'm hoping to start the second-to-last project this week; setting up for the second gravel patio on the lower level.  Summer is nearly over, and time's a-wasting.

Project #3 complete, on to Project # 4

 The privacy fence portion of my yard fencing is done!  I managed to create a pretty sad gate out of one fence panel, which I cut in half.

I started adding a few personalized touches here and there, like solar string lights and the lettering I've been collecting for a few years.  I also managed to get some blocks under the soaking tub and level it out.

 

 I had my tractor guy here to work on a few items, one of which was covering the protective bottom mesh on the back of the fence with soil and rocks to keep naughty kitties from digging under and naughtier wildlife from digging into the yard.  I used four foot tall plastic coated welded wire fence as the barrier material, which is fixed to the fence with heavy duty electrical staples, and lays out across the ground about three feet.

I'm still trying to decide where to place the lower gravel patio.  Until I figure that out and get the materials delivered, I can't put up my net cat fence.  In the meantime, I'm working on my pond and bog garden, AKA Project # 4. 

I laid an old rubber-backed area rug in the pond hole to protect the liner from sharp rocks (should have filled it with sand, but I'd rather use what I have on hand), then set a few key stones around the perimeter to hold the liner in place. For the bog garden I had my tractor guy scrape out about 8" of ground, then put a black plastic liner down.  I punctured it in the very middle to allow for some drainage, then put some of the soil back.  

 The next day I put a few bags of play sand in the bottom of the pond liner to weigh it down, then added some river rock and a few larger stones for the bottom to add structure for anything that might want to live there.  In the bog garden I mixed garden soil with humus and compost into the native soil.  I'm going to need a bit more of this material to finish the area.

 I rushed to get this part done, because the weather reports are calling for nearly two days of rain.  This morning, I was elated to find the pond half full.  The cloudiness should resolve on its own after a few days when everything settles.

Rainwater is supposed to be better for the pond than hose water, and with our well still being dangerously low I can't add any water.  I'm holding my breath hoping there are no pin holes in the membrane from my walking on it to spread materials.  I really can't wait to put water plants in it next year! 

While I had my tractor guy here, I had him pick away at the rock wall along the driveway.  He removed quite a bit of stone and shaped the bank.  He's also my plow guy, so opening up this area makes moving snow much easier for him.  The goal is to shift the retaining wall diagonally towards the old barn.

I had him move the boulders to the other side of the driveway, to create a more defined parking area.  At some point I may bring in more road pack to make the parking area less grassy, but for now the rocks are just a marker for how far into the pasture he can push snow.  We'll pick away at more of it next year. 

The hyacinth bean vines I planted inside the bird cage had a massive growth spurt the last few weeks.

The new plants I put in around it are all doing fantastic.  Mom and I went to the last sale of the season at a local native plant grower's and I picked up more cat safe, shallow rooted plants to add here and there.  I've decided to plant perennials along the privacy fence to hide the uneven bottoms.  I'm still trying to decide where to plant my magnolia tree, yellow twig dogwood, and witch hazel.  I have an ever-evolving end design in mind for the lower level of the yard, but much of it hinges on where the second patio ends up.  I'm also second guessing the bank, which I was planning to leave as is with grasses, weeds, and wildflowers.  Now I'm envisioning a bank of tall ornamental grasses that will sway in the wind...clearly I watch too many gardening shows on tv.  

                                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Later that day...

One rock is completely submerged - c'mon, RAIN!  Fill that hole! 😁

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Update, 48 hrs. later...

Not quite full but daaaang, that's a lot of water!