Katy Dickinson

Creating a Cactus Garden, Part 2 (Forklift)

I wrote last week about how we have started to create the cactus garden next to WP668, our backyard caboose. Here is the second installment about that ongoing project. Of course, any new job requires at least one new tool, so John started by renting a small fork lift to move the two new boulders into the garden. (The boulders are from the California Sierra range, one weighs 1,668 pounds and the other 1,242 pounds, according to the tags from South Bay Materials where we bought them.) Hertz Equipment Rental (San Jose) delivered the forklift last Friday right into our driveway. Hertz does a great job.

Next day, John and Felix Quintero took down a section of the fence, emptied the hot tub, and moved the emptied hot tub (with help from Paul and me). Because a hot tub's water is treated with chemicals to keep it clean, it has to be emptied into the sewer instead of the storm drain. The rocks at one end of my garden also had to be moved to get the fork lift through. We sacrificed some plants in that bed but they are bulbs so they will grow back. One of the boulders got dropped (no damage to it or us, thankfully) and the lawn and brick walk got dinged some but otherwise, all went well.

After the boulders were placed, we started spreading out the gravel we moved in last week. We also planted the Agave parryi John bought me last September. It arrived with a baby poking out the bottom drainage hole of its pot. We managed to save the baby and plant it next to its spiky mother. On Sunday, I planted some more of the cactus I have been saving up for the new garden. There is a 3 spire "Silver Torch" Cleistocactus Strausii (green skin, white spines, magenta blooms), and a pair of Argentine Giant Cordon (Trichocereus candicans, Echinopsis) each of which has many babies riding along.

Did I mention that I hate, dispise, and will always revile the company that we hired to take out our pool? We asked for and paid for good clean top soil fill and they (unknown to us) snuck in some nasty tarry stuff full of concrete, trash, and plastic wrap. We made them spend several days picking out all of the big pieces of concrete and plastic but I will spend many years cleaning after their cheap tricks. Did I say I hate them forever? (OK, I don't hate them but every time I pick a bit of wire or string or plastic or asphalt or concrete out of my cactus dirt, I don't bless them either.)

Folk lift delivery

Before the forklift

Before forklift

1st rock through the fence

John vs. tight edges

Rock up high

1st rock placed

2nd rock through backward

Paul marking sprinklers

Felix places 2nd boulder

Paul watching

New Agave parryi

New rocks, gravel

Cleistocactus Strausii

Cactus blooms

Trichocereus

New cactus bed

Boulders and cactus

Work in progress

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 11:17PM Apr 07, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  |