Friday, September 30, 2022

My garden is a mess...

After waiting two weeks for word on a date to replace 100+ feet of water pipe, we received a call late Tuesday afternoon advising us that, due to a delay on another project, the plumber's team could begin work the following morning.  Luckily, I'd already cleaned out my compost bin and my husband had cleared out and bagged all the gravel in the affected areas.  Unfortunately, I'd held off on pulling up the plants above the existing pipe, planning to take care of that closer to the project's start date.  I thought I'd have more than a few hours prior notice.

This is a photo of the area in question taken for one of my "Coronavirus tourism" posts in 2020.  Some of the plants have changed over the past 2 years but this is probably the clearest photo I have of the planted area affected by the plumbing work.  In addition to a host of small succulents and bromeliads, the area included a large amount of flagstone, rock, a chiminea, and 2 large pots.

My husband and I worked until well after sunset to get the rest of the work done and we were back at it again early the next morning.  He lifted things he had no business lifting this soon after his surgery.  I pulled up all the rock and flagstones I could but I needed his help with some of the heaviest items. 

Miscellaneous stuff stored behind the garage had to be moved into the driveway

I potted the plants worth saving and took cuttings of various succulents.  I moved the bulbils I potted up after receiving an agave bloom stalk from a friend too.

This is the area after it was cleared

We also dug out some of the plants surrounding the pipe connection to the house to clear access.  We tried to be careful of the roots belonging to a well-established Camellia and a star jasmine vine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) but only time will tell if we were successful.

 

The plumber arrived with two crews right on schedule on Wednesday and promptly got to work.  Trenches were dug, the first pipes were laid, and piles and piles of dirt were everywhere.

Trench extending from the city's water line at the street with the first section of the new pipe

Another trench running the length of my cutting garden adjacent to the raised planters

  
The trench dug to contain the new pipe connected to the house

This was a tricky bit as the plumbers had to tunnel under the concrete brick walkway into the bed on the other side to avoid taking out a section of the walkway

I was actually pleased to see some good-sized rocks among the dirt that accumulated as they dug their trenches.  I can always use more rock in my succulent beds.  Our entire neighborhood was a rock quarry in the 1940s so it's not surprising we still find chunks of it when we dig deep enough.

The good news is that the plumbers were able to complete the job within two days instead of the three originally projected.  Maybe that means my husband and I did more to clear the decks for the plumbers to work than they'd anticipated...

One of the biggest surprises was that a member of the plumbing crew was really into plants, especially orchids and succulents.  He asked my husband for a tour of my lath (shade) house soon after he arrived.  I gave him one of the variegated octopus agave bulbils (Agave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass') on his first work day and he brought me several plants the next day.  Of course, I needed to reciprocate so I came up with two bromeliad divisions, two agave pups, and a noID Gasteraloe to send him off with.

Here's my haul from the friendly plumber.  The orchid is an Epidendrum.  The Tillandsias are similar to some I have (and don't have names for).  The 2 plants in the pot on the upper left appear to be Orbea variegata.  Based on its label, the plant on the lower left is Lobivia schreiteri (which I understand is now classified as an Echinopsis).  I can only guess about the identities of the other 2 in the clay pots, maybe a Mamillaria and an Echinopsis.

 

Before the plumbers left, they were kind enough to replace most of the flagstone we'd taken up before they arrived.  Somehow ten of the middling and smaller pieces of flagstone didn't make it into their layout but it still gives me a good start in putting things back in order.  I've already replaced two additional flagstones but, even as the current heatwaves wanes, it was too hot and sticky to do much more after they left.  I'll get started with the remaining cleanup this weekend.

The bagged gravel needs to be spread over the dirt paths surrounding the raised planters in my cutting garden

The remaining flagstones and all the rock formerly within and around the succulent-bromeliad bed needs to be replaced

And then I need to replant the area.  Before returning the plants I saved, I'll probably add cactus mix and pumice to the soil.  As I tossed out some of the smaller and less vigorous plants during our preparation phase, I expect I may need to shop for a few new plants too.


Weekend temperatures are supposed to be noticeably cooler.  I hope so.  I have a lot of work to do.


Best wishes for the weekend, however you're spending your time.


All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

 


18 comments:

  1. You must be glad to see this plumbing project in the rear view mirror. Also good to hear that you husband is recovered, even if not fully yet, but enough to assist with much needed manly brawn.
    The fun part is being able to replant everything anew with slightly modified variety. A lovely haul from the friendly plant loving plumber. I only recognized the Stapelia, which unfortunately got renamed... I wish they'd stop renaming plants... I find it hard to memorize plants' names as it is :-D
    chavli

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    1. Apparently, Stapelia and Orbea (and Huernia, aka life saver plant) are often confused. All belong to the same plant family, Apocynaceae, but they all have their own genera - or at least they did, unless that's changed. Stapelia grandiflora and Orbea variegata unfortunately share the same common name of carrion plant. For the record, though, I can't keep up with plant classification changes either. Can you believe that rosemary is now classified as Salvia?!

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  2. There are fun garden projects and then there's this one you just faced -- ouch! I hope you've got a bath tub and a glass of wine handy over the weekend. If I'm reading right, the 'Stained Glass' agave pups are traveling far and wide! So great that the plumber was a plant friend.

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    1. Yes, your agave plantlets are on the move! The plant-friendly plumber didn't seem to be very familiar with agaves - he was mostly into orchids and cactus - but this was a good opportunity for him to branch out.

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  3. Wow that was a tough project to get done fast. What was good though, was that the plumbers got done fast, too. Outta there now you can recover and put the areas back together. And some cooler weather for put-back, too.

    You may need to shop for a few new plants??? Oh, no! The horror! 😜

    Funny I hired a guy to adjust our front doors, and he was a gardener as well--avid banana grower. We had a nice chat.

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    1. Plant people tend to be good people so, the more there are, the better! Putting the succulent-bromeliad bed and the cutting garden back together is going to be a long slog, I think. As usual, there's more collateral damage and cleanup required that I anticipated at my first viewing.

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  4. I was so afraid you were going to say, after all that hard work, that they weren't able to come after all! So happy I was wrong and that they were fast workers. And reading the comments, I realized I need to bookmark Hoover Boo's blog, too. How could I not remember to look for and do that? Oh well, too much to do and read anyway.

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    1. I've no idea why Blogger pulled the plug on email notifications, Barbara, but I suspect it has to do with somebody's cost-benefit analysis. Blogs, at least garden blogs, seem to have lost their popularity but of course the elimination of such notices is probably hurrying the process along. I still don't like Instagram as much as I do blogs; however, as the population's attention spans shorten, it seems to be taking over.

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  5. Yikes! Sorry you have to do all that. Please keep us posted on the progress, and the final results. Take care!

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    1. All I can report now is that, since Tuesday evening and continuing to the present, I ache all over, Beth ;)

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  6. What a pain but at least it's fixed and sounds like the plumbers went above and beyond their job description. Wonderful how you can run into plant lovers on just about every occasion. I hope putting it all back together goes smoothly.

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    1. As usual with projects like this, there's a lot of collateral damage we didn't notice on our first pass but it's done, which is the important thing. We're slowly putting things back together, although I got more done today than I'd anticipated.

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  7. Definitely softens the edges that one of your plumbers was interested in plants. They surely worked that bit more carefully than - oops sorry was that a plant we should have avoided?

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    1. True, Diana, although there was collateral damage. This morning was the first time our irrigation system was scheduled to run on the schedule set by our water provider and we discovered that the plumbing crew somehow broke or damaged the irrigation connection that controls 2/3rds of the system. My husband tried to fix it but couldn't despite 2+ hours of work trying so we'll have a call into the plumber's office tomorrow morning...

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  8. Oh that looks a most disruptive and major plumbing job Kris but how lovely to come across a kindred spirit 😀 It must have softened some of the pain. I hope that you and your husband are recovering after the exertion.

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    1. Well, we haven't finished all the cleanup or reconstruction yet, Anna, but I was feeling good about our progress last night. Unfortunately, our discovery that 2/3rds of the irrigation system is now not working proved to be a problem this morning. Apparently the crew broke something when putting the new pipe connection in place. They may not have realized it at the time but it's disappointing :( As the saying goes, it's always something...

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  9. Oh Kris! Wonderful to have the project behind you but damn. Such short notice. It does look like the plumbers worked with care to the surrounding areas, and of course having a plant-lover in the mix was probably a huge benefit (beyond the gift plants!). I hope you're recovering from the disruption and your husband and your plants don't have any long term injuries.

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    1. It's beginning to feel as though the water problem is a never-ending story (or nightmare), Loree. Recovery is going to take awhile.

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