Remember how we had a long, boring, dirty white picket fence along the front of the property? As you know, we decided to pull it out and replace it with our zigzag recycled paling fence. We at first considered selling the pickets as they were largely in good solid condition, due to being treated pine. But then we began to consider what we were going to do up the back of our property in the interests of security, property definition and privacy. Those scorned pickets, far from being sold, ended up individually de-nailed, scrubbed, painted, trimmed and turned into our fresh, cottage-y back fence. Even the long horizontal (hardwood) rails from the original front fence were recycled. Only the posts had to be bought, and they are treated pine as well. They will last a long time.

As usual, we had a goal - we wanted merely to build three fence panels and two gates, and hang those same gates in one afternoon. Well, we wanted to go away the next day, yet were loath to leave the property unsecured at the back. Remember what I said about our goal setting habit in 'Snapshot: The List'?

The original fence.

The first panel of pickets is installed and Slick is glad-wrapping the freshly mortared top section of the pillar so it holds firmly together as it dries. I don't know where he got the industry strength plastic wrap; I think either he salvaged it or someone gave it to him. It has come in very handy for various things. Note the new garden, which is basically cow manure from the saleyards and kitchen compost rotting down together. The old drive was so packed and gravelly beneath that we gave up on the idea of trying to dig into it.

The Klick, Alick and Glick Painting Squad. As you can see, the pickets have been cut and nailed to the rails, already. As you can't see, the pickets actually all have an initial coat of white paint, so this is just touch-up time. The day was beautifully warm and as soon as the panels were dry we were able to lug them across to the posts they belonged to, chock them up and screw them on.

Slick outlining the process necessary to install the fence panels.

This photo was taken approximately from our back door. By the end of the day almost the entire fence was up ...

... except for a few last pieces. However, by nightfall all was finished, including a clever bolt to secure the big gates. We could go away the next day in peace and satisfaction.

A few images of things from February, 2007.

 

Llick, working in the garden down in the front yard. Notice the new crushed granite path? Oh, and do you see the lamp-post down at the gate? There is another behind Mum, too, just across and up the path a bit. Slick took advantage of the trench that the plumber dug to run the electricity.

 

Picturing the back of the house, from the upper corner of that side of the property. The clothesline has been moved - did you notice?

 

And again, from slightly further up the hill, on the drive. The hedge is growing healthily, despite being young and coping with the full heat of summer. The thick bank of mulch around the roots made a huge difference.

Our front fence as it was when we bought the property:

Dirty, boring and wobbly. Ridiculous from all angles - this was our fence. It had to change. Our resident designer (Mum) cleared the drawing board (found a space on the handiest scrap of paper), the resident carpenter ordered the materials and generally figured out how to translate the drawing into reality - while the remaining innocent residents waited to be transformed into resident laborers.

Voila! The laborers appear and the picket fence begins to disappear.

 

It was a jolly hot day.

Visitors. What a shame.

 

The First Panel.

The boards (old recycled fence palings) were cut square, lined up along the centre diagonal board, nailed on and then trimmed with a circular saw.

 

Notice the washing line in the distance? It was not going to stay there much longer.

Standing at the top of the kitchen stairs, in the doorway. The panel is three quarters done.

Success. The first panel is installed and the highland mist is rolling in.

Note the long, narrow trench: our plumbing according to laundry, kitchen and bathroom plans...

These photos were taken on September 16th, 2006. I ought to have posted them in chronological order - that is to say, that is what I aim to do - but I somehow missed them. I'm sure you will bear with me - just this once!

Slick working on the lamp posts. The roughly scrubbed rocks lie scattered on the tarp, shapes and sizes exposed for ease of selection, and (theoretically, at least) in a position to remain dirt-free for a day or so.

 

The left post is actually the inner corner of upper property boundary line, which, if you have hung around for a while, you may remember being rather unusual. A triangle is cut out of the top of our property, the inner tip of which is represented by the left-hand lamp post. (Note that I say 'top' in terms of topography, as it is the highest end of the block. The images I have previously posted are aligned around the other way.) A basic visual can be seen here, and a more recent and up-to-date, here.

One might be able to see a piece of metal in the shape of a 'T' sticking out of the ground in the distance. The lumps around the bottom of the metal pole are the base rocks of a future gatepost.

Before the mortar completely dried, the posts were lightly scrubbed down with a coarse, wet brush so that the rocks wouldn't end up stained. These were the first two of seven free-standing posts.

Gradually the stone walls began to grow, carving order out of the wilderness . Mounds of earth, stone and concrete began to resolve into pleasing lines and useful spaces.









Of course none of this would have happened without Dad's landscaping genius and sheer hard work! I assure you, the clay Dad had to struggle with was No Joke.

Day one, June 16th, and our bobcat man starts some major earth moving. No longer shall the hill slope straight down to and under our house. Drainage installed, and the ground under our house has been dry since.




End of the first day. What a mess!

Next day a flatter area was formed between shed and house:



Ever played with a wacker-packer? Interesting sensation.




A flat path along the back (uphill) side of the house, and a driveway formed. When we bought the property there was little evidence of a driveway, except for extremely hard ground and a scattering of gravel.



Drive down to shed, and levelled area between buildings.



Path. The dirt on the left was clay mud six inches deep, wet by lots of rain and well churned by the bobcat tracks.



Though it looks as though the drive has a kink in it, the flatter area where the bobcat is driving is now a part of our parking space outside our fence line. (We had to have our property surveyed to find out what our boundary lines were; the previous owner had just fenced in a roughly rectangular block, including council property but excluding his own triangle up the top.) Once we'd figured out where our fence line was going, we were able to decide on our driveway. It's now straight up the hill from the photographer, toward the front of the truck tray.

This landscaping was one of the most important aspects of the development of this property. It accomplished several things: it shaped the land into four separate levels, which gardens later made more distinct and unique; it protected the house foundations from excessive movement caused by moisture fluctuation; it made the house begin to look part of the landscape, rather than an interruption to the flow of the hill; and it outlined final use of space by providing areas for rest, for traffic, for transition and for car parking/access. This property would not be half so attractive or useful, if we hadn't done this earth moving.