Spring 2015 - Life Returns to the Backyard.

I'm going to act all nonchalant like no one noticed that I haven't blogged since, what? February? And I'm going to pretend that everyone is deeply distressed about the space being quiet for so long. But its all pretend.

I'm posting today because the backyard is looking incredibly green and Alive after a very long, very cold winter.

In case you haven't been following along, here is what our yard looked like a couple years back, when we moved in (Taken from the real estate listing - April 2012):

And then a year later, in full construction glory, it looked like this (May 2013):

And after much effort to build retaining walls, put in a new deck, liner and plumbing for the pool, things started taking shape and it looked like this (Oct 2013):

And then last summer things finally started to feel 'right' (June 2014):

So as our gardens emerge this spring, I am happy to see the gaps beginning to fill in, and to have a good sense of what things are going to shape up to be. Its starting to feel like what the back yard was intended to look like. Sure we still have holes where the hardy hydrangeas haven't emerged yet (they are so pokey!) and we need to get more under-story going in a few spots - and I just relocated a lungwort, that's still pouting about it. But overall, the shape is emerging...

I present the spring expectancy for the gardens, 2015 edition.

<Begin Drum Roll Now>

In keeping with tradition, I have not tidied the yard before taking pictures. I mean, why stop when the mess of toys has come to be expected.

First off the Great Weeping Hadrian Wall of Dreams. Its still standing, not showing any hint of movement.  And it looks good too! The orange rope keeps dogs and kids on the lawn and out of the plants.

The railing still (STILL!) isn't in place. This is because I'm suffering through design anxiety. I know the look I want, I just don't know how to get there. And now that the shed is done, I feel like I have to tie the designs together, and they really, really don't jive. Drama. I need to just do it.

See the Jam Jar lights on those poles? They still work after 2 years, so I think I got the wiring all waterproof! Also, 3 X 100 watt bulbs right at the pool does a better job than 1 X 1200 watt bulb mounted to the house 30 feet away.

The day-lilies and iris are putting out massive greenery, and buds are just forming. I think we'll have a flood of colour shortly, but I am getting some root rot in the Iris. I should thin them and look at soil drainage.

Behind the pool, the espalier has jumped up to the top of the frame. Soon we'll reach the top of the fence, and then I'm not sure what we do with it...

The only thing actually in bloom right now are our Iris Siberica "Shaker's Prayer" (Siberian Iris) - I used it in the top pic, and it is a very good plant. Slow spreader, beautiful blooms, impossible to kill. They put out 5 blooms per stalk, and have pretty good staying power for an early plant. The other Iris are coming on soon though, and the peonies are full of buds. I'll have to update with another garden tour in a week or so. We also have a few tulips hanging on but their days are numbered.

Early in the spring I was excited when some chickadees checked out the birdhouses, but I guess they didn't like them so much. We have no tenants. Its too bad, the boys had a good time making the houses with me. All of our neighbours have commented on a decline in the number of birds at feeders this winter though, so I guess maybe its not just our houses that are the problem. I know the siting of the houses is less than perfect, but I was still hoping.

In the shady corners of the yard, the espalier is a lot shorter - no surprise there. I expect it will catch up eventually. Patience. There were a lot of blooms on the trees this spring, which is a good sign. Now we'll have to see how many were pollinated, and if the fruit sets, and finally, how much damage the squirrels and raccoons do before the fall.

Fingers crossed that they leave us a couple apples.

So all this brings us to the Seuss Tree.

I know its supposed to be a Blue Spruce, and I know they can be a little... quirky? But this? Its got a reverse curve in its trunk. I'm not sure what to make of it. If it grows to maturity it will block the path between the gate and the yard. I think its got to go. I think we're going to end up replacing it with a laundry tree. Maybe I'll write up that project next. Or sometime. I mean, its going on 4 months since my last post, so I wouldn't get too excited waiting for the next one.

Hiding Wires in Fenceposts

I wish I had a more creative name for this, but well, its a quick and cheesy post about a quick and cheesy topic, so WYSIWYG.

Waaaaay back last spring I put in a series of fence posts to one day support a fence of some sort which would protect children from wandering into the pool area. Then we did a complete backyard reno, planted our espalier, built retaining walls, and redid the pool. Through all that, the cheesy fenceposts stood forlornly.

They're still pretty forlorn.

Last year we got as far as attaching some snow fence to 4X4 posts, running conduit and wiring to them, and testing the connections with some cheap plastic bulbholders. Then we left them sit for a year with the result being the pic above.

U-G-L-Y, you aint got no alibi. You're ugly...

So I determined that this spring I would at least get those posts in order. Then I got around to it late in the summer. 

First step was to hook up the electrical properly. I got some reducers and ran the conduit up the poles. two spots were getting low-level duplex recepticals, so they were easy...

On three posts though, I wanted overhead lights for the pool. I shopped endlessly for unobtrusive lights, rated for outdoors that would cast a good light, be weatherproof, and not so big that people would be hitting their heads off them. Nothing 'designer' had the look I wanted in the size I needed. Then I saw the weatherproof utility lights at Lowes, and they were about right. I snagged 3 of them.

The first step in installing the lights was to through-drill the posts. I made a pilot hole, then used a forstner bit to go through the post. With the hole in place, I ran conduit and wiring up the posts and out the other side.

Once everything was lined up and glued in, I attached the electrical boxes for the lights, and turned my attention to woodworking. My idea was to transform my cheap pressure treated 4X4 posts into lovely cedar timbers with all the wiring and conduit hidden inside them.

I started by using a hole saw to cut an opening in the end of the boards that was about the same size as the electrical boxes, then I used the router to cut flats to match the boxes' shape. A spare electrical box was handy to use as a template.

Flipping the board over, you can see dadoes I cut to hide the seams between boards. Once I installed the boards, they would lock together on the dadoes. Although I was tempted to glue everything up, I decided not to in case I ever need to get at the wiring inside. I had to use a chisel to cut flats where the tangs for the electrical boxes stuck out.

Heading outside, I put the boards up over the box for the light and screwed it to the 4X4. The two side pieces werre installed without any woodworking at all, just trimmed to length where needed. A standard 2" X 6" deckboard, 8 ft long was all I used to cover the posts, and they extended far enough to hide the conduit and electric as well. For the last board, I cut dadoes to match the front board, and routed out a recess for the junction box at the top of the post to hide in.  

The final product is a nice looking cedar post with all the electric stuff hidden, and the lights up and over the pool. Now I can get rid of the halogen floodlight mounted to the back of the house and think about some sort of fence to go between the posts. I also need to build some post-caps, but I already have a plan to work from there. Stay tuned, I might get to it next summer...

Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere!

Its getting late in the summer, but I thought I would quicklypost a photo dump of whats blooming in the back yard. Leaves are starting to look bug-chewed, and some things are growin gbetter then others, but what looks good looks really good. Here we go...

Front: Stella D'Oro Dayliliy
Back: Explorer Rose - Samuel Champlain

Lower: Rudebeckia (Black-Eyed Susan)
Back - Daylily - (Black Cherry?)
Upper: Echinacea (Purple Cone Flower)

Hosta Sum & Substance (One Year old)
All our Hostas have yellowed this summer. I am confused.
(Back: Tomatoes as filler plant)

Tomatoes with bumper crop

Daylily - No idea what variety this one is, but I love it.
We've brought it with us through 5 moves. Flowers as big as your hand!

Apple Espaliers reaching upwards. Many are above the third cross on the bamboo.

Another washed-out hosta. I need to research what is going on with these. I also need to weed this garden.

Massive Rhubarb! It just keeps growing!

More plants are budding and in the next week or two we should see our late bloomers all jump into action. Mulch went on sale this week too, so I think I know what my chores for the next couple weeks will include... making tomato sandwiches and watching the kids weed and mulch the garden!!

The Trash Cabana

A while ago, I started to build a shed for our garbage cans to call home. I know this isn't a high profile project, but somehow it has eaten up gobs of time, and I have managed to procrastinate on it as much as I have pushed forward. In this post, I'll try to knock off design and build in one article, but if it gets long, I may decide to take a break.

The project started with the realization that I could never get into the front of the garage without tripping over two bikes, a garbage can, a blue bin, whatever crap had been removed from the cars most recently, and that the possibility of being knocked out by falling garden tools was a very real possibility as I skirted all the other hazards. I decided that this small project could eliminate the garden tools and garbage cans as obstacles, and open the path to remove further obstacles in the future.

The shed design is pretty simple. My plan is for something tiny - 30" X 85" and fit into the constrained space of a few patio pavers pushed up against the chimney in our back yard. Today that space is home to an outboard motor and a handful of empty planting pots, a couple anchors, and general detritus which should be stored elsewhere. Here is the site, pre-shed.

To begin, I built a base. A lot of folks would have foregone this step, but for me, having a floor attached to the bottom of walls adds structure and firmness that I am uncomfortable not having. The floor was simple. a handful of 2" X 4" pressure treated boards were formed into a rectangle, then every 16" or so I attached cross pieces to add strength to the floor. To the top of this I screwed a piece of OSB subfloor, and trimmed it to match. Making the floor took less than an evening, and allowed me time to tune in to Montreal Canadiens beating the Bruins. I saved the scrap pieces of OSB. I don't know what for.

To trim the OSB floor to size, I drew a cutline, then clamped a 2"x3" to the OSB to act as a guide for the saw. I propped up the saw on some lumber to prevent the blade from hitting the driveway. This allowed me to get good accuracy and a straight cut.

I checked to be sure the base fit the site, it looked just about perfect!

Next I built the frame for the back wall of the shed. I used 2" X 3" boards for the framing since it will be a small auxiliary structure. I also used regular SPF stud grade lumber rather than pressure treated wood. I don't see a need for the extra chemical treatment where the wood will be inside the shed, not exposed to the elements. I covered the back wall of the shed with T-111 siding - an OSB pressboard product designed to look like siding, but not to really offer much in the way of style or protection from the elements.

Since I want to store shovels, rakes, and hoes in here, I made the roof of the shed tall enough that long handled tools should be able to be stored in it or on the shed walls. Looking at plans online, I found that a lot of garbage sheds have a 30° roof line on them, so I used that as my angle for the roof. Only after I had framed up the whole shed did I realize what an 8 ft high shed, 30" deep looks like with a 30° roof angle. In case you are wondering, the best word I have is "imposing."  Realizing my mistake, the neighbours let me know just how ugly the shed looked from their side of the fence. I appreciated their design taste, and agreed with them, so let the shed sit a few days while I mulled over ways to fix the problem.

Although it is an expensive material, I managed to keep costs down by using cedar as an exterior finish. I had about 5 bundles of cedar tongue and groove wainscot that we bought for a house long since sold, and have never found a home for. Here I installed it horizontally (wrong direction) as an exterior finish (it is meant as an interior material). I am hoping that I can seal it up with stain and that it will last. If it doesn't last, I can replace it easily, so I'm not too worried about the material. My biggest concern is whether racoons will chew through it to get at the garbage cans.

Eventually I came up with a solution to the height issue. Using my Skil saw, I cut down the front of the shed by nearly a foot, and recalculated the angle of the roof to close to 60°. This looks much better and will allow me to use a single 4' X 8' sheet as a roof deck. Some quick hammering, and I had a top plate on the front of the shed. On the sides, I will tie in the framing to the rafters for now, but likely add in strapping later on to make sure the framing stays strong and doesn't move.

For the roof, I cut birdsmouths to make rafters. The cuts went surprisingly well using my compound mitre saw to cut boards to length and angle the ends, then cut the birdsmouths in my band saw. Although this could be done using a jigsaw, the short rafters, and availability of the tool made the bandsaw a great candidate for the job, and I was surprised with how well it went.

Cutting rafters is a challenging but rewarding job, and I feel good knowing how to stick frame a shed roof.

Using a scrap piece of lumber, I cut the ends of a test rafter to 30° on the mitre saw to match the roof angle.

With the tops and tails cut, I could make the birdsmouths. A birdsmouth cut allows the rafter to sit flat on the top of the wall framing (the sill) and makes the roof far more stable. The challenge is laying out the first rafter to sit properly. In order to do this, I set the rafter on the shed, and using a square, mark the vertical extension of the inside of the ridge board. Similarly, I mark the extension of the outside of the wall sill. Since this is a shed roof, the back wall framing will act as the ridge. I set the cut to go about an inch and a half deep, then mark a line perpendicular to it. These two small triangles will form the birdsmouth cuts.

At the Ridge

At the rafter tail

Rafter ready to go!

With the test rafter cut, I could go to the test and see how the fit is. In a perfect world, all the geometry would line up, but rough framing is usually not perfect, so the rafter may need tweaking. Once it looks good, I test it in a half dozen spots along the roof in case the walls are out of plumb or aren't parallel. I tweak the test rafter until I am satisfied it is the best fit I can get, then set it aside to use as a template. Ill trace its cuts on to the good 2X4's and use the test rafter as a fill-in someplace in the middle since it is so marked up and beat up.

With all the rafters in place, things are starting to take shape!

Now that I know what angle my roof and eaves will be, I forged ahead with wrapping up siding the shed, and trimming out the soffits and fascia. I thought that rough hewn western red cedar would make a nice contrast to the eastern white cedar I had used as siding. The next few pics show the siding completion, rough cedar trim, and the roofing going on.

Siding up to the roof!

Working alone, its easier to attach the end rafter by having a clamp hold it in place while I screw. I used clamps a lot to hold things square or temporarily position stuff while I got tools and fasteners ready. This rafter would later be hidden behind rough cedar fascia and soffits. The trimmed 2X4 at the front of the shed was a temporary board to hold the rafters in place while I attached the roof deck. It was later replaced with  Rough Hewn Western red cedar

Trimmed out, and shingles going on!!

By now the Canadiens are playing the New York Rangers, which means this project is taking waaaay tooooo lonnnnng. The roof is now complete, and its time to trim the front door. I am hoping to get eth door jambs and trim up tonight, so I can start building the doors. Door building can go late into the night since it is all done inside the garage, with just final fitment outside.

Hopefully my next update will have the doors going up!

For Cabana Completion, visit here!