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April 11, 2006

A Productive Sunday in the Garden

vines
tools
We had our second day of garden work this season on Sunday. We successfully cleared the vines from the remaining portion of fence while our neighbor pulled out the old straw fence that had been attached to the metal fence on his side. In organizing the piles of stones and crap accumulated from decades of neglect, we turned up these nifty vintage gardening tools as well. (Anyone know what that marble cube is? A cornerstone, perhaps?) We're about ready to hire someone to build a new wood fence and lay bluestone in the center of the yard. We've decided against grass for the main center section. Perhaps on the raised portion at the back.




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:40 AM | Comments (26)
Categories: Gardening

Comments

You're going to hire someone to build a custom fence rather than installing ready made? I had been wondering if that could be done affordably. Or is this where you're splurging?

Bluestone sounds like a great idea. Can't wait to see the 'after' photo.

I've been nervously follwing the mosquito thread in the Forum section. Is there nothing to be done? This Asian Tiger breed seems to be immune to all the usual measures -- anyone found something that works against them? Don't want to have all our garden prep be for naught, spending the summer indoors with my nose pressed against the glass!

Posted by: renogirl at April 11, 2006 10:57 AM

Wow, thank goodness no one in your family stepped on the edges of those tools. I hope you all are working in real work boots. Having said that, they are cool tools.

Still in the process of clearing out the anthropological dig that is my back yard. We haven't gotten to ground level near the back fence yet, and have found the remains of the original bathroom tiles, a walking lawnmower, the remains of a carpet, through which plants have grown, lots of 70's era junk, lots of cable and phone wire, and plastic bags of plaster and debris.

I give up, I think I'm going to try to find a couple of guys to finish it. It's just too much, and NOT enjoyable at all, and I'm a dedicated do it ourselfer.

Posted by: CrownHeightsProud at April 11, 2006 10:57 AM

you sure about a wood fence? if you're much of a gardener, i'd want something that let in some light.

would you consider going fenceless, or do you not have that kind of relationship with the neighbors?

Posted by: Anonymous at April 11, 2006 11:18 AM

CHP, funny, the backyard was the one thing on my reno that I *did* feel able to do myself, including turning the whole yard with a spade, working in 3+ tons of soil and compost, and hauling away piles of buried rubble. Nice thing about landscaping is you can screw up and you can always fix it.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 11, 2006 11:20 AM

oh I think you're absolutely right about the wood fence. We have one, and it's excellent-- the vines grow over it & make the backyard feel like a big green room without a ceiling.

And we get along really well with our neighbors, but I wouldn't want to have our backyards joined. we all have different tastes, different garden parties, etc.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 11, 2006 11:36 AM

We're thinking of doing one with wide planks and and inch or two of space between each slat to let through light...

Posted by: Brownstoner at April 11, 2006 11:37 AM

Brownstoner, I hope you will post some "after" shots of the yard later this spring/summer with the fence and the clean up complete. Very exciting stuff! I'm also in the process of having a cedar fence put in and trying to start a little patch of grass etc. Reminds me to take some "before" photos too.

Where are you hauling away the rubble? We have stacks of bricks sitting out there from a demolished building and they seem too heavy to put out with the regular garbage.

Posted by: bushwicker at April 11, 2006 11:56 AM

we paid quite a lot of money to have our cement patio dug up and layed with bluestone. after watching the workmen, we decide to do the back patio ourselves. a diamond blade cost us about $30, and we spent a weekend of our time cutting the stones and laying it out. we didn't have little ones running around though. on a scale of 1 to 10, i would rate it a 3 in terms of technical difficulty...but there was a lot of sweat!

Posted by: sba at April 11, 2006 12:00 PM

p.s. is the marble cube perhaps a sharpening stone?

Posted by: sba at April 11, 2006 12:00 PM

Vintage gardening tools?

Where I'm from we call them 'old and rusty'.

Posted by: Ryan at April 11, 2006 12:06 PM

for mosquitos we have been spraying a commercially available garlic mixture that keeps critters at bay. you have to re-spray after rains. it has worked pretty well for us.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 11, 2006 12:08 PM

A six foot fence doesn't cut off enough light to worry about it. The sun is will always be higher than the fence except near sunrise/set. I've had no problems with our fence and too much shade. My plants next to the part of the fence that is on the south lot line (this puts them on the north facing side) get plenty of light midday. The wood fence will provide a great backdrop for the plants. A tip- Many folks paint their fence a light color (maybe to match trim) but a dark color makes the fence recede and your plants pop forward visually. There are a lot of translucent stain colors that allow the wood show through and stain does provide protection. Cedar is rot resistant, not rot proof, as one fence guy we interviewed actually said. A little coating is helpful unless you are really digging letting it age to grey.

Posted by: kensington gal at April 11, 2006 12:11 PM

we went and picked up free compost from the parks dept this wknd. what a deal!!! and fun too. did anyone else get over there?

Posted by: Tone at April 11, 2006 12:12 PM

it's a flagpole base

Posted by: Anonymous at April 11, 2006 12:22 PM

Yes, I went and got the wonderful "black gold" compost. They had it so well organized this year. You can go again next weekend. Never enough!!

Posted by: Susan at April 11, 2006 1:44 PM

Yes, I went and got the wonderful "black gold" compost. They had it so well organized this year. You can go again next weekend. Never enough!!

Posted by: Susan at April 11, 2006 1:44 PM

My wife and I try to take good care of our backyard. Unfortunately, the neighbor (who is a renter) cares not for the backyard. Consequently, there is all kinds of garbage, debris, pieces of small household appliances, old clothing (you get the picture) littering his yard. My question is whether there is anything I can do about it, other than erect a 20 foot fence, so that we don't have to see it. Does anyone know whether the city would give him a ticket if I called them up, or is there an absolute right in the U.S. to have your backyard as filthy as you would like?

Posted by: Anon at April 11, 2006 2:09 PM

Does $10,000 seem like a lot to re-do a brownstone backyard?

Posted by: Anonymous at April 11, 2006 2:22 PM

Anon 222--it's hard to say if that's a little or a lot--what does that get you? We spent over double that, but had the whole yard cleared out and significant stonework done.

Posted by: tinarina at April 11, 2006 3:17 PM

Anon 222-tinarina is right. It depends on what you are doing, materials used and how much you do yourself. $10,000 doesn't seem like a lot if you're having a lot of hardscaping done and you're paying for labor. Plant material went up in price last year due to the rising cost of gas. It's all trucked in, no matter where you get it, so expect higher prices this year, too.

For anon at 2:09: Highest fence you can build is 6 ft. Short of seeing rats, I'm not sure what can be done about backyard filth. A filthy front yard can be turned in to sanitation, but I don't know about the back. Rats constitute a health hazard, so if you see those, call 311. If whatever the neighbor has back there creates areas that hold standing water, you can call 311 about mosquitos, too. They will come up and demand clean-up if it looks good for breeding skeeters. Or get the name of the landlord- he may have no idea what the tenant is up to and may not appreciate the back yard being trashed.

Posted by: kensington gal at April 11, 2006 3:38 PM

for anon 2:09, we found out the hard way that anyone can call you in and, it seems, you get a notice of your "violation" sight unseen. We got one for our back yard, without ever getting a visit from the issuing agency, Dpt of Mental Health and Hygiene (!). Our backyard was cited as a potential haven for rats because we had some weeds. the irony here is that we are beside one back yard that is covered in debris and weeds and throughout the block there are backyards in considerably worse shape. when the aforementoned agency came to inspect, I discovered that one of our kind new neighbours had called in a complaint and that they only follow up in response to complaints, i.e. the city does not cite someone on its own initiative. when I showed the inspector the backyard she seemed satisfied and when I indicated the "potential hazards" around us, she shrugged and said that someone has to file a complaint...long story short; yes you can call in a complaint to the city about your neighbour's backyard.

Posted by: Mrs.brownstoner at April 12, 2006 10:56 AM

Ah, lovely neighbors. WTF, couldn't they have knocked on your door if they had an issue. Would love to see their yard. Maybe they didn't like the "newbies". How lame.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 12, 2006 12:34 PM

what i'm confused about is why the city only responds to complaints...? if there is a problem, isn't it the duty of the city to follow through whether or not there was a complaint?

Posted by: Anonymous at April 12, 2006 2:58 PM

must be neighbors who want to stick it to you - after all the work you've done to upgrade the property, you'd think they'd give you some time to get to the backyard - you moved in in the fall, right?
sour grapes? anti-gentrifiers? wow.

Posted by: disbelief at April 12, 2006 3:00 PM

I spent about $10,000 on my backyard three years ago, though it might be smaller than yours since my house is 85 feet deep on a 100-foot lot. To give you an idea of what you should get for your money: it paid for completely hauling away the debris, vines and rocks littering the yard; tearing up a small cement area and replacing it with a larger, bluestone patio, including some waterproofing against the back of the house; a comprehensive landscape design, which we discussed over 2-3 meetings; purchase and installation of topsoil and mulch, at least a dozen bushes and plants, a small tree, and two large planters with bamboo plants; and some follow-up cleaning up and misc. stuff. I truly thought I got my money's worth (although it has also cost me more, as I also bought outdoor furniture, a grill, a hammock, etc.).

Posted by: Park Sloper at April 12, 2006 8:30 PM

We're in the midst of doing something quite similar in our backyard: the cedar fence, the bluestone or paving stones, some raised beds, etc. However we're debating if it’s best to have a contractor carry in and lay the stone or if we should do it ourselves. Any suggestions? And if the vote is for stone contractor, does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks.

Posted by: Rebecca at April 17, 2006 10:10 AM

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