This blog is word verification free... is yours?
The photos and content on this blog are ©Crafty Gardener. Please do not use without permission.
Thanks ivillage.ca for including me in the 9 Canadian blogs to visit.
My Photo
Ontario, Canada
My blog, like life, is a mixture of all sorts of things . . . gardening, nature, crafts and photography.

April 19, 2010

Oh No, Holes Everywhere

©
Due to a lot of water damage in our basement this year we had to have the area beside the house dug and the walls waterproofed and a new drainage system put in.  So for my Mosaic Monday post I'm showing what has been going on around our house for the past week.

The first day was kind of scary as it was goodbye gardens and hello to holes.
 Photobucket
Thank goodness for a milder April as I had to dig a lot of plants.  You can see some of them lined up in pots in the bottom picture.  I'm really hoping they will survive.
The front step and path were jack-hammered away.
 At the back of the house I had some old climbing roses that could not be dug because of huge roots,  had to be dug out by the digger and could not be saved.
Photobucket
The second day wasn't so bad as by the end of the day the holes were filled in.  The bottom right picture is what we saw when we opened the front door in the morning.  The new drainage system had to be connected to our sump pump, which just happens to be right under our front landing.
 Photobucket
By the third day it was looking a lot better.  The top photo shows where two pieces of trellis had to be removed.  I did dig out the clematis that was there and fingers crossed it will survive the transplant.  We had only been told to take out one piece which was where the clematis was, but a second piece had to be taken out and another climbing rose that was there vanished.
 
Now that I am over the shock of losing plants and moving plants, I can look forward to replanting, and visiting garden centers to buy new plants.  Some rain on Saturday and Sunday morning helped to settle the dirt down.  We are now just waiting for the top soil to be added to the gardens.
 
Mosaic Monday was created by The Little Red House. You are encouraged to create and share a mosaic/collage of some photos. Why don't you stop by and see what some other participants have created. Then try creating a mosaic photo of your own and join in the fun.  
 
Thanks for taking time to visit today. I hope you have time to leave a comment and say hi.
Labels: ,

16 thoughts from visitors:

  1. Linda girl .. that is a lot to take in .. and it does make you worry with displacing the plants .. but now you will be water tight and snug in your home with no water woes !
    Planning for new plants with the saved ones mixed in will be fun .. you will have an even better border by the house now girl !
    Enjoy the fun : )
    Joy

    ReplyDelete

  2. Oh boy, that is a lot of digging - it must be tought to see. Hopefully it will take care of the problem - we used to have the same problem when we lived in PA.
    We loved looking around your blog, beautiful photos.
    Darryl and Ruth : )

    ReplyDelete

  3. My daughter had gone through just this a few years ago..very upsetting at the time but well worth it!It's Spring and your plants will be just fine I'm sure!
    Your basement nice and dry.

    ReplyDelete

  4. Moving dirt around is never a pretty process, but your area looks nice now... AND what a great mosaic the recording of the process made!

    Di
    The Blue Ridge Gal

    ReplyDelete

  5. Linda, Sorry for the loss of some of your roses, but there is now open real estate to try a new plant. Oh wow, plant shopping, what could be finer. Have a wonderful week and take care:)

    ReplyDelete

  6. Hi Linda - yuck. I feel for you girl. We've been dealing with a sometimes wet basement at our house too. It will mean losing my front garden, back patio and interlocking brick driveway to get the waterproofing done. It's too much to think about.
    But the bright side for you is that it's now done and you can replant things, move some things to a better location and get rid of things that weren't working.

    ReplyDelete

  7. It's overwhelming now, but you'll be so glad you've protected your home! You've prevented some major problems in the future!

    Amanda

    ReplyDelete

  8. Everything will be growing and blooming there happily again real soon.
    I wish a digger would come and rip out the north side of our house like that. hehe Full of goutweed there, with two lonely clumps of perennial tall white Phlox and nothing else.

    ReplyDelete

  9. Linda - what an ordeal for you this week - I'm glad you see the positive in this and that you are looking forward to getting some new plants. It must have been hard to say goodbye to some of the older more established ones - but it gives you now a chance to do something different in that area.

    Its still a good time of year to move plants about - when I transplant things I try and give them alittle feed like miracle grow as it helps with the transplant shock. The thing I use just now is rootgrow - David Austin roses used to promote it as it has the special fungi that help root development. They now call their own product "Start" but I'm not sure if its in Canada.

    ReplyDelete

  10. I feel your pain. We are getting city sewer this summer. They have started digging. My favorite bed is on top of the septic tank. I can't save all my plants, I just don't have the space to put them, but I am saving my favorites. Good luck to you. A fresh start.

    ReplyDelete

  11. Linda, that is heart breaking. Hopefully by summer when you've replanted, you won't even be able to tell it was all dug up.
    Is this an opportunity for new plants? :-)
    Judith

    ReplyDelete

  12. What a bummer to lose plants! But it will be worth it in the long run if your basement is now dry. Hopefully your new plantings will be loved as much!

    ReplyDelete

  13. Thanks for your comments everyone. Yes it was a tough go at the beginning, but I knew it had to be done. The plants that got moved into large pots are doing well, still not in the ground yet as we are still awaiting the topsoil delivery. I'm already planning in my head what I want and where it will go. So now that the initial shock is over I'm into happy mode with plant shopping looming on the horizon.

    ReplyDelete

  14. WOW Mom....the front/side/back yard all look so different. Can't wait to come visit and see the new gardens!

    ReplyDelete

  15. I had to have the same thing done at my previous house. It was done by one man on a couple very hot days. He dug it out with a shovel! He definitely earned the money. Our back porch & steps were also jack-hammered, and the debris was used to fill a hole dug to collect the excess water about 10 feet from the house. It definitely worked and was glad that I had it done.

    Sorry you lost some plants. I don't think I lost anything of importance so was lucky in that respect.

    ReplyDelete

  16. Hopefully all is well now. I cringe when I think of losing plants, but sometimes that happens. Well, it is fun buying new things!

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate you stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment.

No word verification here but if the post is over a few days old your comment will have to be approved. It seems those spammers choose older posts in hopes their lurid messages will show up.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day.

Linda, aka Crafty Gardener

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...