June 2012 - Pianolady's Gardens

Pianolady
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Pianolady's Gardens

Found Patio Furniture on Clearance!

Category: Pianolady's Gardens | Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:25 pm

I don't put up "big picture" photos too often of the back yard due to its size & all the shade. It's difficult to get a decent photo. But right at dusk it does okay. Not much flowering now with all the shade gardens, and the vegetable garden in back....and the high heat!

I did go out in the heat to find my clearance patio chairs I wanted to go with the clearance patio table I found last week. They don't actually "go together", but these were the more comfortable chairs. I paid 50% off instead of 70% off, but was tired of looking and decided to be happy with that.

Chairs

Table, which I did get at 70% off.

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My New Blank Slate & Other Misc.

Category: Pianolady's Gardens | Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:44 am

I removed quite a bit of plantings to make room for the retaining wall, allow for some regrading for drainage, and to open up the bottom of the stairs to make them usable again. Since it was opened back up, I decided to install a path to the steps through the garden. I'll probably have to remove a few more ferns, but it's okay for now.

I was originally going to put a landing at the bottom of the steps, but didn't like it once I had the blocks sitting there, so I went with this instead with the round stone path. I think I'll put some kind of ground cover around everything eventually.

My elephant ears finally came up.

Beans are looking good.

And the little bog garden is doing well.

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Construction Update June 24

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:14 pm

This will probably be the last update for a bit, as we're finished with the garage & our deck materials are yet to be ordered. I suppose he'll get the deck started but we've yet to special order the planking.

My husband worked 8+ hours / day on the garage over the weekend. All the old siding and old sheathing is gone; the old window and door and all the framing is gone; new framing put up; new sheathing put on; most of the taping is done. The garage has actual walls!

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Construction Update June 23

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:27 pm

We didn't waste any time getting the construction on the garage started. We tore off the siding and sheathing on the north side & did get that side finished. On to the west side Sunday, then it will be ready for the vinyl siding.

Work in progress...

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Phase 1 Done!

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:39 pm

Garage footings, new sill plate & rotted wood GONE! Ready for us to take the siding & sheathing off & resheath & wrap for the vinyl siding (we'll DIY that). We raised the footings of the garage several inches to match the level of the driveway. Someday when we pour a new concrete floor & driveway, we'll appreciate that.

Retaining Wall is also finished. This came out so much nicer than I expected.

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Construction Update June 21

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:56 pm

The wall is a surprise! It's all wall now, no dirt to have to plant. This I actually like, as trees were always wanting to grow in this area, and it was a hassle to weed.

The concrete footings for the garage did get poured yesterday. They did a really nice job. They propped up and leveled out our garage the best one could. It's a lot better than it was.

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Construction Update June 20

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:48 pm

Looks like they're getting close to pouring the garage footings. Maybe today!

And the retaining wall is beginning to take shape.

And my neighbor and I were able to use the excavated dirt to build up our gardens. My neighbor's is especially low, and a large portion was unusable due to flooding when it rains. They just pulled the truck up and dumped it in the low spot. Should be good stuff too, original Loess Hills soil, not fill dirt.

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Building Porch Posts

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:54 pm

We got a good start on building sleeves around our old iron porch posts. We started by making a PVC base plate to keep the wood off the concrete (PVC board).

Lots of gorilla glue and use of the brad nailer later, we were putting the final side on our cover.

We got started on the corner post, but ran out of time to work. But you can get a little bit of an idea how it will go together.

Still have to finish the corner cover, then we'll prime & paint. We decided to cover what we had instead of putting up 6X6 posts to save room on our porch. It gave us a little more walking room to get by the posts since the porch isn't very deep.