Glass Block in a Pergola, who-da-thunk-it?

…sure looks nice!

Almost finished… again!

There are just a few items remaining, the shrubs, the sod, which is arriving today and the ‘high design’ portion of the pergolas, can’t wait to see the finished product. The long pathway is complete from the front to the back as well.

Mrs. Homeowner had a complaint the other day, not about us or our work, but because random people were trespassing into her yard on the weekend to look at the new landscape.

She would look out her window and someone would just be standing there looking around. She went out for an errand at one point and when she came home there was someone walking around her yard. She didn’t know if she should get out of the vehicle because she was worried it might make the guy feel embarrassed. But in the end she was like “wait a minute, this is my house, and why are you in my yard?”

In the following picture, we have a really good look at why we use the expensive aluminum edging to define the beds and features. This product does not rely on any earth material to support the shape, so we can pre-form our areas and then fill with the correct material. This allows us to pack the soils to the proper specifications without worrying about and movement or support issues to the garden edges. The 5” depth of the edging also keep the grass root from migrating into the beds, so maintenance over the long run is much easier.

(oh, by the way, Ryan is installing some really cool lights, that add a bit of whimsy to a fairly formal landscape, but will probably be removing as the homeowner HATES them. I did choose them for a little flair and thought the kids might like them, but I suppose I am wrong sometimes, and we will put a different feature in there if they don’t warm up to our way of thinking, haha)

In other news, if you ever get a chance to put in a back door to your garage, DON’T. This has caused us and the homeowner some pretty major water/drainage grief. The grading is meant to be built up at the point where they put the door in to the tune of about a foot higher, so there was significant negative drainage in that spot.

We were able to bring it to to just ‘level’. Level is not good enough though. So we installed a positive drain and connected it to our downspout drainage.

This will take care of most of the rainfall that lands here, but there still may be some ice build-up during the winter and spring. At least this way the water won’t stay there once it melts.

A special request for grass…

An anonymous reader has requested a photo of some grass! While we are not at the grass stage of the project the request was made for, here are the photos of the grass on our most recent completed projects, keeping in mind this is early season still. If you are in Calgary, have a look around to see what most of the grass looks like, and this is right on par. Maybe better. We have some HOT weather coming, so that will green everything up nicely.

Remember when it was like this?

Our next patio brick pattern in Elgin Village…

And again, more rain…

… but we just keep on plugging away. I really do have to commend the crew for their cheery depositions during all this cold and rainy weather. We are making very good progress in the face of some very challenging conditions. As a comparison, we lost 10 days to weather by this time last year, this year we have only lost 3, and the weather has been pretty much the same.

All the things we are doing differently that allow us to proceed this year are:

- taking care of surface water and runoff, before it becomes an issue... That’s it.

That entire list, of one items is the reason we can ‘giv’er’ We are taking incredible care, even to the extents of going to the next project and pre-grading, just in case it rains before we get there. Again, great job team.

I drove into the neighbourhood today while it was raining, and pulled up next to the other landscaper working on our block. I rolled the window down and he says “what the hell is all this, man?'” referring to all the rain.

I took his picture and asked if I could quote him, because it pretty much sums it all up. What the hell IS all this… man.

Our crew seems much smarter. they get out of the rain…sometimes…  hehe.

Just Friday left and we are off for the long weekend. This is one of the valuable perks for our crew. Guaranteed long weekends off. Have fun and be safe team, be ready to ‘giv’er’ on Tuesday!

Done… almost, just some grass left…

We completed our first two projects today, yippee. The rain started about 1 minute after though, so that was it for the day. Everyone went home pretty happy I think. Especially since it is a long weekend coming up, AND we finished. I always ask the crew “what was your favorite part of the project?” they always respond “Finishing it.”

I understand. Because this is what ‘during’ the project feels like:

and this is what ‘after’ the project feels like:

Our new guy Jake seems happy whenever I see him. Keep up the good work Jake. (he’s not really that tall, it’s the 4 inches of mud on his boots)

Here are a few other pictures of our ‘almost’ finished project. Thursday the grass will arrive and then it’s all done! As I said earlier, Yippee! So now we have moved 4 houses down the block to start the next one.

Lots of rain…

We had over an inch of rain today, it is plenty to shut us down. It always seems like we can keep going, and then it seems to rain just enough to make it really hard to work. It’s that thing about 6” inches of mud and being very cold and wet. No fun.

We were so close to putting in the bricks on the front path, darn it. see the screeds still in the sand? ohhh soooo close.

The conjoined path would have looked great, the raised bed turned out very nice too!

We have most of the limestone rock in place around the boardwalk.

The backyard of yard #1 has been graded, so the water is much less of an issue than if it hadn’t been finished. We almost ordered sod for Friday, but we won’t get there now. too bad.

Another shot of the nicely draining yard.

Here is a good picture of the Mudmats we use. These are fibreglass sheets with big bamboo pipes in built in sleeves that we lay down on areas of high traffic or muddy areas so we don’t cause undo damage to the terrain or our equipment.

Rain control…

The little green thing in the picture is a drain emitter that goes on our underground drainage. We connect the downspouts on the house and trench for "’Big O’ pipe. This allows us to get all the roof water from the corners of the house, and move that excess H2o to the edges of the water. But not right to the edge as the city of Calgary requires that we stop 2 meters from any property line to allow *some* of the water to be absorbed by the landscape. This keeps a bit of the water from going straight into the storm sewers. Good idea.

Busy busy busy...

...and woooooo-wee does it feel good to be busy. Our first 2 conjoined projects are wrapping up. It may not look like it in these pictures, but as I said before, once these hardscapes are complete, it is all soft and smooth and easier! There is alot going on on site these days, here are Dad (on the mini-digger), Elton (on the saw) and Hedi (behind the mini-digger) just a working away!

It is great to have some decent weather finally. Whenever we get a run of good weather, it is really amazing to see how much we can get done in just a few days.

Here is Hedi (look closely) working in both yards at once!

The pathways in each yard even match. You won't see them both unless the gates are open, but still looks cool.

These poor buggers, who are with another landscaper working on the block, are hand digging 3 tree holes. Yikes, I remember those days well, before we got the Skid steer with the 36" tree auger. These 3 guys worked all afternoon to plant 3 trees.

Ryan has been doing an amazing job as our expediter. He goes nonstop all day getting our materials, and the site crew gets to work uninterrupted. This is a great way to get our work done! Great work Ryan! Here he is unloading some very nice garden mix soil!

Elton is providing the finishing touches on the small path in yard #2. There was a lot of cutting to get the bricks to make the tight turn, but as always, it looks great!

I took a picture of Homeowners #1 coming home, and even in the reflection of their car, Elton is working hard. Great work Mister Elton! Keep it up! (he is fixing the pull start on the rock saw)

Captain, Thar be a patio here...

heh, little Star Trek reference... (remember the whales?)

YAY, Our First before and after pictures of the year.

We had a very efficient day, thanks to our new hire. Hedi and Elton are certified for patios and retaining walls, and are at their best when they work together, uninterrupted on site. This is why Ryan is so valuable for us. He spends a lot of his day providing us the materials and tools so that we can get the job completed much quicker. The patio turned out great! Can't wait to see the yard in the next 4 days as it will be GREEN! woowoo! Fresh sod has started to ship so, we are moving forward, all guns a blazin'!

I still find it amazing how we can turn a big square pallet of big square bricks, into this flowing and inviting curvy patio! This pathway shown here is a little wider than we would normally use, however, one of the homeowners uses a power wheelchair and among many other accessibility items we have designed, the pathway is nice and wide for easy navigation.

Again, we sure can't wait until it's graded and 'greened'

A great job as always team!

A really good week...

The week has gone better than expected. The weather has been cold, but not unbearable. Today is our first patio install. Woowoo! I love patio installs, it means we are nearing the end! Also, we had our first tree delivery yesterday and, as always, Jim out at Eagle Lake Nurseries has selected incredible trees for us. Thanks Jim.

And further to Hedi's story, here are a couple of teaser pictures.