Projects Summer 2013

Holy cow! You could roast a whole pig in that!
Or put a grid over that, buld a firee inside and have a serious
grill going.

Cat--you could use it as a base for a massive urn filled with flowers too..

See! You got my mind going....Gita

oh, well, it was a nice thought! :-(

Gita, I like the idea of using it as a big plant urn! I've noticed there are a few weeds growing inside it but have been afraid to put my hand down there--it's rather dark. ;-)

Happy, LOL about the sledgehammer DG party! :-)

I do need to find something positive to do with it! Right now, it provides shade for the garden bed right behind it, and also makes a nice place to rest shovels...

I do appreciate the offer! I was typing on my phone and its a pain at any length.

What about turning it into a water feature?

What I want to do is make an earth oven. I haven't figure out where or when, but as to the how, I'll follow this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096798467X/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Well there could be lots of different possibilities. You could line the brick box with a pond liner or rubber roofing to create a small pond or fountain. I keep looking at the partial wall and thinking you could complete that wall and make a water fall from the big box into a lower box. You could add more brick around the existing brick to do several levels. If you can't find matching brick you can always paint it a nice neutral color maybe a pretty beige. You could add a few pots around it with either water plants for annuals to help it transition, like putting foundation plants around the house. Lots of different ideas. If you feel that it is just too deep you could fill it with dirt and then put the pond liner in. Still less work than taking it out.
We have a box pond it is just a wooden box with a pond liner, it makes a very nice small pond.

wow, what cool ideas! I had been thinking of it as just a huge eyesore, but I think you're right about considering its possibilities instead. I would love to be able to do something like what you're suggesting. Sounds like a project for next spring--although I may need to elicit your help! :-)

This winter when you can't garden would be a good time to just look at pond and fountain pictures to get some good ideas. I find some really interesting ideas on Pinterest.

Good point about the winter!! :-)

I also look at the books at Lowes/HD when I get over there. Just look at the pictures in the books to see if I can find any ideas.

thanks for the tip, Holly--I was unaware of such books! We have a HD near us--I'll ask there.

They are usually located near the checkout stands and you can just stand there and thumb thru them to your hearts content while the DH looks at boring things like tools. LOL

; ^)

Our HD no longer has magazines by the checkouts.
Matter of fact--I don't think they have them anywhere--any more!

They may have gotten rid of the magazine thing all together...
I get around the store quite a bit--can't say I have seen them anywhere...

G.

Beware, Beware of "Free things." It all started last year with a couple of free waterlilies from Texas Waterlilies, the result of a shipping error. So I picked up a small round preformed pond liner which turned into a nice sized water feature project. Then earlier this year I found the free kidney shaped preformed pond liner. So I dug in to just add it to the side of the existing water feature. Then I started to think about making a small water fall of some sort to run down the hill into it, and maybe a nice size pond at the top to feed the water fall. Yeah, you all know how that goes it just grows and grows. LOL So today I started to remove the sod from the area where the water fall is going. I want to make large leaf molds so the water can tumble from one to another one and I thought if I just remove the sod then when I get the leaf molds made I can play around with setting them in the loose dirt where I want them. And while I am at it I might as well just remove the sod where the larger pond will go, too. So I have spent a good bit of the day digging sod and moving it to the area behind the barn where I need to fill in the spot where the new chickie pen is going. We need to raise that area a bit and the sod will work very well for that. So I am just in taking a break going to go back out and hopefully finish but you can see what I got done this morning. Once I have the sod moved I will be done digging until I get the leaf molds done (another project). I know you have seen a few of these pictures already but this is what I have gotten done so far.

wow! it's going to be beautiful when it's done!

what are you using to remove the sod?

Holly---

Are YOU doing this? Or is DH helping?

If it is just you--I am in awe that you got all this done.......:-o
Looks like you have good, loose soil under the sod. That helps...
I can only envision me trying to do this. Impossible--with all the tree roots.

Well done so far! Gita

Just me doing the digging so far Gita. Ric has too many other things that need to be done before we leave on vacation to be playing around with a pond project. Luckily I don't have tree roots but we have terribly rocky ground. The top inground pond is going to be approx 6ft X 8ft and part of it will be 3 ft deep. I am going to try and dig some of it out this fall but we will have to see how bad the digging is. That is a lot of ground to move. My next step is to try and get several of the leaf molds done so I can play with a waterfall pattern and cut that part in. Then see how bad the digging will be or if I need to get a piece of equipment to dig. My goal is to have a finished pond next spring.
Catmint, I just used a regular digging spade. I have a flat shovel that would be nice for lifting but it won't cut thru the sod so I just used the digging spade for the whole job. They do have some nice shovels designed especially for cutting sod but although I have looked at them I haven't bought one yet.

Thanks, Holly--that is good to know!

Holly--(Sorry! I know this will be a "spill my guts" kind of a Post....

I KNOW I don't have to tell you this--but if you have rocks (of any size)
in the ground--you need to get a serious underlayment for the pond.
Some people use old carpets...inches of pure sand...roofing underlayment...

I know all this (???) b/c when I worked in the GH at HD (first 5 years-1998-2003),
I was the ONLY one of any knowledge in the GH.
Also the only one that had to advise people on ALL things to do with ponds.

We, actually, had a beautiful, big pond in the GH--with a waterfall and all--
plants all around--and goldfish to boot.
The pond was built (by a then garden associate) using slabs of blue stone ($$$$)
and cinder blocks for support--lined with heavy duty underlayment.
The pond's edges were held up by bags of sand, stacked just right.

When it needed cleaning--I would take off my apron, my shoes and socks
and climb in the pond to scrub it clean. The fish had to be netted out in a bucket.
The filter was taken apart and hosed clean. All lines were re-connected.
The whole time I was praying that a manager would not walk into the GH and
see me in there--barefoot in the Pond and with NO apron on. AAAGHH!
Back THEN, they would not have excused this as doing something good for the Company.

I think I was out on Medical leave for 3 months with my 1st knee replacement--(2004)
and when i came back--the Pond was GONE!!!!! Panic time....

The IDIOTS!!! The pond had been disassembled. ALL stuff trashed.
All the blue stone was thrown down the Chute. (WHY??--CRAZY!!!) .
A pallate of it cost ~ $300! They could have sold it by the piece for ts of money!
That area was filled with artificial Palm trees in wicker baskets. BARF!
I could have cried for days!!!!

The pond was the main attraction at our HD for all the kids--and, of course,
the parents spent the money to build one--b/c I knew how to snag them in.

That is how I know a few things about ponds.......

Right now--we still carry some Pond supplies--but there is no one in the GH
to assist customers with what size pump to buy--or what size liner to buy.
What kind of filter they should use. How to avoid Algae.
Mostly--people are on their own. What a HUGE loss of sales!!!!

I had reference books on all things re Ponds on a shelf in the GH.
Have NO idea what happened to those?? (Of course--I KNOW!)...:o(

Would I ever want to go back in there to do this? Maybe!
BUT--without a Pond for customers to look at--there would not be a big
incentive to buy anything...HD is SO BLIND!

For the last couple of years--THEY (The COMPANY in Atlanta) has tried
to have a pond SOMEWHERE in outside garden. AHA!!!!===sales...
First they put one right in one of the main aisles. SO out of place!
No one took care of it--it sat there all green and with just a foot of water in it.
A TOTAL eyesore! Slime all over!

Nowadays--we still have a Pond in a totally out-of-place, out-of-sight spot
behind all the cashier booths and behind the Bell Nursery "closet" in a very
far corner. Guess what? No one fills it--no one cleans it--it is all green.
The kids go back there and throw all the rocks (that surround the pond)
into the pond. It is disgusting!!!

I could go and talk to Curtis (,,the cutie SM) and spill my guts re all this,
but his hands are tied by what the CO. wants to do. LOST CAUSE!!

Sorry I digressed so much. This topic just strung a nerve in me....
THAT is what the GREAT Home Depot does!!! Just people justifying their jobs.
!
Thanks for reading ALL this... Now I feel better..... but still sad...

Gita

Gita, You are right about the padding. Right now my biggest issue is can a pond be dug there at all. There is a rock ledge that runs along that area. You should have seen the rocks we hit just planting those junipers. There are rocks in my ground that you can't move with out some really serious equipment and if I hit one of them I may have to give up the idea of the inground pond in that spot and do something different maybe a small fountain of some kind flowing down over the leaf molds.

Oh WOW Holly, that is looking FANTASTIC so far!!! Gita is so right about the padding... should you find that you are able to get all the digging done that needs to be done, you will DEFINITELY need to put some sort of padding down first, to protect that pond liner from the rocks beneath. Water weighs a LOT, and all that pressure pushing down on relatively "flimsy" (no disrespect intended) plastic of a pond liner can poke holes!! Oh Noes!!
At work, our landscaping guys install oodles of water features all the time, and it is always KEY, to put down padding first before any sort of pond liner goes in.

Gita, what a total heart-break of a story, about the pond being taken out while you were recovering from your knee surgery!! I guess they learned what they could NOT do without you... maybe they feared you would not return, and they knew they'd not be able to maintain it without you. < =/ Who knows... Just so darned sad that they'd make such an idiotic decision like that!!

The things companies do sometimes make me scratch my head.

Great project, Holly!!

If I scratched my head every time a company did something to make me scratch my head, I'd be bald!! LOL! < =D

Better than a dumb romance noivel. Trials and tribulations of H D Gita

ROFLOL

Heeeheeeeheeeeee!! < =D

Finally finished the Kid's (spare) bedroom redo. Renewing subfloor and replacing old carpet with laminate flooring, sealing and painting a stained ceiling, repainting the sponge painted upper wall, cleaning and repainting trim. Furniture will return as soon as the lower walls are cleaned. Most of the work Holly and I did on too hot or rainy days, we did recruit Josh to lay the laminate flooring and give my back a break. LOL
We really wanted this done before vacation since JR and his parents are house setting, and he enjoys "his" room. This has been his room since they lived with us for a brief period to move their home and setup the lot.

Here is a pic of the upper walls that I painted. The white metal daybed will go back in but I would like to paint the dark wood dresser and the brown entertainment stand that holds toys. Another small project for sometime later.

OOOPs, Forgot the picture. This room was originally done for Jen when she was a teenager, 20 years ago. Although it is pretty dated the Grands just love the Ocean room. It really needed some serious work but we didn't want to remove the wall paper so it got a bit of a facelift. Ric made all that molding himself when we did the original work.

Wow looks beautiful! My daughter would love it if I were this handy ! :-)

Cool

Thanks, Today I am back working on the Chickie yard. Hauling cinder blocks and making a nice solid level foundation for the yard.

JR's room is spectacular. I love the colors, and they way they blend. Floor looks excellent.

Nice!
But I also want to see the new chickie yard when its done.

So do they Sally, so do they!

Good Heavens to Betsy, you two are suuuuure talented!!!!!!!! Gosh, I wish I had just one thimbleful of your gifts!!! The floor looks fantastic too!! =)

Yeah, No longer hauling cinderblocks. I have the foundation for the Chickie pen built, doesn't look like much but its nice and level and hopefully tomorrow morning it will have a nice fresh coat of brown paint that should make it a bit more attractive. This is the pen that Ric built that will set on top of the cinder bocks. There is more to do to it as well. It will get a partial roof that will give the chickies a nice sheltered area besides the nest box and roosting area inside the barn. More pictures will come as we get farther along with it.

S0? Thais Chickie pen will not be movable. Right?

I thought most people moved their Chicken pens around to give them
fresh grass and such to eat???

May be my imagination....never had chickens... G.