(Day 322) A horticultural transformation

I like making before and after series of shots, something which I'd been doing before I became 'serious' (whatever that means) about photography. Typically that involves projects in which something is either built e.g. a cabin, or something is significantly modified e.g. the interior of my son's home. I find it interesting at a later date to look back at the 'before', and the steps undertaken to create or transform something.

In that vein, I followed the progress of creating a small garden to replace a section of (boring) lawn at our place in Florida. I can take no credit for the work - oh, I did help move a few bags of mulch (!) - I simply recorded progress along the way.

(note: all photos were made using an 18-55mm lens at f8 with shutter speeds and ISO settings varied according to the light available)


the 'virgin' piece of lawn

outlining the target area

fascinating how a curb is created

resting, hardening, awaiting the next steps the following day

the 'grass' is removed - I put 'grass' in quotes because the lawn seems to be made up of 'grassy' vines, all intertwined to make a mat

arrival of the 'Bismark' - the tree, not the ship. The contractor's heavy duty bobcat had broken down earlier and the smaller one could not lift the tree - with some ingenuity, the tree was eventually coaxed from the truck and into the waiting hole

 the Bismark is ready to be launched from the back of the truck which was positioned over the hole

next, the first of 2 foxtails is moved into position - it was within the bobcat's capabilities

releasing the protective covering from around the Bismark

with the palms in place, small bushes, which will add colour, are quickly planted

transformation complete. You might note the changes in light over the last 6 photos - the job was originally estimated to take about 2 hours, but equipment breakdown (heavy duty bobcat) resulted in delays and more manual work. We are very pleased with the results, however.

(Day 214) Blowin' in the wind

I've dabbled in gardening for many years - both the veggie and flower kinds. As with all gardeners, I've had my struggles with weeds, and ... crabgrass! Now, I've planted annuals and perennials, and shrubs, and even a few trees in the flower gardens. But the one thing I can honestly say I've never deliberately planted in a garden is grass!

Well I guess I have to start thinking outside my preconceived notions of what belongs in a garden. As I wandered around outside late this afternoon, after the daily torrential downpour, I found this ornamental grass being blown around by the remnants of the thunderstorm. In between the gusts I was able to make a few photos and I liked this one best. Perhaps I'll even go out and buy some grass for my gardens one of these days.

(18-55mm  f7.1  1/160 sec  ISO800)

(Day 203) Peas - in (& out) of a pod

If you're not a veggie eater, you may want to skip this part ...

Did I mention before that I wrested a veggie garden from our rocky, rock-bottom piece of land ? I know I did, and it has already yielded an abundance of (tr)eats. Every year I empty the large compost containers near the garden to work into the soil, and the soil has now been built up to about 30cm/12" above the original ground level. The first seeds into the ground were peas - in early April - and a few weeks ago I had a huge harvest of peas. The freezer has enough to last us until next year. Today I picked the johnny-come-lately's - the last of them - and I thought I'd give them a tribute here.

(60mm  f4.5  1/2 sec  ISO200)

(Day 127) From the garden

One of the biggest challenges in doing a 365 photo project, as anyone trying to do one is well aware, is finding a new subject for each new day. That has been made a little easier by the arrival of spring with so many plants and trees providing our subjects. I thought I would spread some of these out over several days, but as I started walking around today I decided I'd post more than just one selection. I guess that will leave me more of a challenge for the days ahead, but I'm sure something will come up.

(60mm  f5.6  1/500 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f8  1/30 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f4  1/125 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f11  1/80 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f8  1/125 sec  ISO200)

(Day 93) Emerging spring

Do you know what the definition of a Canadian spring is ? It's the 15 minutes between winter and summer!

One week ago it was -14C (7F) overnight. Today we hit 30C (86F) ! Records for high temperatures that have stood for 64 years were broken. I broke my own (unofficial) record for the earliest date to wear shorts! :)

Plants that were staying protected under the soil are now scrambling to take advantage of the warmth. Today's photo shows the rhubarb emerging in the garden. At this rate we'll be eating it in a few weeks.

(60mm  f8  1/160 sec  ISO200)

(Day 67) What used to be here ?

One of my first tasks when we moved to our current home was to develop a vegetable garden; it's in the genes I think - I'm descended from gardeners. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult as I had the necessary tools and equipment, including a rototiller and large tractor. So I staked out an area, fired up the rototiller, and started tilling. It was quite difficult going and I initially thought it was due to the fact it was virgin soil and was likely compacted. Ha - no such luck! What soon became all too clear to me was that the land consisted of about 10cm (4") of dirt sitting on top of rock. I don't mean rocks, although it turned out there were lots of those too, but rock!

Well, I used the bucket on my tractor to scrape off what little soil there was into a pile, and then used a pick to remove as much of the rock as I could. I built a 3m by 3m (10' x 10') sieve and bucket by bucket sifted all the dirt through it to remove even more rocks. After bringing in a few truckloads of soil and adding compost, it started to resemble a garden. Today that formerly barren patch of ground produces more veggies than we can eat.

I had little interest in the remaining pile of rocks at the time. What turned out to be interesting later as I started to remove the rather large pile, was the number of fossils they contained. I'm no fossil expert, but it looks to me that perhaps this area used to be covered by a sea, and as it disappeared, small sea creatures were covered by silt, and as the silt eventually hardened into rock, these creatures were left behind as the fossils I uncovered.

If anyone can tell what they might be from these photos, please leave a comment.

(completely off-topic, but if you'd like to contribute a photo to help fight Alzheimers, read this: http://threadsoflight.blogspot.com/2010/02/41-shots.html )

(60mm  f11  1/10 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f16  1/15 sec  ISO200)

 

(60mm  f16  1/15 sec  ISO200)