The contractor and his crew came to put in the French drain. The trench was dug by hand, landscape fabric and pipe put in, filled with crushed stone, and the ground from the foundation to the trench was regraded so run off would run to the trench and not the foundation.
Dry wells were also put in by the windows. We put down landscaping cloth and bark mulch to prevent the dirt from washing into and clogging the drain.
Flowers on the cucumbers
Flowers and tiny peppers
Flowers and cherry tomatoes
A very tiny bird came to visit.
I think it was a daughter of the female Grosbeak.
Rotrow! Some sort of wormy things on the squash. They look like rice.
To help with drainage, we spread some blue stone (I picked it out!) near the foundation.
Milkweed and milkweed flowers
Ominous skies before strong thunderstorms rolled through.
How does your garden grow?
Looks like you had a busy week with all that work being done. I don't like the wiggling rice! Have a fun Sunday, Valerie
ReplyDeleteI don't like the wiggling rice. Himself got rid of them.
DeleteMy foodie friend Sally had a similar drainage system put in at her home, as well as the dry wells around the windows. It didn't help much, especially compared to what she paid to have it done. She ended up having another company come in and work on the walls in her basement. I hope your contractor did a better job than Sally's. Her's assured her the system would take care of her problem, but it only took care of a small portion of it.
ReplyDeleteI think you need to spray soapy water on your squash leaves. The rest of your garden looks great.
There is an interior drain which runs to the sump pump. The interior drain works well except when the ground is frozen and we have heavy rain storms. Outside, the water has no place to go because the ground is still frozen. So the French drain and regrading should take care of that piece of the problem.
DeleteI just told Himself about spraying the plants with soapy water. Thanks!
Worms on the squash! Eeek! Hope the soapy water works!
ReplyDeleteI think Himself just flicked the underside of the leaf. Bye bye squiggly rice!
DeleteIt looks like an elaborate draining system, but I'm not quite sure what it's for. It looks like the roof gutters feed into it, but from Elizabeth's comment, it sounds like it's for the basement. I also notice you have solar panels on your roof. I've always wondered: what happens when it's time to replace the roof shingles? Doesn't the entire solar panel system need to be removed, then the shingles get done, then the whole solar panel system has to be re-installed? That seems very costly, but I don't see any other way it can be done. (Some houses around here in CT have solar panels.) Your gardens look great. I don't like the wormy bug things either. Ugh. I'm glad you were able to get rid of them, thanks to Himself. :-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think I need a squirrel baffle like you have. The squirrel wars continue here at my house, and they've won most of the battles. (I secured my bird feeder so they can't open the lid anymore, to get inside it and eat all of the bird seed, but they can still get on top of it, hang off the top, and eat the seed in the tray.)
The drain system is on the low side of the house. The house is actually at the bottom of a hill so when it rains buckets like hurricanes or Nor'easters in Winter the water will pool at the foundation. Since the water has no place to go, it will run down the foundation into the basement. The drain will hopefully catch the water before that happens, it is pitched and tied into the sump pump out flow which sends the water to the swale that runs on our side of the street. The roof gutters flow into downspouts on either side of the front of the house to keep the water from the low side.
DeleteThe roof is relatively new, well 10 years old now. It was guaranteed for 30 years. If anything happens to the roof because of solar panels, the solar company will take care of things. By the time the warranty is up on the roof, we'll either be out of the house and/or newer materials for both roof and solar will be available. Such as roofing shingles with solar panels built in. I'm sure by then this solar array will be obsolete.
The baffle doesn't always work for the squirrels. The little red squirrel figured out he can climb the trellis and jump onto the back of the feeder. His weight will close the hatch, but he also figured out he could stand on the end and not the perch to reach the seed. If the hatch did close, he also figured out if he ran to the back, the hatch released and he could start all over again. Where there's a will there's a way.
French drains are a genius idea, and I hope y'all's works for that run-off problem. Your tiny baby grossbeak is a treat to see :) I've given up on veggies here, but you look like you're set. I hope you figure out how to chase off your squash pests.
ReplyDeleteWe’ll have to wait for January to test the drain. The veggies seem to be doing ok. Himself got rid of the wiggly rice. No signs of their return
DeleteYou have been doing lots of house fix up lately. It is looking great. And my milkweed are getting ready to bloom also. Hopefully it will bring some monarch butterflies around. Hope you have a great new week CJ. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteThe time was right to get some of this stuff taken care of. I hope the butterflies 🦋 come around. Have only seen one. I wonder if the butterflies are disappearing like the bees 🐝?
Deletewow, looking nice and you've been busy - ..me... I hardly raked or did much of anything this last week - except get out for walks or hikes. Can't get in the mood to rake dirt around here.
ReplyDeleteI don't care much for gardening or yard work, but the mulch and stone had to be put down before the rains wash all the work done down the drain.
DeleteLots going on in your garden …
ReplyDeleteFancy having those wormy things on your squash, not seen that before.
All the best Jan
Himself got rid of them and they don’t seem to have come back
DeleteLooks like you've been busy CJ!
ReplyDeleteI hope the drainage works! It looks good!
Love the garden pictures, except the wormy things! LOL! Glad himself got rid of them! Big Hugs!
The big test for the drain will come in January when the ground is frozen and we get a heavy, heavy rainstorm.
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