My Stone Wishing Well

We are extremely lucky to have a good well. When you live in the country, your own source of water dictates the convenience of how many loads of laundry you can do, if you can use water for your yard, even the length of showers. Although we have a plentiful supply, we are careful to conserve and I talk to my kids daily about how precious water is.

Our well is directly out my kitchen window, smack in the middle of the only flat lawn space this yard offers. We are on a slope and having the well in the middle of everything might have posed a problem but my mom and I were excited to turn it into a feature in the yard.

Above and below: the water driller, before there was a house or a shed in the yard. 

Below: this is our well. We thought we could do better!

In progress: we used mortar between the rocks and tried to keep our stack level as we continued in a circle around the well (although this photo doesn't look level at all!)

We used some stakes and chicken wire to give our rock circle some stability. In hindsight, more stakes would have kept our circle more stable and round. If I do another project of this type I will also cut the stakes to the required length beforehand. Once we were done we were afraid to cut them incase it made any of the rock work come loose. Now it is simply one of those jobs that we forget needs doing and it has been that way a year and a half. Perhaps Husband's next days off? We will see ;)

I used some of that awkward black plastic edging around the base of the little flower bed we built around the well. I thought that once the grass grew in we wouldn't see it, but it has been visible all along and every time I do dishes I gaze out the window at it and wonder how to better hide the edging. The other option was to remove it, but for now I have moved it to the inside of the rock edging. 

Before:

After:

Once we get those stakes trimmed back I want to put a large planter of trailing flowers atop the well. I'll be sure to update with some photos if we ever get that done!

Fish Pond: The Stone Work

Last April my boys and I began digging a fish pond. Other jobs around the yard eventually took precedence, and once the garden was in it was too hot to work near the black pond liner. So the job got left for spring. This week I have spent a couple days working to edge the pond with rock, build up flower beds and create a level stone area for a bench.

This is how it looked this spring when the snow melted. 

This is how it looked this afternoon:

Actually, since that photo, I moved a few rocks around and my nephew stopped by to bring one of the biggest rocks down where I wanted it. Otherwise, I've done all the heavy lifting myself, and man am I tired! I truly enjoy working with stone and am lucky to have so many rock piles to choose from. It's also great that Husband brings me tonnes of flat rocks from work. 

The rock work is not yet done but I've been planting perennials from my moms yard almost every day. Once every stone is in place I have solar lights to add, and I'm excited to buy a few plants too. I will definitely be posting more about the pond but for now, just a few more shots of the job in progress. Have a great weekend!

At Least The Rocks Are Free...

We have had some rain and, with it, a rest from carrying rocks and working outside. After a few days indoors, even the wind today couldn't stop us from fixing up the rock beds I started last fall. We had a million things to do so I decided it was easier to use some rocks where we were finding them rather than hauling them away. I started 2 raised rock walls and put a stone path between them. At the time, though, winter was coming quick and I didn't have time to build proper walls. I think I made a better job of it today, with a load of rocks from up the hill.

Just a few

The stone beds now connect to a small bed I built the other day
alongside the shed

From there you can see the stone well and, further
down the slope, the apple bed

 I have placed loose rocks between the raised wall bed and the one along the shed. I plan to fill that area right in with stones and end up with a cobblestone-effect once I fill the gaps with sand.

I can't get around having a downspout run across the stone wall (for now).
Hopefully we will solve some eavestroughing conundrums in the month of June.

My plan is to grow moss between the rocks and low-maintenance things in these beds once I find topsoil to fill them. I'm trying to stick to a budget and I am now content to wait a year or two to fill these beds with soil and plants I find in the wild. The nice part about these projects is they add instant personality to a new yard, and the rocks are free.

Do you keep to an annual budget for yard and garden projects? Do you receive many plants from friends and neighbours, or have you ever taken any from the roadside?

Phew!

After a whirlwind few weeks home, Husband has returned to work. This time he took the camper and his nephew and will be about a two hour drive away. We have stayed at the campsite before--it is clean, has a playground and kids' swimming area. The boys are super-excited to go visit Daddy in the camper.

We worked hard while he was home, and we also all came down with a cold. Despite being under the weather we accomplished much of what I had hoped:

• 3 raised garden beds built, soil amended with compost, and planted
• all excess lumber stacked and mess from garage-build tidied 
• topsoil leveled behind garage and small garden area tilled
• countless hours picking rocks, twigs, glass and metal out of the topsoil so we could seed lawn. We got over half done and seeded. I still have a patch to finish. Which I dread.
• apple tree bed built (ringed with rock)
• planted 2 apple trees, hydrangea, hazelnut, pear and pollinator trees, flowering crabapple, raspberries, moved hedge rose
• planted sunflowers and potatoes
• harrowed the road to smooth out winter's ruts
• seeded blossoming clover as cover crop on the west half of the yard to keep down weeds and add organic matter to the soil
• new 3 compartment compost bin 
• planted out chokecherry trees and cedar from my mom
• watered 120 blue spruce along our road
• flowerbed alongside the shed, planted 1 mugo pine, a peony, reed grass, phlox, burning bush, and other things from seed packets which I forget

We have finally had some warm weather and the leaves are back, our lawn is growing grass and weeds, and some of the garden is up. We spotted sunflowers, onion tops, radishes and a few potatoes. It was a real relief to see that things are going to grow (it would be my luck to have a gardening blog and a garden that doesn't grow)!

Yesterday I was able to sneak off to the greenhouse with my mom, where I bought some annuals and my tomato and pepper plants. I've never had much luck starting tomatoes, but I have a small indoor greenhouse and a heated tray so next year I would like to try. We had a bit of rain last night so I will plant the tomatoes, peppers and herbs when it is dry. Until then I think we can stay busy doing up flower pots. 

What is growing in your garden?

All In A Day's Work

We have settled into a routine with Husband home and weather warm enough to work outside. Slowly but surely we are striking tasks off our (long) list. And as I strike them off, more tasks get added until it seems we may never finish. Indeed, that is the whole point, for our list is made up jobs that require us to work together, co-operate, be outdoors, connect with the land and nature...all of the reasons we moved here and began this adventure a year ago.

We were lucky to get several truckloads of free birch for firewood. Husband has been splitting it so that it dries without rotting, and stacking it in the trees near the garage. Initially we planned to build a wood shed this year, but we are undecided where to put it. We might wait til next year when we know what will be most convenient. I hate the thought of putting things in the wrong place because we are in a hurry to get things done!

Husband also stacked all the wood leftover from our garage-build. From that stash we used 2"x10" boards for two raised beds, and 2'x12" boards for the middle one. We used what we have on hand. The beds look small to me, but my garden at our old house was only productive at the west end (an area much smaller than these 3 beds combined. I also plan to plant my potatoes, corn and peas outside of the raised beds, so for this year I think we will get enough food from these 3 beds.

In the picture below, you might notice a layer of cow manure. The four year old and I have been busy collecting cow patties from the pasture. We also had a blast gathering earth worms out of the dirt I dug from my fish pond. Many were added to the garden beds, and many more to the compost pit. I fear the two-year-old may have dropped most of his during the delivery, but I'm sure the worms have found their way back into the earth by now ;)

We have had some very productive days working in our yard. There are moments with a four and two-year-old where it seems we might get nothing done--but this year is just an indication of things to come. As they get older the kids will stray further from my sight to build forts and climb trees, explore the little creek and climb the rock piles. I have a feeling I better enjoy having them under foot while I still can!

Fish Pond: The Dig

Last fall, I was fortunate to have my dad show up one day with a tractor. All the topsoil that had been stripped away in order to dig our basement and haul in the house was in a big pile at the south end of my yard. We had already rented a bobcat to do some landscaping and had done some sloping and leveling. However, the dirt was in a pile and winter approached.

If you knew my dad, you would know that taking a day to go landscape a yard would be considered "a day off" when there are too many other farm chores to be done. It was a surprise, and an honour, to see a tractor whistle past my kitchen window one morning (just a guess, but I think it has a bit to do with the two little helpers that he adores).

The house is on a hill and try as we might we ended up with a low spot on the south-facing slope. Luckily, the low spot was in the perfect place for a fish pond. In the last two weeks we had a few days of nice weather, so my boys and I have been busy with the ground work for a pond. In our first day of digging, we stripped the topsoil down to clay, except for a few places that were still frozen.

Those rocks spent the winter in that spot.
The ground was still completely frozen
 beneath them, while I was able to
 dig down to clay almost everywhere else.

child labour...my favourite!

The pond is deeper than these photos show. It got too cold and windy and I haven't made it back there to take a more recent picture. I'm excited to get back at it and show more pictures as we do the rock work, install the liner and (yay!) plant some pretty things. For now, it is snowing and miserable so we have turned our attention back to indoor projects.

hugging...not fighting...I had to get a picture

I intend to plant one of the shrubs that I recently ordered beside the pond, along with reed grass and ostriche plume astilbe. I also have a peony ordered--one of my favorite flowers. I'm looking forward to it warming up. Every day that we spend outside seems like a dream. Before I know it, it is time for lunch and a nap for the little one while 4 year old and I return outside to do more. We have explored the yard, played in the mud, checked on our trees and had all kinds of adventures. I can only hope that the 4 year old will remember this summer working in the yard and the part he played in digging the pond. Did you help in the garden as a kid, or do you have little helpers in your garden now?

Rock Work

We are a family that loves rocks. Husband brings home landscaping rock and I continually find rocks in my boys' coat pockets. Our piece of land is very rocky, as I've mentioned, and before winter settled in for the year I started to use the rock as part of my landscaping plan.

I believe that we can have a beautiful yard without breaking the bank, and our philosophy is that if life gives you lemons you should make lemonade (or rock walls out of rocks, as the case may be). With that in mind I started two rock wall flower beds this fall. The two are joined by a wide stone path that can accommodate our four-wheeler and trailer or a ride-on mower (when we get one).

 The plan is to fill the rock wall with topsoil and have plants spilling down the sides of the walls, on either side of my stone path.

The dirt-covered rocks were picked from the topsoil
as we returned it from the pile it was in all summer. To
level the soil and plant grass we picked rocks...and picked...
and picked....

I ran out of time and the snow fell, so these walls will have to be filled with soil and planted in the spring. So many projects to look forward to!

This is just one of the stone paths that we have planned for our yard. I love the different colours of the rocks and really enjoy placing them in a pattern on the ground. Have you got a favorite garden pastime? 

Borrowed Time

At this time of year, every nice day feels like borrowed time. Last year we had snow by mid-October and we had dreadful spring storms that kept us buried until the last week of April. It was a long hard winter.

Our lives and my outlook are so different this year--proximity to family, friends, town, neighbours to chat with on the shoulder of the road--we just aren't as lonely. My kids play together now (and fight, but that's a different post!) and I finally feel like I can "turn my back" and get more done while they play or run around. As anyone with small kids will tell you, it is a challenge to stay on top of everything when your kids need you more. Their growing independence is a blessing I am grateful for everyday.

There is so much for us to do before the snow comes. It is forecast for tomorrow, so today I want to do as much as I can and enjoy working in the yard before the weather turns my attention indoors (where there is also so much to do!). The last two weeks have been incredibly productive. Our carpenter turned up one day and built the stairs to my basement (cue the angels singing!) and our doorstep and the small deck off the master bedroom. They built the car garage and my sittin' porch before other jobs beckoned. If all goes well the garage floor concrete will be poured tomorrow and the carpenter will return to finish up once it has cured. Oh my how I will enjoy parking in the garage! In our old house we never managed to park inside--there were always too many things stored out there and too much in the way. This time will be different!

Have I mentioned that there is a lot of rock on this piece of land? I will post more on that later, and include pictures of our many, many rock piles, but suffice it to say I am at work on two raised flower beds made of stone, and I have many more plans for all the rock we are picking, picking, picking!

Some of our rocks. 

My dad has made so many trips over with a tractor to bring the topsoil back into our yard from where it had been piled (pictures to come). Everyday the kids and I have been out there--them playing on their spankin' new swing set and mommy picking rocks or watering trees (that reminds me, there is a post on trees coming soon....once it snows!) I am so enjoying the work outside. I would like to get the two stone beds finished and filled with soil so I can plant the bulbs I have left. And then another winter to draw and dream.

Epilogue

The third trailer load is almost complete. The weather has been fantastic and we hope to see a big change in the snow situation when we drop off another load of rocks this afternoon. We have papers to sign at the lawyer's, a lot of cleaning has been done, mailbox closed, address is changed....it's time to go.



This was our first load--we have too much stuff!

I just couldn't leave the hen and chicks my friends gave me. I also took a piece of barren strawberry...not because I think it is beautiful or irreplaceable, but because it was kind of sad to buy it at the time. The first year in this house was lean and I got it for a dollar at the end of summer because I could afford it and it would fill some space and hopefully spread. It did spread, and every year it has reminded me how far we've come from those days of insecurity. We have a great mortgage on the new house, we have paid off most of our debt, we have a lifestyle that we can sustain. Some of the credit goes to things like barren strawberry plants--when I wanted dahlias and gladiolas I bought a dollar off cast and saved my money. And now I'm getting my wish house and it might not have dahlias for a year or two yet. But someday it will.



I've written about our rocks but didn't have the memory card to download the pictures I wanted. At any rate, I snapped a few last night and there will be more, much more, on stone work as we get to work in our yard. For now we are trying not to hurt ourselves loading them!



I woke at 5am today--not worried, not able to get back to sleep though. Maybe I wanted to have some quiet time here while I still can. The kids are going to sleep over at Gram's farm tonight and we will come back for the last load and to do more cleaning. I think we will sleep in the camper, which also needs hauled away. We are getting a seasonal site near where Husband will be working. A great little escape for us when we need one this summer!

Yesterday we realized it would be our kids' last night in this house, so we planned a fun movie night for 3 year old with popcorn and staying up late. It was a no-go, however. The bustling activity of packing and moving, plus some play dates and the transition to no longer napping had our helper tuckered out. That is "positive blog talk" for tired and grouchy, or as Husband would say, "crooked". So we didn't commemorate our last night here as a family. We had an argumentative supper trying to get the kids to eat, I may or may not have lamented that I put on 40 pounds for this #$%!?, and we put them both to bed at 6:15 pm. As tears filled my eyes at the kitchen sink it occurred to me: there have been many days like this in this house, many, and there will be many more like it in the new house and in between. That's kids. That's family. That's moving with a 3 and 1 year old. And yet when I look back I only remember laughter and babies crawling to lay their little heads on my lap. And being proposed to in the dining room. And showing Husband a positive pregnancy test in the bedroom. And bringing home two babies from the hospital, and Christmas mornings and new year's nights. I can only hope that, in our new home, the chaos and turmoil will be as easily forgotten and the memories just as sweet. I'm pretty sure they will.

 

Rock Collector

Husband runs heavy equipment and I'm fortunate that he enjoys bringing home large flat rocks that he finds at work. I wonder if it is a boy-thing, but our 3 year old has yet to go for a walk or bike ride without bringing home 3 (because three is the limit!) new rocks for his "collection". I guess you might say our family enjoys the rugged shapes, textures and colours of stone, and we are itching to get doing some landscaping in our new yard. So, along with packing and cleaning, we've been loading and hauling our collection of landscaping rocks.

Many of our rocks have a story. Shortly after we had our eldest son, Husband and I went rock picking at our friend's property. Most of those went in the backyard flowerbed.

My dad and brother have saved me some that they found in their fields, and Husband has brought home, literally, a tonne over the years. I'm glad to go to the effort of loading and hauling our rocks: it would take years to replace them, but also it is comforting to bring them along and place them in a new yard and see them arranged differently.

Do you use stone in your landscaping scheme? Where have you gathered your stone, or did you have to purchase?

Walk Before I Run

Like many gardeners out there, I have received some seed catalogues in the mail. Flipping through the pages and admiring the bright colours has my head spinning. Just a picture of a juicy red tomato makes my mouth water!

As I've read here and here, it is wise to live somewhere and observe for a year before going too overboard landscaping. So while I enjoy imagining what some of the beautiful perrenials would look like in our yard, I have to proceed slowly this year and get the structure right.

I've been reading Toby Heminway's Gaia's Garden, along with various other gardening books:

• The Year Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour
• New City Gardener by Judith Adam with Tim Saunders
• Landscaping With Stone by Tom Wilhite and Editors of Sunset
• The Back to Basics Handbook by Abigail R. Gehring, editor

I've got some great plans that need installed long before I get to the pretty part: flowers and vegetables. I am itching to get my yard started, but there is alot of planning, measuring and building to be done before I spend much money plants. I think this year we will concentrate on trees, building raised beds and doing our stone walkways and borders. I want to get some perrenials in place, and allow them to get a good start and next year will be a year of filling spaces and picking out the pretty parts.

While we are staying at my parents' I plan to ready some containers that can be moved over when the house arrives. Nothing like a little instant garden! If all goes well I will have alot done when the house gets there, so that it looks less like a sore thumb. A friend has also offered to throw a "perrenial" house warming where all guests bring a plant they have divided in their own yard. What a great way to build some memories!

Drawing and Dreaming

I spent a romantic valentine's evening hovering over graph paper, imagining the view from our covered porch (imagining the covered porch, even, as it won't be built for awhile yet), and picturing a stone path that wanders down the gentle slope, lingering by a pond, then continuing to a firepit adjacent to two, let's make it three, raised beds for vegetables. Ah, 'twas a fulfilling evening of drawing and dreaming.

Right now dreaming is the best I can do. Somewhere beneath five feet of snow is a garden and many, many rocks that will be hauled out to the acreage. Husband is able to scavenge and bring home rocks for me--we have huge ones, pink ones, interesting ones, flat ones, perfectly round ones....of course I didn't think to take pictures before snow covered the yard. Although it will take many years of collecting stones to complete the many projects I'm dreaming of, we have a few to start with and a clean slate to work with.

Until spring arrives there will be much reading and scheming, and posting here so that I don't forget what my plans were!

Are you planning any new beds this spring? What kind of research and planning do you put into a new project?