Monday, July 20, 2009

Busy Summer

Just because we haven't blogged in two months doesn't mean we haven't accomplished anything this year! Here are a few of the projects we've been working on in June/July...

Repaint the house. Step 1: remove 100 years worth of paint. Not fun.

From 2009 Landscape


From 2009 Landscape


Build a waterfall. We decided to take a day off from working on the house and put together a waterfall for our pond. Turned out okay. It's not done, but here are some pictures in its current state.

From 2009 Landscape


From 2009 Landscape


We mostly finished the Central Park landscaping. I dug the wetland areas, laid culvert pipe, and installed plants. 95% of the plants in Central Park are Washington natives. Some of the plants are: Dogwood, Nootka Rose, Evergreen Huckleberry, Oregon Grape, Vine Maple, Western White Pine, Salal, Redtwig Dogwood, Oceanspray, Indian Plum, and Goats Beard. Non natives include, Contorted Willow and Gunnera. It looks anemic in the pictures, but once this grows in it'll be a forest. In a few years, I'll also layer in more shade tolerant plants such as deer and sword ferns. Once one winter passes and I get a chance to track how the wetlands flood, I'll also be planting cattail.

From 2009 Landscape


In this picture, you're looking at the primary wetland pool, which runs under the bridge and fills the secondary pool. From this pool the water will run into a culvert and out the stream that runs alongside our property.

From 2009 Landscape


And now, the mother of all projects. You may remember the driveway removal project. Well, after two days with a bobcat and a dump truck, most of the concrete is gone. HURRAY!

From 2009 Landscape


This was definitely a project I thought would never end. Now, we've opened 1400 square feet of ground where we'll install a vegetable garden and an orchard. As you can see, I've got a serious amount of gravel to pick up, and then I've got to start building soil. Here comes the sheet mulch!

As you can see it's been a productive summer! Stay tuned for more.

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