What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Yes, this is what we are thinking. I really like my raised beds, because they are easier on the back, look nice, etc. We are in contact with an excavation type company and they can haul in rock, stone, dirt, etc but haven't gotten to the point of any estimates or determination of exactly where, etc. The previous owners were not the type to go anywhere past the "path of least resistance", so hence, clay filled raised beds, among other things. On the positive side of that - they did not try to renovate the house..it would not have been a good thing. Everything they did or had done was done poorly. For example, the dishwasher died recently, so a new one was being installed and the installer removed the fire hazard (his words) that was the electrical connection for the old (but only about 3 years old) dishwasher. And paint - they painted 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom I think...but the bedroom was painted in a really odd color - was it red?brown?grey? And exactly how do you get a color that is murky red/brown/grey unless you mixed up odd paints...anyway, I am thankful that they didn't really do much to the house. We've painted that odd room to very tween like purple colors (3 colors from very deep purple to very pale purple), as it is my tween's bedroom.

I'll trade your ugly paint for peeling wallpaper and mis-matched wainscoting. LOL! I had to paint the garage door before I bought the place so the VA Appraiser would sign off on it. But that's OK. I still got a good deal on this place. I posted a picture of my garden and you can see you step up into the garden area. There's a tiny stream that flows on the property line next to the garden. This is just a small part of the work the town did. But last year we got a lot of rain and a lot of people had bad harvests because of it. Mine did really well because it is designed to let the rain flow away. I put the mulch down so I don't have to mow.

 

[Acre4Me]

I'll trade your ugly paint for peeling wallpaper and mis-matched wainscoting. LOL! I had to paint the garage door before I bought the place so the VA Appraiser would sign off on it. But that's OK. I still got a good deal on this place. I posted a picture of my garden and you can see you step up into the garden area. There's a tiny stream that flows on the property line next to the garden. This is just a small part of the work the town did. But last year we got a lot of rain and a lot of people had bad harvests because of it. Mine did really well because it is designed to let the rain flow away. I put the mulch down so I don't have to mow.
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NICE! Wall paper - the old stuff can be pretty hard to remove, and we did some wallpaper removal in another house. Was the stone wall there when you bought the house? It looks really nice!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

NICE! Wall paper - the old stuff can be pretty hard to remove, and we did some wallpaper removal in another house. Was the stone wall there when you bought the house? It looks really nice!

Actually, the wallpaper is coming off easier than I thought. They skim coated before they put it up. But there's so much to do here. I'm trying to get everything done before I just can't do it anymore. Yes, the wall was here when I moved in. It is nice, however directly behind my house the wall needs to be re-done as it is leaning over. But I still got a good deal on this property. There are two sheds (one is my chicken coop), two fireplaces and a pellet stove, and the best thing is the transfer switch. That's worth the wallpaper removal. Oh, and for the first time in my life, I have a garage. - Don't give up your raised beds, they are so much easier to maintain and little to no weeds. I love it!

 

[pennyJo1960]

We had Yellow and bright red when we moved here actually I came in prior as I wanted it gone before we got here .. The folks that bought this from the postmaster's family who built it 1930 added 3 rooms on rebuild 1960. Second folks did nothing but awful paint.. even less outside trees overgrown by 30 feet rhodies 25 feet high took those off fast they even had a nightshade growing

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Hi @Acre4Me. I love my raised beds as well. I live at the bottom of a hill and drainage was an issue before I bought this place. The town installed drain fields and little "aqueducts" so the water coming down the slope would not flood the homes. I would raise the elevation of your raised beds and fill the walkways with the least expensive option, perhaps some crush and run to raise them up as well. Your aging back will appreciate the raised beds as the years go by. Perhaps building a small dam to keep the water from pooling in your garden area. Good luck!

Wee Farmer, what is crush and run? Is that like old brick building rubble? I used that in France for under driveways.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

SNIP
The previous owners were not the type to go anywhere past the "path of least resistance", so hence, clay filled raised beds, among other things. On the positive side of that - they did not try to renovate the house..it would not have been a good thing. Everything they did or had done was done poorly.
SNIP

LOL, we were a-sitting when suddenly a pop came from the hood over the stove. It had arc flashed all by itself. PO did bad wiring. We were able to fix that. But his work was better than the new guy the widow married after the PO passed away. He built a deck out back...set it right on bare fir 2x6s just waiting to rot. One pull with the dually pickup and 2/3 of that deck came right off. Critters like scorpions just love places you can't get to, so do rattlesnakes.

Cleaning up after the PO is part and parcel of buying a used home. But new homes have no soul, imho.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Here we can buy crushed glacier rock really cheap have found the far field the chicken run in lots of garbage buried there...
Lots of truth to the no soul in a new house like this had a good life when it was built
that is what led us here

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Here we can buy crushed glacier rock really cheap have found the far field the chicken run in lots of garbage buried there

That's crush and run?

 

[pennyJo1960]

Do not know there Washington State lots of tailings dig down we are Lewis County but Pierce County is tons of glacial awful ground

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Pardon my southern accent, but crush and run as spoken in the Tar Heel state is actually "crusher run" stone. It is used in applications where good drainage is needed such as drainage fields and driveways. Sorry for any confusion. Although I am a New Englander now and loving it, I'm still a southern country girl at heart.