Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Fall/Winter Projects , 1 by rcn48

rcn48 wrote:
Whew, it's been over a month since I've been posting much but I've been busy! I was waiting to post an update until I had photos and in the meantime I've finished not one but TWO "unfinished" projects! It's been exactly two years since I started "My Weekend Project" http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/782277/ !!! We ran into a problem with the bottom half of the steps on the slope and other projects moved to the top of the priority list because finishing the steps was going to be a MAJOR hassle :( With all the beautiful weather in October the steps finally made it back to the top of the "list" and I started digging to remove the soil necessary to get the steps level - almost a foot deep and 3' wide :( Then the tree stump that I thought the steps would clear proved to be an obstacle and I finally had to sweet talk Rick into helping me with "my" project! The digging took a day, sawing the stump, getting the stringers attached and more digging took another day, and the third day the treads were finally nailed down and they're done :)))) Over the course of the next week I dug like crazy trying to terrace the slope and transplanted two conifers from containers and two more from another area to plant on the sides of the steps. The two at the top of the steps weren't exactly "easy" - they were planted as stock plants in our arboretum 8 years ago and it took me about an hour to dig up each one and now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the stress won't kill them over the winter. Then I went looking for something else to anchor the corner and decided to dig up a Hinoki Cypress that was planted 12 years ago. It was planted by the front corner of the house and the past few years had begun to suffer because of too much shade so I decided it would be the perfect anchor and hopefully will appreciate me giving it a much more appropriate site :) Unfortunately it took almost 3 hours to dig and safely get it out of the ground without doing too much damage to the roots but I was on a mission and by the end of the day it was planted in its new home!