Why I Oughta...

Progress on the pizza oven MVP continues.  At least in terms of the hard surface part of the project.  Back ten days ago, I showed the first timber (6x6x8 treated ground-contact) being placed on site and talked about how much more excavation was required.  A few days ago, I posted a photo showing the three other timbers that I brought home from the lumber store that were ready to get placed for dry-fitting .  Now that I have the first four timbers on-site, I can start to see how much more excavation is required.  With the wall being about ten-inches-tall, that means that I would like to have about ten-inches of gravel behind the wall.  Thus, excavation is for the space required for the timbers to be square plus ten-inches in each direction.  Below is a look at the current state of the area:  All four timbers are on-site and I've been pulling away at the earth that needs to be retained: My plan is to use a flat shovel to create a clean edge in the...

Last I checked-in on the pizza oven ground project, I was dry-fitting the first 6x6 treated (ground-contact) timber that I'll use to retain the earth and (I think) hold in gravel in the middle of the surface.  I spent a little bit of time this past weekend doing more excavation and found time to run to the hardware store to bring home three more 6x6 timbers.   Below, you can see the three timbers (and a pile of bags of gravel) that I'll haul to the backyard in the coming days.  Once back there, I'll use them to make sure I've excavated *enough* earth.  My plan is to dry-fit all of these in the ground, then measure what over-dig still needs to be done that will allow for a foot-or-so of gravel to sit *behind* (earth-side) of the wall.   I'll next update the project once I put all the timbers in and fit.  After that, I'll finalize the excavation, lay down the nonwoven fabric, establish the grade for the first course of timbers with gravel and/or pa...

I have planted zero Crocus bulbs.  Yet, I have a couple of Crocus flowers that have shot up this Spring.  See below for one of them.  I've begun to think about a 'bulb lawn' - vs....where I used to be:  a perfect lawn.  This naturalized Crocus might have pushed me over the edge in that direction.

I continue to find small bits of time to excavate and prep the ground in front of the pizza oven slab.  After work, on weekends.  A little bit at a time.  This is #2 on my list of 'priority projects', but that full project also includes weather-proofing the actual oven .  The other part is the hard-surface to stand-on, in-front of the oven.  My (current) thinking is that I'll create an 8x8(ish) area that is edged with landscape timbers.  I'll use a nonwoven geotextile underneath the whole thing and install a couple of timbers as a retaining wall - to help handle the grade change.   Here's my initial excavation post showing some of the dirt removal .   And, just last week, I measured the depth of grade-change at the seven-foot-deep-mark.  About 12" of earth that needs to be held back .  Over the weekend, I picked up one (1) 6x6x8 treated ground-contact landscape timber from the big box lumber store.  It is H E A V Y.  ...

I've excavated the landing in front of the pizza oven a little bit at a time over the past week-or-so.  I've managed to remove about seven(ish) feet x eight(ish) feet in area.  I'd like to get back to (at least) 8x8.  But, I've also begun to figure out what I'm facing in terms of earth that needs to be held back.  Below, is a photo showing the rear edge of the site - showing about eleven-inches of height at seven-feet-back.  The grade isn't too steep in this spot, so if I take out another foot, I'm guessing this might raise up to one-foot-tall.    Here's the initial excavation post from last week . My plan is to get all of the earth removed so I can start to use the eight-foot timber as guide to find level.  Underneath the wall area, I'll excavate a bit to fill with gravel + paver base.   At 12" tall, I'm dealing with a timber with a 5.5" true height.  Thinking two 6x6's (11 inches) might be enough.  But, that all depends on wh...

A couple days ago, I posted the details of some of my 2025 priority projects in the garden including my initial (#1) project:  renovating the gravel path on the side of our house .  In that post , I walked through my learning journey about geotextiles and their differences - non-woven vs. woven.  And, how they have different drainage and separation impacts.  After poking around, I ended up landing on the use of a nonwoven geotextile under the gravel will stop the 'sinking gravel' that has occurred over the years.   I found this roll of nonwoven geotextile that is four-feet-wide by 100-feet long.  It is listed as "8 ounce" weight and in-hand it feels substantial.   The gravel path on the side of our house is laid down with bluestone chips, so this project isn't straight-forward.  If this was a net-new path, the job would be easier:  lay down the fabric then pour on the bluestone chips.  But in this case, I had to find a way to s...

Two days ago, I posted some photos showing the first step in the 'lazy bed extension' around our island bed in the front yard .  This was one of my priority projects for the year - #3.  I started with laying down cardboard to smother out the grass along the driveway.  That section went about twelve feet by three-feet wide.   For step two in this process, I went with filling-in the stretch of grass between the sidewalk back to the (current) island bed.  This section is about five-feet deep by twelve feet long.  I laid down two layers of cardboard with a slight overlap (both overlapped between the two of them and overlapped with the first layer on the driveway side).  I wet it down with the hose.  Then, topped with municipal biosolids.  And, finally...a layer of other organic yard material (leaves, grass clippings, etc) on top.  I mixed those together and used my hose again to wet it all together.   Below are a couple of sho...

Yesterday, I shared the overview of my third priority for 2025 - expanding the front yard island bed .  These first three ( Pizza Oven MVP , Renovation of the bluestone chips gravel path and this island bed) were pulled from my initial 'early look' list .   We caught a little bit of a run of decent weather this past weekend, so I opted to start the island bed expansion/extension.   Remember....I talked about one of the most critical components to this project:  time.  I need time to smother out the turf grass.  And time for the biosolids to 'mellow' out a little bit.   This bed started back in Summer last year when I dug up and created a kidney-bean-shaped island bed with a Korean Maple tree (Northern Glow) and a dwarf (Spring Grove) Ginkgo tree .   In the post yesterday, I showed the size (12x12) of the extensions and looked at some potential plantings.  This bed, when complete (at more than 150ish square feet) will be ...

My list of potential projects is now posted and includes a couple that I've already posted about and one this one - that I'm going to call number three for the year.   My 'early look' list is here.  Priority 1 - the renovation of the bluestone chip gravel garden path is here .  And, Priority 2 - the minimum viable product on the pizza oven project is here .   My third project is in the front yard - the island bed.   I created this bed in mid-Summer 2024 when I planted the Korean Maple (Northern Glow) and cut out a kidney-bean-shaped bed in the 'front-ish' of our front yard.  Kind-of in the corner between our sidewalk and driveway.  I added a Spring Grove dwarf Ginkgo tree next to the Korean Maple a couple days later.  I also planted some Inferno coleus as an annual  and an October Daphne sedum (that the rabbits ate up all Summer...).  In the Fall, I added even more to this bed - three dwarf Seslarias (John Greenlee) , ...

Yesterday, I posted a list of 18 potential projects that I called "an early look" at some potential priority projects and talked about how I needed to refine the list to bring forward the most critical ones.  The first one on that list that I labeled as a priority in its own post was the bluestone chip gravel path renovation project that calls for the installation of a nonwoven geotextile .   The second priority project is going to focus on my largest project from 2024:  the pizza oven. I've spent a bunch of time ( and a lot of posts ) writing about the oven, including how it will anchor a second, lower-level patio.  That project requires the installation of a retaining wall , a patio floor ( or floating deck ) and more.  I even worked through an 'order of operations' in this post where I talked about the ideal, final state including electrical and prep-space.   But, I know that those projects will take time - likely all summer.  And, I'd l...

It is about to be the second week in March.  Spring is coming.  Fast.   For me, that means I need to focus on organizing my yard and garden priorities and draft my 2025 to-do list.    Last year, I posted a short list that I called "an early look at some potential priority projects for 2024" .   That was a pretty helpful exercise - writing to understand (per Paul Graham ). A list of potential projects can be used as the foundation for that larger 2025 to-do list.   In 2024 , I categorized some of the potential projects to front vs. back vs. side yards and ended up with sixteen ideas.  Did I move on all of them?  No.  But, a bunch of them (pizza oven, hosta replacement, groundcover, front yard conifers) made the list and I was able to pull them off (mostly).   Ahead of this post, I've already posted about one of my (potential) priorities - a renovation project: That first, potential 2025 "priority" project was post...

In December of 2023, I started to notice that the bluestone chip garden path that runs from our driveway back to the boardwalk on the north side of our house was starting to 'sink '.  The gravel started as a thick, full layer started to sink into the ground and mud was starting to peek through.  In 2024, I added even more Bluestone chips to the path, but it still didn't stop the sinking.   Last March, I decided to act and began to 'pull back' some of the bluestone chips and lay down some larger gravel .  Then, I pulled the chips back over the top.  But, that hasn't stopped the sinking.  I've long resisted using any sort of landscape fabric.  On any project.  There's TONS of research showing that it doesn't work to supress weeds and it doesn't allow the soil to breath and regenerate with organic material.  Why?  Because, it creates a barrier.   A barrier.  Wouldn't that help with the gravel sinking?  Yes, it turn...

Day three of Zinnia seeds.   First, I showed the State Fair Zinnia seeds that we're going to direct sow later this Spring.  Then, yesterday, I posted photos and details of the unique, green-flowered Envy Zinnia seed packets .  Today, is the third new (to me) Zinnia variety via seed packets:  Candy Cane Zinnias.    Here, below, is the front/back of the Zinnia Candy Cane mixed seed packet: If you look around the Web, you find photos of these that show the blooms to be MASSIVE .  Are they?  I'm not sure.     The concern I have for these is that I wonder if they'll look 'ratty'?  Look at the photo on the seed packet - and you might confuse them with a Zinnia bloom that is past-its-prime.   You can see at the top of the back of the seed packet, Burpee lists these as an "Heirloom" and Eden Brothers confirms that fact .  

Zinnia seeds are the theme this week - with another set introduced here on the blog.  Yesterday, I showed a couple photos of a larger-format-bloom Zinnia:  The State Fair Zinnia .  Today, is another new (to me) cut flower.  When you look at the rack of seed packets, you see a lot of the same/similar colors:  pinks, yellows, reds, oranges, peaches.  But, then there's a Zinnia seed packet that stood out.  It is this one below, named Envy.  Seed packet front/back of Envy Zinnia Seeds that we picked up: These are GREEN flowers. Borderline Chartreuse.  That's certainly unique.  Especially for Zinnias (at least for me).   From the Burpee site : Green Zinnias in your garden make a dramatic display that words can only partially describe. The 3" double and semi-double blooms look as sensational in the garden as they do in the vase. Try them in fresh arrangements with white, deep blue or pink flowers. Can be sown directly in the garden...

Last year, I direct sowed a couple packets of Zinnia seeds in both the sideyard cut flower bed and in the vertical garden (Greenstalk) and they produced a good number of cut flowers for bouquets.  I used the variety named "Cut and Come Again" and they lived up to their name.    They produced a variety of colors - pinks, reds and more .    That (direct sow) experience has lead me to think that I *might* be able to do even MORE with Zinnias this year.  I'm going to try even more packets this growing season and I picked up some new (to me) varieties this past weekend.   The first one of the bunch is below - named "State Fair Zinnias" - they're larger than the ones I grew last season. Below is the front/back of the seed packet from Burpee: From Burpee's site : This one is a sure winner. State Fair Mix has jumbo 5" flowers, a wide range of colors and tall, robust plants. Colors include red, yellow, orange, purple, pink, white and bicolors. Disease res...

A couple days ago, I posted a photo of how Disney used the "European Fan" pattern with cobblestones to make a hard surface/walkway at Disney Springs and mused about how that might be a really nice way to bring a unique floor surface to our pizza oven patio.   That surface material (in this case cobblestones) is a key decision that I have to begin to work towards as the calendar begins to soon turn to March. I laid out what I thought (at the time) was my path towards progress with our pizza oven patio in this post back in early January .    The list that I put together included a number of 'to be figured out' items that would help me sort the rest of the decisions - including utilities, size of patio and the change in elevation between the current patio and the pizza oven foundation.  That delta in height is important because it tells me how high the retaining wall needs to be - which in turns tells us what materials/engineering is required to make the wall *wor...