Why I Oughta...

Ten days ago, I posted a pizza oven construction update where I talked about the framing that I attached (with concrete anchors) to the block stand and poured hearth .  I used treated lumber to create a ledge and added tile-backer board to support the countertop.  That was in-preparation of the counter being installed.  Recently, the new soapstone counter (or landing) was installed.  A few photos showing the finished stone slab are below.  The soapstone extends beyond the edge of the oven enclosure and will still be 'proud' when the brick is attached. 

A couple weeks back, I posted an update on the pizza oven that showed the treated lumber framing that I attached to the front of the block stand (I used Tapcon concrete anchors) as part of the prep work for the installation of the final counter that serves as the 'landing' of the oven.   In that post, I showed *most* of the framing installed, but since then, the countertop installer came by to measure the space.  When he was here, we talked about extending the front of the framing to provide a bit more support.  And, he suggested that I put down a layer of tile-backer board across the top.  The countertop installer suggested that he would use thinset mortar to affix the countertop in-place and the tile-backer board would provide the right base. As I was looking at the framing that I had already installed, I noticed that the left 'leg' was slightly off (in terms of the correct position), so before I finished up the horizontal surface prep, I moved that leg over....

The last time that I checked in on the backyard pizza oven build, I showed off the full enclosure and roof and talked about how I had some success with a lower-temperature bake .  This was in late September and the oven - at that time - looked like this below.   From the front, you can see the block base and how I had made a temporary hearth landing out of a 2x6 that is supported by some firebrick cut-offs.   That was (obviously) temporary, but it has taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to do there. We seem to have landed on installing a hearth/landing ledge of Soapstone that will stick out from the front of the oven about 10-12 inches.  That will give me a little ledge/counter to work on before/after sliding the pies in/out of the oven.   But, in order to install that ledge, some permanent support needed to be installed.  Based on how I poured the hearth and placed the oven, I left myself four-or-five inches of space to build on top...

With the weather-proofing complete on the oven (enclosure and roof structure/sheathing in place), I'm thinking I can start to use it a bit more regularly than I've been able to this Summer.  No need to look at the forecast and find windows where theres no rain in the next few days.  I had to peel off the tarp, install the chimney, fire-up the oven and use it.  Then, wait for it to cool down before I could remove the chimney and then re-cover with the tarp.   Now, the oven is ready to roll when I am ready to bake.  My priority #2 for this year - making the oven function - is completed .  I've learned over the past six months that if I am planning to fire-it-up on a specific day, it is best to light a small fire the night before.  That helps get the oven up to temp and makes the second-day pre-heating go faster/better/easier/quicker. That's what I did this past weekend.  I ran a 4-log fire on one evening.  The next day, I started the pre-h...

It has been a few (hot) months since I last burned in the pizza oven. But, with the final winterization happening, we can turn back to the oven this Fall.  The first, small fire I burned on the floor is below:

Now that the pizza oven enclosure sidewalls are done , I could move on to sheathing the roof and button'ing-up the whole thing.  Before I could close-up the roof, I wanted to add a little bit more insulation to the top and sides of the dome.  On top of the firebrick, I have 4" of cal-sil blanket insulation - which I hard-coated.  On-top of that 4" of blanket is going 20 cubic feet of vermiculite and perlite.  I bought these big 4 cubic-foot-bags of the stuff.  Asbestos-free, of course.   They aren't *that* heavy, so I tug'd each one up the ladder, ripped open the bag and began to pour the insulation in the cavity.  It filled the voids down the sides of the oven along the walls and corners and came-up to the top of the oven.  Adding five-or-so inches of insulation to the sides and a couple to the top.  See below for the vermiculite pour-in: At the top of the dome and below this truss framing, I put in another layer of 2" CalSil insulation...

The last time that I posted about our backyard pizza oven was earlier this Summer in Late May when I showed a long burn in the brick chamber .  But, that doesn't mean progress hasn't been made on completing the build.  Despite some setbacks and the heat of the Summer, I've moved along with my DIY build and have been working to build the enclosure.   That requires walls and a roof.  Both are underway.  But, the photo below shows a milestone:  one of the sidewalls is now completely enclosed.  The corners are built from concrete blocks and the middle section is now covered in fire-resistant concrete board.   I will post the details of the enclosure build (including the concrete blocks) and the roof.  The next step that I'm facing is to close in the other three faces.  Then, pour in some loose insulation.  And, finally...finish the roof.  

Back along the fence, behind the (now in-place) pizza oven is a Cascade Hops vine.  I planted this Hops vine in the Summer of 2021 and trellis'd it up a year later .   At that time, this was a pretty-much "full sun" spot, but the vine didn't fruit.  Then, last year, I put up the pizza oven and suddenly this vine is buried behind it.  Mostly in shade. Did that bother it?  It doesn't appear to have.  Why do I think that?  The vine has rambled up and around the oven.  Crawling up and around everything in its way.  And...when I was out in the garden this weekend, I noticed bright green fruits on the vine.  We.Have.Hops. They're amble'ing thru the grasses: I'm going to cut some of them off and see what kind of vase-life they have as I think they might be neat to see in arrangements.  

Earlier this year, I planted three small quart-sized nursery containers of a new (to me) nepeta named 'Chartreuse on The Loose' .  It is an interesting variety that has a unique color foliage (lime green), habit (trailing) and maintenance needs (it doesn't require deadheading to re-bloom).  Right away, one of the plants was eaten-up by the (dang!) rabbits.  But the other two seemed to do just fine.   Look back at this planting post in early May when the three small plants were just that:  small .  Lots of mulch showing between them.   Today?  They've made a drift with no gaps in between them at all.   See below for the current state of these trailing/spreading catmint perennials: I've mentioned that I need to continue to remind myself to add more of WHAT IS WORKING instead of adding net-new stuff.  But, these are both a reminder that sometimes new things can be great.  But, now that I see them working, I have put them...

Back in 2023, I planted a pair of John Creech Sedums as groundcover in the small, corner bed by our front walk .  I found them at the end-of-the-season sale at TGP and threw them in without thinking too much about them.   Today, both of those originals are doing well and providing that 'living mulch' layer in a really great way.   So, when I saw this same Sedum at the low price of $2 per small container, I grabbed a pair of them and figured I'd find a home for the groundcover.   The sellers of this plant bill these as 'trail blazers' - and something that can handle a little foot traffic. I'm not so sure about that, but that's what the label (see below) claims: With the new, large pizza oven bed in the back being MOSTLY bare, I decided to put these in along the thin border that abuts the timber retaining wall.  See below for the planting of two sedums: This area gets mid-day sun, so I'll keep an eye on it.  What I'd love to see is to have this...

Recently, we put the oven into service for a small party where I baked eight pizzas.  I've had challenges getting the oven up to temperature with the first firing of the season, so this time I fired it up for three hours the day before the party.  Then, I pre-heated the oven with wood for five hours.  That got the fire roaring and the temps way up:  950 on the dome, 900 on the floor, 750 to 800 on the walls of the dome.   Here are a few photos - showing the fire starting and eventually "Clearing the dome" of the black soot.  Also, I pre-cooked some sausage in a cast iron pan during the pre-heat and that worked really well.   I'm learning how the oven works and how much 'feel' is required to get the pizzas to come out edible.  Also, I'm learning that the insulation that I used is WORKING.  (hooray...)

#15 on my 2025 to-do list is to "lean into plants that are working" .   That largely means planting things that have been successful - either by getting established or not being destroyed by drought, rabbits, soil conditions or disease.    In 2022, I planted my first few Nepetas.  Catmint.  Roy Diblik up at Northwind Perennial Farm uses Nepeta in his matrix plantings and after researching a few varieties, I bought Cat's Pajamas and planted it IB2DWs .  Cat's Pajamas has been a good garden plant in both IB2DWs and I also have one in the cut flower garden on the side .  I haven't divided them (yet), but that's probably something I should look at for this year.   I'd put Nepeta into the category of plants that "are working".  With the new (large) pizza oven bed needing to be filled, when I came across a new (to me) variety of Nepeta, I decided to bring home three of them. This chartreuse-colored Nepeta is named "Chartreuse on the Loose...

Yesterday, I updated my pizza oven project with the latest progress on the small, timber retaining wall that I've been building in front of the oven.  The goal is to create a small, flat surface that I can use to work/bake in front of the oven.  The grade required a small wall and after hemming-and-hawing on what to do, I opted for action:  get the oven operational. Yesterday's post showed how I set the timbers and backfilled with TONS of gravel for drainage .    The next step in the process is to fold over the non-woven landscape fabric on top of the gravel - this fabric serves as a 'separation layer' from the soil that is behind the gravel.  It also is the separation layer to the soil I intend to pile on top.  Below is a look at the fabric folded back on the gravel: After the fabric was in place, I started to dig out the large pile of earth that I excavated for this project and began to fill in the space.  After a few inches, I compacted the so...

The last post I shared about the pizza oven was back in late March when I shared a photo showing the first four timbers being brought on-site and talked about I was in-the-middle of the excavation.  In that post , I laid out the next few steps (pasted below).  Since that post in late March, I've progressed through the first seven steps and the first part (the hard part) of Step 8.  1. Clear back/sides down grade. 2. Dig out under timbers to drywell stone. 3. Lay out Fabric. 4. Lay down gravel + paver base to create level base for bottom timbers. 5. Start with the timber at the base of the slab, level it out and anchor in the ground with rebar. 6. Work around the timbers - anchoring them with rebar. 7. Stack additional timbers - attach with timberloks. 8. Backfill with gravel, drape the fabric over. 9. Back fill with earth. 10. Fill center with base + gravel. As a reminder, we have a large, deep drywell under this part of the yard.  When I dug the slab foun...

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 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...