Around the House and Playground – Page 5

Planter Box Porch Railing

Our back porch had a trek deck railing around it. This railing was not particularly sturdy. The posts were cracked and it was beginning to lean precariously. Once the end post snapped I finally took action and removed the railing completely. Then I had to decide how to replace it. I finally decided on making a planter box railing. I thought this would be much sturdier and much more attractive. Plus I liked the thought of having my herbs closer to the kitchen (which is right inside the door to deck).

What to make that planter box out of was a challenge. I originally settled on 1″x12′ boards. However, I couldn’t find them in any of our stores. Ordering them in was also quite expensive. Prohibitively so. Around this time my husband began taking the cross pieces of telephone lines apart.

Here are a few pics of the materials used for the box. They are from telephone poles. My husband stripped them down and they worked just great!

Here were these sturdy and FREE boards in need of a use. I immediately appropriated them for the planter box.

I had to start by leveling out the lawn area.

Our great pyrenees is a horrid fence jumper and we finally resorted to chaining him up to keep him in the yard. The area he was chained to was this lawn area and it quickly became a dirt and mud pit as he stripped it of vegetation. We finally electrified the fence and cured our GP of his fence jumping ways. We were all happy not to have to chain him any longer and now I could fix up the lawn area. I started with the leveling and then seeded it with grass. The seed took wonderfully and we had a lush grass lawn. Then came the realization that we were going to have to mow it and our only mower was the tractor. Grass was not going to work. So we tilled and planted clover. You can see that in my Yard Reboot post.

Back to this railing. I leveled the area, trenched a level area for the boards and pounded rebar into the already drilled holes.

I then started stacking these wooden boards, cutting and drilling where necessary. Unfortunately it turned out we did not have enough to go the full 5′ required for an appropriate height railing. So I made the board box level with the porch. I bought pig panels and 2×4’s to make a trellis/railing instead. Then it was filled up and planted with herbs.

Oh, can’t forget the kiwi vine plan. In the corner of the box I installed a wood post and planted the kiwi vine right next to it. I’ve strung wire from the pole to the house and I am looking forward to a kiwi vine shade barrier.

That barrier is obviously years in the making.

We aren’t completely done yet though. One side of the porch is being extended and made into an outdoor kitchen and I still have some work on the railing to do, such as painting and finishing off the top with a nice 1×2 board.

A complete yard reboot

We have never paid much attention to the state of our front and back yard. The front has been mostly unused and the back is where the dogs are kept when we aren’t home. Simple as that. At least it used to be. Now we have kids and our space has taken on new meaning. I have been excited to create a playground for our children. It has been going quite well and I’m happy with the results of my labor. Unfortunately the grass and weeds have been a large problem in accessing this playground equipment. We have a mower but it attaches to our tractor and is quite large. Keeping the grass and weeds short around the toys is difficult at best. So we took drastic action.

We rented a tiller, took a day off and tilled the front and back yard. As you can tell, our back yard is humongous. We did make it for the dogs and we figured we might as well go all the way to the barn with the fence. Most of this space is underutilized, except by said dogs. So we decided to cut a part of the back of this yard off and put the cider orchard there. So on top of tilling we also did a small swale in the back section.

I ordered a large variety of seeds. I picked subterranean clover for around the toys and where we walk the most. This clover grows thick and short, we should never have to mow it. Then I ordered multiple species of clover: persian, rose, arrowleaf and ladino are what I remember off the top of my head. This went in the less traveled areas and in the cider orchard. The third bucket is full of wild flowers and vetch. This I sprinkled all along the fence line and in the very back of the cider orchard area. We do have trees in the area already, planted before we moved here. Since they will be too large to put a fruit tree near I have no problem spreading lots of flowers and tall vetch around them. It should be a beautiful location when everything grows!

Of course I was racing to get this done. There was a storm coming and I wanted that rain on my newly seeded yard areas. I made it just in time.

And boy did it rain a ton!

A brief tire hill slide update

The tire hill slide is perfect. The grass I planted on it is filling in well and I am very happy with the results. Obviously the grass on this is a month old and I need to fill in lots of patches before it looks as lush as I want it to be.

However, I thought I would share a few pictures of it.

This is a view of the steps up to the top of the slide.

Front of the slide. I’m not including pics of the terraced area because it needs a bit of work still and I’m not happy with it. I’ve planted spreading plants there and I hope they take over as right now it is more dirt than grass on that side.

The hill slide looks like a jewel when surrounded by nothing but dirt. Of course, we did plant clover everywhere so soon this will all look lush and green! The clover planting will come in a later post.

I am away

My day job is so demanding right now that I just can’t post to the blog. I’ll be out for 2 weeks, from May 4-May 15. Will talk to you when I’m back!

Playground Projects

Last year I did several things in the yard for the kids. I put a tractor tire up for the kids to climb on.Which quickly became the preferred method of using the slide.

I made the sandbox referenced here.

I put up a post and bucket pully (that I now have to move).

And I planted quite a few tree roots to try to get some shade cover going in there. These are cottonwood roots that were sprouting. I dug a trench around them, used the tire for wind block and mulched with paper.

I also took down some unsafe railing on our deck. That is a saga for another time as it is still a work in progress.

This year I hope to fix and add much more to the children’s playground. The broken slide has already been taken care of as seen in this post. So now to add to the fun.

I am excited to add a Tetherball court. I am going to make the tetherball pole moveable so that it can also be used as part of a future badmitton/volleyball court. This project was inspired by some Pinterest browsing that led me to this blog.

A new swing set is being constructed this year, the poles and design will be planned for the addition of a clubhouse next year. Temporarily I have simply removed the broken section of the swing set. Son is not happy about this as it included the glider portion.

This is a picture of the swing set just after install. The poles on the right side are badly damaged from a run in with the tractor.

Spools are going to be used for all sorts of projects but the first is going to be spool cars with this Steering Wheel. I found a design for these cars here. The kids are painting their own cars and I’m excited to see how it all comes out.

I am hanging a Basketball Hoop on the post that the bucket pully is on. Our son has shown a marked interest in throwing things and I hope to refine his technique so he stops knocking things over inside.

I am unsure about establishing a music station outside. The kids have a variety of musical and sound making objects indoors that they do not show a lot of enthusiasm for.

I do think I’ll be using some spools to make a mud kitchen though, as seen here.

I am also excited about building a scale near the sandbox. I believe the kids will love that!

I am also trying to figure out how to hang these Baskets for various toy storage around the yard. We have dogs who love to eat any toys left out and kids who love to cry about it. This Organizer is absolutely brilliant for next to the sand pit. I will be able to hang the digging tools from the hooks at the bottom. I love it! I am excited to get them up and in use. We are currently using a large laundry basket for toy storage and I hate carting it around. Plus, to get to the toys at the bottom the kids dump the entire basket out and the mess is massive. So, smaller, off the ground storage is going to be key going forward.

We removed some broken, hanging gutters last year. I plan to try to incorporate them into the sand/water station somehow. I’m still working on that concept.

So stay tuned as our backyard gets turned into a kid centric playground!

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Playground slide transformation

Our little playground did not survive the winter well. The swing set is badly damaged and the slide supports broke completely off. My children LOVE sliding and I heard a lot of “Fix it Mommy!” from my oldest. I also had this giant pile of tires that was not going to be able to remain in the playground because of black widow problems. So I killed 2 birds with one stone and used the tires as the structural support for a new hill slide.

As my husband used the tractor to cover the tires in dirt I stripped the slide of any remaining screws and supports and hunted down some tools. Armed with a variety of shovels (my helpers always require their own shovels!) and a rake we went to work grading the hill and installing the slide.

Son was energetic in his digging but daughter was much too distracted with the chickens scratching around near the fence. I think I found the right angle for the slide.

Hmmmm. No. I think it is much too high.

Better! Though I’m sure the poor sea creatures didn’t like their trip down the slide.

Now off to hunt for rocks to be used as the steps. I loaded Daughter into the wagon and Son energetically hopped onto his tricycle.

Success. I was able to grab quite a few rocks of unknown origin, the one Daughter is sitting on was the largest I could carry.

I rocked the stairs up but I just don’t like it. That large piece of cement rip rap is not working for me. What to do….

That’s the ticket. Gravel on the top of the hill and the large cement rip rap has become a designated art piece. The kids loved painting it! While they were busy painting I was busy terracing the back side of the hill. I don’t want a rain storm to cause massive erosion. Now I have perfect planting terraces.

I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to plant here. Grass, of course. But I want plants that are going to repel bugs and rodents as well. So I believe I have settled on a few varieties of mint, lemongrass, feverfew, lavendar and safflower. We shall see how they grow!