New Garden Projects #6

It is time for a new thread - coming from here - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1042167/

Here is the rolling stone (i wish) on its journey. you can see it off in the distance - i have to move about 80 yards.

Don't see it.

And it needs to get to here - about 80 yards away (the path the stone needs to take) - i have decided to use it as a table to display a couple or few bonsai.

it is to the right of the birdhouse and arbor in front of the uprooted tree

here is where i got it to with 30 minutes of hard labor yesterday

it will be a pain getting through this area that i use for a growing area - no real straight path and some holes in the ground from transplanting a few white birch trees back to the tree line behind forsythia - kerria - and a few remaining burning bushes.

See it. How are you moving it?

with a 6' pry bar - and trying to keep it on a 2x6 board so it slides easier - not the preferred method because the bar will scratch the stone, although only the underside/edge - tried to get it onto a 2 wheeler yesterday - posted about it somewhere - the rock was just too heavy for only one person and not sure i could roll it once on

pretty easy to get the bar under the rock as it has a slight crown to it - moving it 2" at a time is where the exercise comes in and it is exercise - i'll do 30 - 45 minutes a day and will be dripping when done.

after finishing clearing out as best i could the creep of the wet lands in the back - we have begun getting flocks of bluebirds in the yard - when we first moved in they were here (and the back was cleared out then too). Hope we get some visitors to the birdhouses this spring!

That's great, Bill. Bluebirds of happiness for all your work. Never could get them to nest here but they visit. Is the table going to be inside the rock wall area or in front?

hi kathy - they did nest here for a few years - very private bird need to go to the bino's when they have chicks or they abandon the nest.

i think it will be outside the wall - kind of in front of the maple tree to the right and abutting the wall - need to dig out some hefty bigger rocks for this to sit on and that will also stay put when i slide it on which will be dicey - i think i have enough that i have been digging out of the muck in the wet land area - i struggled with one yesterday for about 20 minutes - that rock won that round, actually round 2 - as i came out covered in black muck - i plan to get it today - i hope

Don't envy your move! It will look good when it gets there.

All your hard work will pay off in the end, Bill! Good for you!

Karen

O bother I can't see a rock that looks like a table. Must be lost in the rocks with the rocks.

edit: Ooooooh I see it know. It's a flat rock.

This message was edited Nov 4, 2009 2:11 PM

LOL! Cousin Nut, is that like not being able to see the tree for the forest?

Karen

hi dnut where have you been hiding.

got the rock out of the wetlands and realized why it was so tough - its a big one - once out i was able to roll it in the wheel barrel and if filled it completely - to big to use for a base on the flat one i think - will save it for a bed i enlarge next spring

got a good chunk of raking leaves done down the to end driveway

also moved the flat rock about 20 yards just past the wall in the picture posted earlier - only took 30 minutes or so - hope to get it up close past the hammock tomorrow weather permitting.

Under a rock. I have the flu so halluciflying and sleeping mostly.

We raked today, too. Garden is mostly put to bed now. The viburnums are bare when I went to look today.

Take care with that flu, Cousin Nut. Plenty of sleep and water. I just got over it myself and have bronchitis now, but not too bad with that. Missed a week and a half of work. Going back tomorrow.

Karen

You too, NuttyD?! Wow this thing is everywhere. Feel better!

Bill I will send Randy up with his boulder moving wagon!!!

thx allison - no need - i've moved a few bigger although not as far and uphill all the way

that wagon brought us many laughs... we had a boulder we had to move.. 3 x 4 feet.. the two of us got it on the poor thing.. and I kept slipping in the grass and falling trying to help him move the thing up the steep slope in the yard

Nice area where the stone was.
Good luck

joann here is a picture of where it came from that i posted on the previous thread - really not so nice back there - it is very wet and had been filled with clumps of burning bush and inferior brush trees, some poison ivy (i got a little between my fingers). It's main plant is wild blueberries, hundreds of them in fact that the birds get. Most of the year it is under water or very wet. i did leave behind some oak/hickory/maple trees about my head tall as well as one tulip tree.

Right now is is kind of an eye sore because all the leaves are down and you can see the huge root systems from three large white oaks that fell last winter from the ice storm. If the weather cooperates, which means everything ices over with limited snow i will get out there with my chain saw and cut up these trees for firewood. After i finish raking i will hack away at the upturned root systems and get rid of them.

I am trying to screen this area - i've planted several evergreens that i keep trimmed, with 5/6 forsythia that will now have a chance to grow and flower since i moved them to little hills i've built up back there after 10 years, three of four white birch, and a few kerria bushes.

getting the stone to where i want it is a done deal - will just need to reconfigure the wall it will abut and make sure i fill in underneath it so it is not another housing complex for chipmunks. might even put some wire mess to make it more difficult.

good luck

Are you planning to elevate it for the bonsai?? Propping it up on other stones?

yes i am - and that will be the challenge - there is a slope there so if i bring it above i can slide it down over the rocks to its final spot - that will require some pretty sturdy base rocks that stay put and match the contour of underside of the flat one - not real high though do not want to block anything in the bed behind just 2-3' plus the height of the rock.

Dont you love the problem solving for a project like this?

Good luck with the rolling stone.

:) yes joann i do - the thinking part is easy, the problems lie in the doing

i need to change that to the sliding stone

weather held out and i got 4 hours of raking in, now the front driveway area is all done, still have the beds in the back and top front to do and i'll just mow up the rest and let them decompose.

and the sliding stone is within spitting distance of it destination - will save the rest of that task till the leaves are up and veggy garden tilled

God, Bill---you make me tired just reading about what you're doing! But it all looks great, & I envy you those bluebirds---they do nest next door to us, but never stay in our yard.

Make it a spitting stone!

It think its a blarney stone.

Sounds like you're getting a lot accomplished, Bill, and have some great plans going there. I can just see it all in my head as you describe it. Makes me wish I were out in my yard doing things.

Karen

Me too Cousin Nut :(

thx ladies - i do not want to bore anyone with my rock fettish

you have a fetish???? really???

;)

Bill - you should find your best 27 rocks and decorate each one with the winning Yankee WS info.

maybe fetish was the wrong choice of words - obsession would be more accurate