The Birth of a Workshop

There are some garden projects that fall into the "weekend warrior" category where you can complete them in a day or two, and then sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors. I have plenty of those mostly because I divide up my big mongo projects into smaller increments so I can enjoy a sense of satisfaction along the way. I subscribe to the old adage, "What's the best way to eat an elephant? A bite at a time."

Because of this, many of you have been following the progress of the back garden for well over a year. For a quick refresher of what has transpired, you can click on the following links and take the quick journey:

Before and After: The Drainage Project
If I Had a Hammer... (actually I have two!)
Houston, The Shed Has Landed!
You know you've been working hard when...

After all the sledgehammer wielding and rock throwing, I ended up with a number of raised planters made from recycled chunks of concrete as well as some retaining walls made from the same materials. It was time to get down to business and prep the site for my "Dream Workshop".

The first order of business was to call the landscape guys and have 6 cubic yards of pea gravel delivered to our driveway. And the second order of business was to shovel that pea gravel into the wheelbarrow and haul it one wheelbarrow at a time to the back garden. Here's what almost 6 cubic yards of pea gravel looks like (I'd already started taking loads back when I realized I ought to take a picture)...


After the first day of hauling gravel, the site started to take shape. I learned the best load for me to haul in the wheelbarrow consisted of 20 shovels full of gravel.


After speaking with the installer that would be constructing the workshop, it was decided that I should leave the last section of concrete pad for stability and put pea gravel on top of it. That was fine by me! It meant I didn't have wield my sledgehammer anymore.


By the end of the second day of hauling gravel, the site was really begin to fill in...


After a few more days (5 calendar days in total), the site was completely filled in with all the gravel. It looked exactly how I had pictured it in my head...


There was also enough gravel for me to complete the rest of the drainage area that I put in last year...
With the gravel all in, it all looked seamless--exactly how I'd envisioned...


We only had to wait a couple of days more for the installer to come and put in the workshop. Interestingly, as he was putting it up and getting the shingles on it started to rain for the first time in weeks. He continued to work through the sprinkles and by sundown the workshop was up.


Although I still needed to paint it, I was more than happy to take a couple of days off while it rained.

Once the rain let up, I had to get a floor covering down so we could move all the tools out of the garage in preparation for the foundation work that would commence--in two days. I had one Saturday to get the floor in and the stuff moved before the crew was coming. We chose nice peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles that look like ceramic tile. I got 100 sq. ft. down in a few hours.


As angry looking clouds gathered overhead, we hastily moved all the tools from the garage. Miraculously, the dark clouds never dropped any rain on us. It was a huge blessing, and I was able to get all the tools organized in their new home by the time it grew dark and chilly outside.


All that work made Sunday's day of rest, even more sweet and special than it usually is. Both of us had nice long naps after church.

Monday came, and it was time to paint. So while the foundation crew was jackhammering and digging around the house to re-level the foundation on the 1961 addition, I had to climb up on the roof of the new workshop and paint the cupola first (easier said than done). Hubby spotted me on the ladder and handed me things, while I maneuvered around on the steep pitch of the roof on my belly while avoiding the two skylights and the ridge vent. The roof pitch sure didn't seem that steep from the ground. It was tricky, but I did it! Whew! Never again will I do that!


Then I tackled the rest of the painting which was far easier. Over the past few days of this week, I've managed to get the front and one side painted with two coats on the trim and the body. With the front done, I thought it was about time I photographed it and debuted it here for all to see!


With an adorable little double-hung operating window, I can open it for ventilation. And the window box is all ready for me to plant some annuals for color. I wonder what I'll plant first... maybe some pansies or some violas.

Houston, The Shed Has Landed!!!!

Well, it's time for a garden update.

In a previous post I wrote about my sledgehammering activities and how I was building a well-draining foundation for a new shed kit that we were going to put in on at the back of the garden.

I also wrote in a more recent post about my installation of the pea gravel into drainage trenches as well as the foundation pictured at left.

After all of that hammering and hauling it finally came time to construct the shed kit that we had purchased last year to go in this spot. The kit had been sitting under tarps during the rainy season, so there were some interesting critters when we uncovered it prior to construction. Some of the corrugated cardboard from the shipping container had deteroriated enough that an large earthworm family had decided to take up residence. They were relocated to one of the veggie planters. And a small Pacific tree frog had also decided the cardboard container was a good home. The frog was gently escorted to a nice sheltered spot next to the pond under some gazanias.

The shed kit was not easy to construct due to a set of instructions that mostly devoid of words and only used graphic illustrations and photographs for guidance. And quality assurance isn't all that great in anything nowadays so some of the parts needed some "coaxing" to fit together. But after two successive evenings of Hubby patiently tolerating my inability to "play well with others" when it comes to doing a joing project, the shed was finally up!

Drumrolll please...

TAH-DAH!!!!!

Hubby went out the following evening and screwed in all the final screws that hold everything down. I still have yet to go out and position my shelves and hangers on the walls. I'm just happy it is done! It's petite 6x8 foot dimensions are so much more appropriate for the space than the 20x20 foot monstrosity that was there before and, thanks to wood rot and termites, was basically a safety hazard. Don't have to worry about termites with this new little number! It's all plastic. And it has a skylight along the "ridgepole" of the roof and two little windows on the sides to let in natural light so it isn't a dungeon. It even has venting on the front and back. Tucked under the big oleander it shouldn't be too sauna-like in the heat of the summer (at least I hope).

So here are some more views of the new shed that now sits nestled at the back of the garden in back of the pond, the plum tree, the pomegranate, and the Eureka lemon tree. The photos below were taken yesterday (yes, in our neck of the woods this is what it looks like in April).

If I Had a Hammer... (actually I have two!)

Over 15 years ago, my brother acquired a double-bit axe. He loved it so much that he named it the way a knight names his sword. He even wrote the name on the handle of the axe (in Sharpie pen). The name, you ask? "Testosterone". Yes, "Testosterone". With the name on the handle, my brother could say that his double-bit axe had testosterone written all over it. I always thought it was funny, but really didn't "get it". I figured it was a "guy thing".

Well, after swinging a sledgehammer at concrete for the past few days, I now "get it" (light finally dawns on marble head!). I don't know if I can actually express it in written form, but I "get it".

There is something visceral about the repetitive activity of breaking up concrete with a trustworthy tool like my sledgehammer. I depend on it to be strong and sure. I depend on it to help me crack the concrete in the least number of swings possible. The hammer becomes an extension of my arms and my strength. Without it I would be unable to crack a thing. But with it, I feel like She-rah Woman Warrior, able to do anything! Well, not quite "anything", but it feels like I could after I've conquered a big slab of concrete. [Insert grunting gorilla sounds here akin to Tim the Tool Man Taylor from Home Improvement.]

Now in the title of this post I mentioned that I have two hammers. My other trustworthy tool is this snazzy pick hammer I splurged on at Ace hardware just for this job. I am constantly amazed as how powerful it is just because of its design and the strength of my swinging arm.

When Hubby emerged from his home office after being buried in meetings yesterday afternoon, he came out to see my progress. He happened upon me when I was "taking a break" (that's code for sitting down) and swinging my pick hammer at the edges of the slab to entertain myself. I told him I felt like one of the seven dwarves with this nifty little hammer. Hubby laughed and said I was the eighth dwarf. I had the song "Heigh Ho" going through my head for the rest of the time I worked out there yesterday.

"So what the heck are you doing?" I can hear you asking.
Well, I mentioned in yesterday's post that a 20' x 20' open-sided lanai/shed/???? was here in the back garden when we bought the house. We know it was built in 1961 because someone etched the year in the concrete before it set up. The half walls on three sides of the structure were thick slabs of concrete with massive non-indigenous rocks and abalone shells set in them. The owners before us had boarded it all up with plywood which we removed shortly after moving in replacing the front siding with white plastic lattice so air could flow through and a wild rose to grow up it while leaving the sides open and the back intact. Even with that air flow it still got about 125°F (52°C) inside there during the height of summer. The pad of the structure was not well planned and over the years had heaved and cracked with huge cracks splintering the pad. Some cracks were split open up to 3-4 inches! Then add to that our drainage problems in that area of the garden, and we had a nasty mess.

After we determined that the structure was unsalvageable (it took us about 6 years to come to that conclusion), we decided that we should take it down and put a smaller pre-fab shed in its place and then use the rest of the precious real estate it was taking up for raised planting beds. My pick hammer helped me to extract the rocks from the half walls fairly successfully as I broke up those last summer. Late last summer we removed the corrugated tin roof, recycled it, and then dismantled the lumber that was badly suffering from dry rot and termite damage making the whole thing very unsafe.

The only problem was how to resolve the drainage issue. The time right before I go to sleep is the time when I churn over such problems searching my brain for a solution. It eventually came to me one night that the new shed should be built on a raised bed too! All I had to do was take the concrete from the pad and build a raised bed just like the smaller planter beds I've built around the garden and then fill the whole thing with pea gravel. That way the water will just drain right through and head down the "french drain" trench that I am also completing simultaneously with the recycled concrete chunks and chips from the demolition of the pad.

Just today I completed the construction of the base of what will be the raised bed for the shed. I'm pleased as punch with how it looks! It was like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle with very heavy pieces except there wasn't any "right" way to do. I could just improvise as I went.
I know that the lizards and lots of other critters will love hiding in all the nooks and crannies of this base after we have everything done. I can't wait for them to move in!


A bonus that happened during the process of doing all of this was that I figured out where to finally plant the dogwood tree I inherited and how to do it. Using some of the recycled concrete I built a planter around it after sinking it into the ground over a foot. I was even able to leave the little grape hyacinths growing at the base undisturbed.

Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

I think the dogwood will be very happy in its new home because dogwoods like moisture and this one is snugged up against the trench that will be the major "french drain" that carries water from the rest of the garden to the storm drain in the back corner. And there's more hidey-holes in the dogwood planter for lizards, frogs and other small critters!

I am so glad I'm getting all of this done now when it's cooler outside because there is NO WAY I could do this in the summer!