Chastain Park-Raised Planter

Started today on a planter for a vegetable garden at this home. The planter will measure 16' x 10' when completed and is built with 6" x 6" pressure treated timbers. I will attempt to walk you thru the photos from top to bottom-

The first step with any hardscape structure is to mark out the area to properly place it and mark it before starting any excavation or construction. Here I used some of the nails and mason's twine.

A string level is a must when doing a "box" type structure..you need to make sure all 4 walls are at the same level starting with the first course. A string level is also helpful in determining excavation depths as you run the bottom course.

Always begin the structure at the lowest point and work your way uphill, keeping everything level as you go.

The last photo is how it looked when I left today..I wanted to finish be bottom course and have it ready for #89 gravel (for drainage) being delivered tomorrow...easier to get the gravel inside the timbers when you only have the first course down than waiting until you have 22" high walls all the way around. Gravel will be added to the bottom approx. 5"-6" deep, then the planter will be filled with a mixture of 66% screened topsoil and 33% mushroom compost. The gap I left on the lower end will become steps to access the garden.

Little 5 Points-"Waterfall" Japanese Maple

We may have filled the last vacant spot in this back yard today. Homeowner did his research, visited some nurseries, and decided on the variety of tree he wanted there. His choice was a good one..Acer Palmatum "Waterfall". I found a very nice 10 gallon tree at Greg's Wholesale Nursery in Tucker and went out to install it this morning.

Big Canoe-Quarterly Maintenance

Went up to Big Canoe in Pickens Co. on Saturday. I have a quarterly maintenance account there and this was a bit of an extra visit..I didn't quite get finished with some pine strawing last visit, and they are hosting a 4th of July party next weekend..and wanted everything pruned, sprayed, etc. I had company for about and hour and finally got the camera and took a photo (bottom) - one of a group of browsing deer. They didn't seem to care I was around, but they weren't coming very close either;-)

Chastain Park-Phase 1 Completed

Got this completed last Friday. 1st phase included a dry creek bed from the side to the creek area in back..and new plantings for both outside entrances on the circular drive. The top photo shows a dense shade planting of Sarcococca and Heuchera. I like the way the "Key Lime Pie" and "Black Currant" Heucheras play off each other..should look nice as they fill in. Both beds also have plantings of Autumn Fern, Itea "Henry's Garnet", "Patriot" Hosta, and annual Begonias.

The dry creek bed used 5 tons of medium and large creek flat stone to complete and is approz 90' x 5'.

Chastain Park-Front Entrance Plantings

This property has a circular drive-on the outside of each entrance the only landscaping they had were two lonely Crape Myrtles. They wanted to spruce up these areas which are both in pretty dense shade most of the day. The Crape Myrtles remain..they have gotten so tall in the shade that they do get enough sunlight to survive. Added were Sarcacocca, Itea, "Key Lime Pie" Heuchera and "Black Currant" Heuchera, Autumn Ferns, "Patriot" Hosta and Green leaf Begonias in annual beds. The dimensions of each area are not at all similar, but I did try to have them somewhat mirror each other in the design with plant placement and repetition.

Chastain Park- Dry Creek Install

Got started here yesterday afternoon excavating for a dry creek. Water coming down from the side yard had created it's own eroded path-rather than fight it, we decided to enhance it by widening the drainage swale and installing medium and large creek flats on top of some jute mat that should keep everything intact. About 1/2-2/3 of the way done after today. Will finish the creek bed then move on to some plantings at the driveway entrances.

Tucker- Windfield Circle

This was a drainage project dealing with surface water coming off the neighboring lot. Permission was given by the neighbor to pipe her downspouts into the system as they were causing much of the problem. Those downspouts and one on the property were all piped across the front of the house to empty onto the driveway and eventually into a county storm drain. A timber wall was built to protect the A/C unit, then fill dirt was added along the side of the house and graded to divert a large volume of water coming from the back yard of the neighboring lot. Finished this project today and moved on to Chastain Park to start a dry creek bed and entrance planting.

Catching up the Blog-

As I mentioned in the previous post-I haven't updated the blog since my vacation (got back to work on the 14th)..here are some "catch up" photos of what has been going on..the bottom 4 photos are the finishing days at Peachtree Bluffs in Duluth where I was working on two houses next door to each other-finished these the day before I left. Since I've gotten back I've been working on some drainage projects in Lilburn (to 2 photos) and Tucker-Northlake area which had a pretty elaborate french drain/downspout piping system installed @ the front foundation.

Vacation in Charleston

Haven't updated the blog in a while-one reason is that I took a 5 day vacation to the Charleston area...then I have been having to really bust it since returning to stay caught up.

Had a great time, ate some good food and actually got a little rest. I couldn't resist peeking down a few hidden alleys while walking around downtown Charleston- I love the plant palate and landscaping and how well they mesh old & new. I also discovered my all time favorite downspout;-)