Rock Wall Construction

It sure is a beaut. I hope they don't let it slip too far.

What a wonderful house.
It has just the right amount of Colonial Canadian sturdiness mixed with English country house.
Six years ago HUmmmmmm. Might be a reversal of fortune on the owners part.?

What a wonderful example of craftsmanship. Just lovely. I hope whomever has acquired it is waiting to retire and will give it the care and attention an old home needs. Thanks for getting the pics to share with us.

Beautiful house. Nice restoration project.

Just showed DH the pics and he was duly impressed! I could hear the wheels turning as he asked if it was in a historic district and if there were restrictions as to renovations, etc. Ever the project-finder.
I'm sure it breaks that woman's heart to see her family's home being neglected like that. At least the lawn is mowed.

Bill - your wall is looking fantastic......bet you're using that upside down bucket to sit on while you work? That's just what my DH uses when he weeds or works on stone walls, etc..

Doug - nice job on your retaining walls!

Patti - love that stone home....looks like it could be in the English countryside....amazing craftsmanship!

I'm back from the great north woods in one piece.

doug very nice dry wall - i have one in the front of my house very similiar - only all flat granite and slate that is here in my area. i'll grab a pic after i weed wak the area.

db - the bucket is never used fom sitting - upside down to keep rain out when off duty - use it for lugging the small stones.

Yes, but is your nephew in one piece? I'm glad you had a good trip! Not too soggy, I hope!

Bill, I just love, love, love your wall! Coming along great and love all the pics of the progress. Wish I had a source of free rock near me. Nothing free around here. Had some offers of free rock a couple of times, but both people never came through. One guy was gonna drop some off to me. Called a couple times, but never heard back from him. Then a woman I met at a local restaurant said there were hundreds of rocks on her property, and that I could come and take what I wanted. Tried to get call and left a couple messages, but never heard back from her, either.

Trouble is, I don't have a truck to haul stuff to my house, just a PT Cruiser, and that can only take so much. Also, I can't lift anything much over 40 or 50 lbs. I do what I can. My brother dropped off some nice big stones here a couple years ago. Some I was able to split apart. Some really big ones I had to roll into place in my gardens, as they were too heavy for me.

Keep up the great work, Bill! Would love to come and visit your place sometime. How many acres do you have? I live at my father's place, and he has 1.25 acres. I do most of the yard work here, with some help from my youngest sis, who lives here also with her teenage daughter. My late mother put in many gardens, and I have been expanding it and renovating them since she passed on in 2001. She was an avid daylily collector and hybridizer, though she never got a chance to register any. I have plans to register and introduce some of her hybrids soon.

Kareb

thanks for the compliment Kareb - yes it has been nice to have access to rock - although my window is closing.

carrie my nephew made it home safe and sound - had a tought time the first day - we went up the hardest trail - cathedral - to baxter peak - across iedge - and down helon taylor trail. it was quite an experience for him and he was proud he did after it was over.-by the end of the week he was right with me on a difficult 10 mile hike out over rough terrain and a lot of mud in under 5 hours.

And I think my half hour walk around the block on paved road is tough.
My hat's off to you both.

Wow, sounds like some fun hiking. I used to do a lot of that. Not in good shape at all anymore. I moved here from Arizona back in 2002, and haven't done any real hiking since. I really miss it. I had easy access to great hiking locations in the Phoenix area of AZ, but here the hiking is rather far from me, and between work and taking care of my elderly father, and yard work and a little socializing with friends, there is no time left for hiking trips. When I lived in AZ there was not my father to take care of and no gardening ( had ceramics to fill in the time), and there was a lot more time for hiking. I truly miss that.

Karen

Ho, ho, Karen, DD#1 is going to Prescott College in a week. She's supposed to have worked her way up to 10 miles a day by now - I laugh to myself. I TRY to be encouraging but she brushes me off. "Wear your hiking boots to the store!" "Yeah, Mom (get off my back)." She'll have a fun 3 week hiking trip in AZ!

Oh, she'll have fun, alright, Carrie! I just loved all the mountains and canyons in AZ. So different from here. It's a totally different world out there. One day I'd like to move back there. I'm sure I'll get my chance. Can't really grow hosta in Phoenix, though. Daylilies do well with plenty of irrigation. But then I can grow a lot of things there that would not grow here.

Karen

Karen:

I used to live in Yuma once upon a time. I loved the oranges, lemons and limes, but that was about all that would grow ... othe than the oleander.

Well, Yuma is even further south than Phoenix, and probably even hotter. You really can grow a lot in Phoenix, but you really have to amend the soil and water, water, water. Drip irrigation is the best way to go.

Did you ever get to visit Bisby or Tombstone? I loved both towns, but I was especially taken in by Bisby. Would love to live there. They do get cold and some snow in the winter. Higher elevation. Very steep roads there, like San Francisco.

I lived for 17 years in northern NV, 7 years in Reno and 10 years in Fallon, which is 60 miles east of Reno. I did gardening in both areas. I think they are zone 6, but I'm not sure. Reno had heavy clay soil, and really rocky in many spots. In fact, one homeowner there built his entire home from rocks on his property. It was really cool.

In Fallon the soil was all sand and very alkali. Really had to amend with manure and peat moss. Mostly I grew a lot of things that did well in good drainage and were drought tolerant. I would come home from work and spend 2 or 3 hours a day hand watering my gardens at least every other day. Finally I got wise and put in soaker hoses. I then could turn them on for about 3 hours every 3 days in each garden, and that took care of things for me.

Karen

Hey Karen my sister's name is Karen and she also lived in Fallon, NV- how funny! They still own their house but are renting it out.

Karen, I haven't even been to Prescott, AZ myself yet! But my husband's family are Fallons so he'd be right at home in Fallon, NV.

Nah. I usually traveled the other way ... San Diego, LA (at least Riverside), places that had SCCA racetracks. My then DH was a crew chief on the weekends for his captain's racecar, so our weekends were spent on the circuit. But we did get to the Grand Canyon!

Happy birthday, Harper!!

This message was edited Aug 16, 2008 8:23 AM

Flowerjen, how does your sister like Fallon? I liked it, though they had sandstorms now and then. Has she ever been to Sand Mountain, just east on Highway 50? That's really cool. It's a recreation area, and lots of people go out there with they dune buggies.

Karen

My bil was in the Navy and stationed in Fallon. They now live in Jacksonville, Fl but still own the house and want to retire back there. She loved it there and I'll find out if they've ever been to Sand Mt.

ok ladies back on rock wall construction.

i was able to get some progress done yesterday afternoon after spending saturday and sunday weeding, trimming, cutting the lawn, and planting the last batch of new purchases.

last one - made about 4 ft. of progress

another view

i tried to post these last two images and they did not take. added text and they stick - dg website problems i think

Go, Bill, go!

Looks like you'll be done by winter.
Great project bill.
DG was down overnight until 9:00ish this AM

Looking great, Bill!

Wow, Bill, great! Love to see how this is progressing. Do you have enough rock to finish all you want to do?

I think if I were doing one, I would be cheating and filling the middle in with cement. That would mostly be because I would want to save all the smaller rocks for other projects. But then I'm guessing that would run into some money. Would take a lot of bags of cement to fill that in.

Karen

hi karen - rocks are not a problem. the first pic in this thread is of the stock i collected all of last fall. smaller stone to fill up the spaces between the rocks is getting low. i am starting to breaking up candlepin bowling ball size rocks for that. although i have a couple good size piles in the backyard from building a new bed that i need to start using to get rid of it.

Hey Bill............If you do not have enough Chip and Dales to inhabit that great wall I can supply some very reproductive stock just for the asking. :)

hey doc how is it going - i am trying to build this so tight (it's why i need small stone) that chip can not fit in the wall.

btw - your suggestion i followed up on has been working quite well.

I bet you fifty to one that Chip will be first and in heat. Dale will be close behind maybe on the same trip. They will rule the world of rock walls given a chance. I enjoy them up to a point.

That wall needs some of the low growing slow growing Sediums. A hand spade full of soil and a cutting will usually take right off and last for years and years. Except for the hottest driest weather they don't even need to be rooted.

your right about the sedums. just stick'em in the ground and they root.

for this wall?? on the yard side are alternating rose bushes and cone flowers. on the other are DL's stella and a red rebloomer - with a taller red/yellow at the ends. where would you suggest the low growing sedums go? i assume on the yard side between the roses and cones?

By shopping about or talking to friends...(me) you can have low...very low creepers just poked in anywhere. I use a double layer of paper towel to make a starting pot poked in any hole. I would start on the sunny side top of the wall. They will fall down over the edge with natural growth. They are not agressive. Add soil and poke in your creepers. The paper will rot by the time the newly rooted plants will establish in the soil and hold it in place. You of course can have the cuttings started first. Keep them damp for the first two months and then forget them. No fertilizer....they literally live on a bit of soil and rain delivered nitrogen.

The one I have and would be glad to share is with red stems and vine with small red leaves.
Please understand I do not speak latin. Your lucky I even know it is a Sedum.

Hens and chicks may be the same plant group and would also add interest poked in here and there just for fun. I know someone real well that could and would share some of them too. :) Small gift for the fun I had watching you sweat that wall in.

i did not understand you meant in the wall. now you have my attention. i have three low growing varities. blue with pink flowers - fall blooming, red with red flowers - spring blooming not real showy - and a green varigated with yellow flowers - spring blooming atttached.

i will try this out - there are spots on the top of the wall where i am filling in with small quarts stones that would be perfect to go with soil and plan some of these. great idea thanks! i'm going to search for pics of the other two and psot here - if the red one is not the same as yours i'll take you up on your offer.

here is a shot of the red ones - there are two of them next to each other - only shot i had not that good

Bill, that is looking just great!! I like the idea of some sedum peeking out from between the rocks! Don't waste too much effort trying to keep the chippies out of your wall....they'll rearrange it to suit them. LOL

IF THAT PIX..........is your Red Sedum mine is different. Will post a pix later today or tomorrow. Need to wait for the afternoon sun to shoot.

This planting is about ten years old. It was one rooted cutting when planted at the back edge of the stone terrace wall. I am speculating that it is a Sedum because I got more and similar in a DG co-op buy. Those were rooted cuttings. They have expanded about an inch or so this growing season. It appears that they will perform just as this planting has. The wall is about thirty inches tall in the picture. The wall has been in place for about thirty five years.

I do not mind being informed or corrected if this just happens to not be a Sedum.