Skwerl's new cabin

[i am ryan]

Thanks, guys. The roof made a huge difference and I've been itching to start the landscaping for weeks. Had two different neighbors stop by and compliment me on the house, made me feel like a million bucks. One of them even brought me some fresh mangoes off his tree!

You deserve their praise for sure.

I would burn down a small rainforest for some decent mangoes. My violin teacher when I lived in Florida begged us to take mangoes from their yard every week for years. Now that I live in TN, I get a decent mango maybe 3 times a year and it costs me $2-$3 each for a real mango, or $1 each for some shitty pre-pubescent ones.

 

[skwerl]

A little more headway today. I finished planting all the front yard plants, worked from 7am until 11am. No pics because it looks about the same as yesterday. I have about 45-50 plants left in the back and side yards to plant, then I need to mulch everything. I have about 10-12 yards of mulch in my trailer from a job last week (brush chipper mulch). I'll probably hire one of the ground guys/laborers I know to help spread it. $10-15 per hour is cheap compared to my sweat and aching hip.

 

[Shaggy]

I know you took a before pic. Would be sweet to see the before and after right next to each other.

 

[skwerl]

This is after paint but before removing the gutter or replacing the roof.

 

[skwerl]

This morning I purchased and installed some concrete pavers for the front walkway. I touched up some grading issues, removing excess dirt from the beds and using it to level out some holes and dips in the yard. Then I got froggy and ripped out the ugly holly trees out by the mailbox. I was always planning on doing it but had been waiting until I was ready to replace them with something else. They block the headlights from cars coming up the street at night, shining into the living room window. I have some ideas on what to do there.

 

[weather man]

Doing work!

 

[Shaggy]

Nice! Looks like your neighbors are starting early on the Christmas lights.

 

[skwerl]

This morning after a small job I got my new Jasmine tree planted. It was a gift from a nursery owner I have known for many years. They are no longer allowed to be imported because they 'can' carry a type of thrip which also attacks citrus. Therefore the citrus industry was able to get them placed on the 'outlawed' list. Mike has had this one for about 10 years and had a stupid high price on it.

I'm still lacking an oak tree to plant on the other side of the bed. Will hopefully find one next week.

 

[Shaggy]

Nice job! Looks damn good!

You ever think about putting a border around the plants beds, especially the one near the mail box? I border around that would bring it over the top.

 

[skwerl]

I'm not finished yet. I've never cared much for the hardscape borders but it will look better with mulch, sod and some accent plants.

 

[Strengthrehab]

That place has transformed. Co grats.

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[JEWC_Motorsports]

Brian, that looks great. Almost looks like it has a woman's touch.

 

[skwerl]

That place has transformed. Co grats.

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Thanks!

Brian, that looks great. Almost looks like it has a woman's touch.

Not quite. I've been doing landscaping and lawn maintenance since I was tall enough to reach the lawn mower handle, and over the years I've paid attention to what works and what doesn't work. A lot of this is stuff I've wanted to do for 15-20 years or more but never had a place to do it. I can't wait for the plants to mature enough to see the layers in the design.

 

[Shaggy]

I'm not finished yet. I've never cared much for the hardscape borders but it will look better with mulch, sod and some accent plants.

The only thing with that is you will definitely get some rouge grass creeping into your mulch. That's the real reason I like the border, keeps things separate.

 

[skwerl]

I appreciate your concern but it's not an issue. It only takes me about 4 minutes to weedeat the front yard including edging all the beds. The plastic bed edging is hideous and the concrete edging is only slightly less hideous. The only people who buy that crap are people who don't know how to maintain a lawn. If somebody were to put it in my yard I would have to rip it out.

 

[Shaggy]

I appreciate your concern but it's not an issue. It only takes me about 4 minutes to weedeat the front yard including edging all the beds. The plastic bed edging is hideous and the concrete edging is only slightly less hideous. The only people who buy that crap are people who don't know how to maintain a lawn. If somebody were to put it in my yard I would have to rip it out.

No problem. Looks great!

 

[skwerl]

Bought and planted three more oak trees today. They are probably too close together for most educated landscape designers but I don't want them all spaced out 50 feet apart. Trees grow close to each other just fine in nature and I want my yard to have a natural wooded look in 10 years. The big oak in the middle of the front yard may not live a lot longer so I want some replacement shade in place also. My house faces west so my roof and windows get cooked in the afternoon sun.

 

[skwerl]

This week I brought in some dirt and fixed some grading issues in preparation for sod. No, I can't resod the entire yard but I'll do the worst areas and let it fill in. I made a little headway on the mulch as well.

 

[Shaggy]

Every pic seems to get better and better. Nice Brian!

 

[skwerl]

Thanks, Shaggy. Today I picked up two pallets of sod and put it all down by myself. I almost forgot how tiring that is, especially with my hip. I'm picking up one more pallet of Seville (shade tolerant) on Thursday to do some other areas and will hopefully have enough to finish filling in my cuts in the front yard.

I think I may have lost my big oak I planted last month. It's been hot and I thought I was watering it enough but it turned brown on me yesterday. I hope I can save it.