CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[addy1]

Very true it is a lite weight little yard tractor. Not the smallest they sale. But it did a good job digging the pond one bite at a time.

 

[GBBUDD]

Oh they are indispensable for what they can do but grading is not one of there strong points

 

[combatwombat]

Another trick =to grading is changing direction meaning a 45 or 90 degree angle to your now path

This is essentially what I ended up doing. Grade it all one direction, then turn 45º and do it again. Got it pretty good by the end of the day. A few little dips and humps still to fix. It gets really hard to see what needs to be done and exactly where to do it from in the cab. Have to get out and look a lot. To finish up, going to use marking paint to show me exactly where to fix stuff so that I don't lose it on my way back up into the machine.

 

[combatwombat]

Oh, and the Comcast tech that showed up was a total homie. My service drop goes through a neighbor's tree. Told the tech exactly what happened and he said, "I'm supposed to charge you for that. Looks to me like a tree branch took it out."

And on that note, I really hate having overhead service drops. Looked into burying my electrical as part of the backyard update, but too expensive for now, and new NEC rules mean I would have to add a disconnect outside, which means I'd need to rewire my panel as well to separate neutral and ground.

Have thought about adding a short pole at the corner of the property and installing conduit so I can pull new conductors in the future w/o ripping up the yard again, but I don't know if I could get the building dept. on board with that. And, with my luck, rules would probably change by the time I got around to it and my conduit wouldn't be code compliant anymore.

Anyway, this is the kind of stuff I think about when my daughter wakes me up at 4 and I can't get back to sleep.

 

[Jhn]

Skid steers are ok for small areas, give me a dozer any day. some of your more advanced equipment has a free floating blade on your skid steers and excavators you may have that feature and not even know it.

Yeah we don’t do huge areas, dozers make a mess in soft areas where we usually work. Had a dozer for awhile then got rid of it made a bigger mess than it solved and was usually to big for our job sites.

Haha you assume we use advanced equipment we dont have anything older than 2012. Of course we aren’t always quite using the equipment for what it was intended for, so we rarely buy anything new.

 

[GBBUDD]

You trying to quietly say you beat the bag out of your equipment . And make it work ... i find that very easy to believe lol. Working in areas that have failed along the coast or making areas mother nature proof is a task for only the best, my friend.

 

[combatwombat]

Little plumbing access solution I came up with today:

 

[j.w]

Little plumbing access solution I came up with today:

Looks great and no earthquakes please!

 

[combatwombat]

Backyard landscaping update. If anyone has suggestions for shrubs/bushes for low-light areas in the PacNW, I'm taking suggestions! Thinking hostas, ferns, and maybe some native understory shrubs (don't know what they are, but I see lots of interesting stuff when I go traipsing through the woods).

 

[j.w]

Backyard landscaping update. If anyone has suggestions for shrubs/bushes for low-light areas in the PacNW, I'm taking suggestions! Thinking hostas, ferns, and maybe some native understory shrubs (don't know what they are, but I see lots of interesting stuff when I go traipsing through the woods).

Hydrangea's, Weigela, Lemony Lace Elderberry, Japenese Maples, Sky Pencil Holly, Azalea, Rhody's, Camellia,Witch Hazel, Peony, Viburnum, the list goes on and on. Might be easier for you to do a search on light shade plants so you can see what they all look like. Just make sure they are for you zone and not poisonous to pets or kids.

Here is a place that tells you about them and has photo's: https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/shrubs-for-shade

 

[Marck]

There are some wonderful species native to the Pacific Northwest for part shade or bright shade wetland and marginal semi-wetland areas.

See if you can find Swamp-lantern (Lysichiton americanus), also known as Western Skunk-cabbage. It produces immense leaves and beautiful yellow Aroid (Araceae) flowers. Close-up the flowers do have a foul odor, but it is not noticeable when viewed from a moderate distance. It's actually the plant shown on my avatar.

Also seek out a Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus) an Araliad (Araliaceae) native to Alaska, canada, and the Pacific Northwest. It has large, dramatic foliage and red berries. It's also quite spiny, so plant it away from the path. Perhaps that makes it a hard-sell, but it really is a uniquely interesting plant.

Ferns are a great idea. The Western Chain-fern (Woodwardia fimbriata) can get quite large and does great in bog conditions.

 

[combatwombat]

Thanks so much, @j.w and @Marck. I’ll probably have lots of plant questions for you as I get closer to planting time.

 

[GBBUDD]

Fire up that pond !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow i could never have had the pond full of water and not have the system flowing.

 

[combatwombat]

I work like the progressive jpegs of the old internet. Everything gets slightly less blurry as time progresses. Rest of the back yard had to catch up to the pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

fire up your hard work sit back play your wordle and enjoy a little it will energize the juices again