This hard-working crew brought it into the yard. The guy with his back to us was the lead and he had three helpers. It came in on a plastic sled in order to clear the edge of the eave.
Showing posts with label garden engineering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden engineering. Show all posts
2020-02-21
Spa!
Earlier this year we took delivery of a pre-owned spa. I built a pad of crushed rock (roadbed) for it to sit on at one end of the garden. I spent a lot of time using a compactor (both a rented "hopper" from the local big box and a hand-driven plate compactor.
This hard-working crew brought it into the yard. The guy with his back to us was the lead and he had three helpers. It came in on a plastic sled in order to clear the edge of the eave.
This hard-working crew brought it into the yard. The guy with his back to us was the lead and he had three helpers. It came in on a plastic sled in order to clear the edge of the eave.
2020-02-08
Garden engineering: Trellis and gate
I label garden projects and thoughts about garden projects as "garden design".
Sometimes, it's enough to take a picture to visualize how experienced gardeners implement projects.
Of note is the wire (appears to be a medium gauge of galvanized), staple securing the wire and their method of keeping the uprights from bending inward. The garden timbers appear to be larger and longer than the commonly available 8' lengths in the US.
Sometimes, it's enough to take a picture to visualize how experienced gardeners implement projects.
 |
| These are Tayberry bushes (growth habit looks like a blackberry) in England. |
Of note is the wire (appears to be a medium gauge of galvanized), staple securing the wire and their method of keeping the uprights from bending inward. The garden timbers appear to be larger and longer than the commonly available 8' lengths in the US.
2020-01-10
Pillared rose using a timber post
In England we saw a number of ways of trellising roses that aren't commonly seen in S. California. There's this drift of rambling rose over a felled tree that I though was particularly picturesque:
This requires the sort of space that we are typically short on in S. California, but there was another technique we saw that I subsequently learned was called pillaring: A climbing rose is planted near (12" from) the base of a wooden post and twined about it making more efficient use of space and allowing incorporation vertical garden elements.
The following two pictures after the jump make the concept clear.
 |
| Rambling rose on a felled tree, England, 2019 |
The following two pictures after the jump make the concept clear.
2020-01-02
Timber Posts
It's true - they do exist at specialty providers like C&E Lumber. I wrote about an impending visit earlier.
More photos below the jump.
2019-12-06
Timber post supplier
I've had a hard time finding poles or landscape timbers longer than 8'. I can easily get dimensional lumber that is more than 8' in length, but for certain garden construction projects it really improves the project aesthetics to have a more rustic or natural look.
For example, in England we observed that climbing roses were often trained up a solitary pole, a practice I subsequently learned was called pillaring. Yes, it's a verb. The poles resembled branches or trunks of small trees, which added to the naturalistic effect. The major big box stores (HD, Lowes) have landscape timbers (flats on two opposite sides, curved on the adjacent sides) and poles in 8' lengths. Armstrong had stakes (~2-1/2" diameter pressure treated round lumber) in 8' and 10' length. These were all deemed too short (about 1/3 of the above-ground height should be in-ground for stability) and too thin (a substantial look is desire, so maybe a minimum of 4" diameter was wanted). Ganahl had a similar 8' (max) selection, but referred me to my new favorite garden supplier C & E Lumber (CElumber.com). They _specialize_ in posts. Who ever heard of that??! I can't wait to visit.
For example, in England we observed that climbing roses were often trained up a solitary pole, a practice I subsequently learned was called pillaring. Yes, it's a verb. The poles resembled branches or trunks of small trees, which added to the naturalistic effect. The major big box stores (HD, Lowes) have landscape timbers (flats on two opposite sides, curved on the adjacent sides) and poles in 8' lengths. Armstrong had stakes (~2-1/2" diameter pressure treated round lumber) in 8' and 10' length. These were all deemed too short (about 1/3 of the above-ground height should be in-ground for stability) and too thin (a substantial look is desire, so maybe a minimum of 4" diameter was wanted). Ganahl had a similar 8' (max) selection, but referred me to my new favorite garden supplier C & E Lumber (CElumber.com). They _specialize_ in posts. Who ever heard of that??! I can't wait to visit.
2016-11-02
Spa equipment enclosure
Southern California Edison was doing work overhead and knocked down the side of the spa equipment enclosure.
It was just termites holding hands inside, and I didn't have the heart to take them up on their offer to pay for repairs. Original design was poor, but like a lot of things on my house I guess it got the job done for the prior owner.
2016-01-13
Surge tanks vs. rain barrels IV
I'm sure I left you dangling in a previous installment with the question of how rainfall intensity affects the usability of surge tanks. I talked about rainfall intensity without actually answering the question, but we can now get to the answer that I am sure you've been waiting for.
A recent discussion on radio station KPCC asked rain barrel owners what they would do with ALL THAT WATER. The answer was that their tanks were overflowing, they were too heavy to move, and no one knew what to do with the water. They were talking as if they were going to hoard it for a hot summer day! It was a gigantic Duh moment, but they were too blinded by ALL THAT WATER - all 55 gallons of it - to take a leap to the most logical place which is to reject rain barrels and embrace surge tanks.
Meanwhile, a friend who is an actual meteorologist stopped an earlier post in this blog by to say that most 30 minute southern California rain bands could be accommodated by a surge tank. That's really the bottom line, isn't it? If you can't flow rain water directly from your gutters to some place where it will infiltrate, then it might pay to have a surge tank type of set up. Let's see if she's right with a little garden engineering.
It's also nice to make some estimates, since the possibility is that surge tanks needn't be gigantic 55 gallon drums and therefore might be more seemly in the garden.
This post is again mostly stream-of-consciousness garden engineering, which I am pretty sure has a limited appeal. It may also be wrong. Therefore you may find this analysis simple or simple-minded.
A recent discussion on radio station KPCC asked rain barrel owners what they would do with ALL THAT WATER. The answer was that their tanks were overflowing, they were too heavy to move, and no one knew what to do with the water. They were talking as if they were going to hoard it for a hot summer day! It was a gigantic Duh moment, but they were too blinded by ALL THAT WATER - all 55 gallons of it - to take a leap to the most logical place which is to reject rain barrels and embrace surge tanks.
Meanwhile, a friend who is an actual meteorologist stopped an earlier post in this blog by to say that most 30 minute southern California rain bands could be accommodated by a surge tank. That's really the bottom line, isn't it? If you can't flow rain water directly from your gutters to some place where it will infiltrate, then it might pay to have a surge tank type of set up. Let's see if she's right with a little garden engineering.
It's also nice to make some estimates, since the possibility is that surge tanks needn't be gigantic 55 gallon drums and therefore might be more seemly in the garden.
This post is again mostly stream-of-consciousness garden engineering, which I am pretty sure has a limited appeal. It may also be wrong. Therefore you may find this analysis simple or simple-minded.
2015-12-10
Surge tanks vs. rain barrels III - storm intensity
In order to answer questions that I have about how large a surge tank is needed to accommodate a certain number of local storms, we need to know about rainfall intensity. Intensity tells us how much rain we get in a unit of time.
Intensity has a simple answer when considering the duration of a storm as your time interval. If a storm lasts T hours and it drops 1" of rain, then 1"/ T is the average rate of rainfall. However, real storms of consequence don't behave like that. Typically they start out slowly, have a peak rate of rainfall, and then taper off. From what I've been able to tell, there are two main ways to estimate storm intensity: Using a model hyetograph or using Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) graphs.
Intensity has a simple answer when considering the duration of a storm as your time interval. If a storm lasts T hours and it drops 1" of rain, then 1"/ T is the average rate of rainfall. However, real storms of consequence don't behave like that. Typically they start out slowly, have a peak rate of rainfall, and then taper off. From what I've been able to tell, there are two main ways to estimate storm intensity: Using a model hyetograph or using Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) graphs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)