New England B.S. Thread

All the effort to get the screws right and your center caps are wrong? C'mon dudeman!

 

You have done a wonderful job of varying your landscape. Many different colors(both blooming colors and shades of green), heights, textures, shapes, groupings of similar plants, carrying the spirea to different areas of the landscape to visually tie the different beds together, etc. Did you do the design yourself or hire it out?

 

I am guessing the picture was taken in late May in CT? Love the iris, cat mint?, phylox, wiegla and dogwood.

 

These landscape photos make me sad. I had a lot of really nice landscaping on my property I let go too far. I tore up a chunk of it for my shed, but the rest needs TLC. My yard is so good at growing weeds that it doesn't matter how often I weed it looks like I've never done anything.

 

How’s the upper control arms working out?

 

Boy I know that feeling!

 

Thanks Aaron, I appreciate your kind words. I did the design with the intent of low water need, low maintenance and deer resistant. Had the nursery plant the trees for warranty purposes. Glad I did, the boulder at the end of the driveway came out when digging for the dogwood. Also had somebody do the stone, no way was I shoveling seven tons. You're correct on the catmint. Used dwarf by the walkway for the lower height and conventional in the island. What looks like phlox is dianthus ( often called pinks). I envy your azaleas, a no go here due to deer...same with hostas. We're big weigela fans, hardy and low maintenance. Got wine and roses, midnight wine and some variegated. And the topiary flanking the door is a great excuse to have a cold beer and nip away at them.

 

That was some random Google. My house out back is perfect for a garden, but the dog runs the show back there. Up front is a solid 7 out of 10 for sun exposure.

Many thanks. If I have anything to respond to, it's up there but in a different color. Cheers!

This depends on the neighbor. The trees are (potentially) forming a shade/screen barrier. They're my trees, but I'm not going to be a dink about it. So, I'd look at something that can grow tall instead of short. But they weren't around last night, so I'll catch them when I see them. If they want the sun, those things will just be gone and that's that.

Sooooo this is the perfect reason to just have clover. It's drought resistant, doesn't need to be watered, self spreading, stays green, stays low, feeds bees. Grass may look better here and there, but the monoculture lawn is no bueno in my mind.

https://www.scotts.com/en-us/library/lawn-care-basics/benefits-planting-clover-lawn

Amen. I did the stone edging and beds, that was rough. BUT, the nice thing about stones is that we did that in summer 2020, annnnd it still looks good now. Mulch is an annual thing.

 

Sometimes you gotta do it. At my Oxford house we wanted a vegetable garden, but the only place that got full sun in the yard was the front lawn. I'd rather grow dinner than grass anyway, so it was a no-brainer in my mind.

Edit: Found a build picture but couldn't locate any filled/producing pictures.

 

How bad are replacing shackle hangers? Anyone got any tips other than have an air hammer and lots of grinding wheels? Doing this next weekend.

 

I did mine at @crashngiggles place last fall, and he's done a couple of sets. It's not too bad of a job, you probably won't need more than one grinding wheel. A ball joint press was handy for pushing some of the rivets IIRC.

 

Yep got a ball joint press.

 

Lotsa luck. The Tacoma upside down hangers are not the easiest to work on.

 

Looks like a subie event but all are welcome

Done a few sets now, not terrible. Have good drill bits, you can use my press if you want. Has a dowel to use instead of the bolt idea.
Drill a pilot hole a little deeper than flush with the frame in the center of the rivets. Helps you find them and works great for the air hammer.

Listen to anything @crashngiggles says about this.

 

Thanks sounds like itll be like a day job with leafs and everything. I have a ball joint press that'll work. Is the idea air hammer the rivets that go horizontally and press the ones going vertically?

 

Yes, correct.

 

What day? Maybe I can come play in the afternoon Saturday,,, if you wanted any help.

 

Ruff Stuff Specialties is where I get stuff like that

 

The air hammer you will use with the ones horizontally, and the ball joint press with the ones vertically. If you are not wanting to keep the stock hangers, it might be a good idea to cut most of the stock hanger off before you start just for more room, not necessary though. Make sure you have 3-4 cut off wheels just in case and a good flap disk. With the ball joint press, you want to get yourself a 3/8 inch grade 8 bolt that is about 2 inches long. this will help you press out the vertical rivets. Before the rivet is completely flattened down, you want to make a small drill mark hole in the center of the rivet before you grind it down completely. this will give you an area to start either drilling through it or a place for the air hammer point to catch. Even though you have the air hammer, get yourself a couple of really good drill bits if the air hammer doesn't get them to budge. I would get at least 2x 1/2" ones and 2x 3/8" ones. keep them in their packages and only take them out if you need to so if you don't use them, you can return them. Once the hanger is off, make sure you flap down the entire area, and then prime and paint behind there. And one last thing, it seems stupid, but after you are done, mark the nuts with a paint pen with a corresponding mark on the hanger or frame so you know the the nuts stay torqued after 500 miles.. It is not necessary to take out the leafs, but it does make it a lot easier.

 

Very nicely executed! I also like the space between plantings to give the existing plants room to grow and expand. I am guilty of wanting every cool plant I see and over crowding my gardens. Late this summer we moved into a new place that is new construction so no landscaping at all. The land is 5.4 acres, the last lot on a private right of way a quarter mile from the back road off a back road. Zero landscaping has been done and I have deliberately done nothing this fall so I can spend the winter designing how I want the place to look. The picture I posted below is from our duplex that we moved out of. When first purchased that property had no landscaping at all. The best feature that is hard to see in that picture is that the property sits on extensive ledge that I spent years exposing. The new property is completely sand. Literally not a rock bigger than a grain of sand on the property. I think of the duplex as my private nursery. I have accumulated a ton of plants there and many need thinning and to be transplanted. When the time comes I will be improving the landscaping at the duplex by removing plants and landscaping at the new home by adding plants. Win win. Our local nursery used to have a spring plant sale of the previous seasons left over plants and that was where I picked up some great deals AND was exposed to various plants that I would never have purchased on my own. That was how I discovered viburnums. Now I recommend them to everyone. And while pricey, Japanese maples are amazing, same with magnolia bushes/trees.

I used to have a ton of pinks(dianthus), love them. Pinks, shasta daisys and lupines were the first flowers I planted from seeds when I started gardening in 1989.