Started to rough-in the stream bed and pathways. More work to do to widen a few of the pools and slow the velocity. Final stepped waterfall also cut. #gardening

Dwarf rhodies and azaleas (yes, I know they are the same family), along with some evergreen ferns and small conifers will provide visual occlusion for the upper segments. View of steam & falls from living room. Rise of sharron, dogwood and witch hazel will provide the backdrop.

Forgot to post these the other day; views from the second floor out into the front yard.

Started planting the base layer of shrubs today. Bulbs, ferns, ground cover, moss and such will come in the fall with the rains.

Roughed in the path stairs, new landing for seating area, and got climbing hydrangeas set!

Needed to clear the head for a few hours. Got the upper pond dug, the upper stream roughed in, the seating patio laid out and the backing retaining mound started with the excavated dirt.

Welp my 40yo brain is solidly convinced the body is still 20. I’m gonna prove it right digging this thing by hand! (At least until I come to a standstill at the glacial till). Looking solid and feeling good about direction.

Adding some French drains to keep runoff out of the pond should also help with some surface runoff issues we’ve been having in this area.

First flat tier done (needs more clearing and edge tidying). 2 tiers left to go for a max depth of 3’.

Within 1/2” of level by eye, some quick raking and, that will do!

And scene. Glacial Till is weak in some spots so I had to trade (3) 1’ tiers for (2) @ 16”. Gonna mean some hard stacking to keep the sides stable inside the liner, but should be fine.

Move/spread the compost heap to make way for patio layout.

Putting this into the main timeline: https://twitter.com/williamberryiii/status/1279592753626669056?s=21 https://twitter.com/williamberryiii/status/1279592753626669056

Making very slow progress on cutting in the main patio. Really thinking twice about my deep desire to do all this work by hand. Moved 4 cu. yds of dirt so far and it still looks like it did a few weeks back.

One more view on today’s progress. Thankful to @raecruzberry for ripping up and potting the box to save for our NYC sidewalk cafe area.

Glacial till is proving to be quite a match for manual excavation. Making progress on the main patio with only another foot of depth to go befor working down the long side.

Patio depth is over dug in height by 6” to set drain rock and sand. Unfortunately, “one man” boulders can only keep 3’ of hillside in place, so the area will need heavy, deep rooted ground cover plantings to stabilize topsoil and pull out moisture from behind the wall.

Reality check. Still a hole in the ground. Albeit a bigger hole than yesterday; but, a hole nonetheless.

Another little bit to go before the over-dig for the retaining wall footings and leveling out. Finished size is 10’x14’ (all dug by hand).

I’m staging all the excavated earth to be moved to areas of the property that have suffered erosion from roadway runoff, new retaining wall backfill, etc. This pile is pushing 3’ in depth.

A little afternoon lunch time digging. Now to remove a leftover stump, move the collected soil, level and dig the wall footings!

Almost cleared out! I’m within 2” of level on the long side, and with the drainage pitch of 1”/10’ puts me about .5” out of target ... not bad for eyeballing the dig!

Done and leveled! Onto the next phase of the project, which is just more digging.

Phase next! Digging the wall footings. Continuing to cut back top soil to save it off and reuse later.

Picked up my spillway bowl for the top of the stream! This was wicked cheap (all things considered).

Not made much progress so far this week ... slammed with meetings and such. Carving out for the retaining wall (and it’s footing) is going well though.

Amidst all the things on the honey do list, I got another couple of feet dug out. Progress!

Finished the patio retaining wall dig. Now for drainage excavation and stairs. Later today, hopefully, digging for pond skinner, waterfalls, and spillway bowl!

And exit drain trench cut!

Tomorrow. We dig. Again. There have been many days of digging. It has been glorious to feel the sun’s warmth, to sweat, to blister the hands, to steady the soul. Ov n er these last few years I have forgotten how much I love and cherish manual labor.

Ran into a few problems over the last couple of days. Wasn’t happy with how water was going to circulate in the lower pond, and ran into some tree roots that weren’t worth cutting. Ended up moving waterfall and skimmer for new routes.

Got to put my trenching shovel to work between meetings. This thing is awesome, except it feels like digging a trench with a tablespoon. That said, I can maneuver and dig around smaller feeder roots, so FTW!

This trench is for pond overflow and will join up to the main drainage system for the large patio/main retaining wall.

Set the skimmer this evening. Triple checked the drainage and overflow layouts; hanging tight at 1/8” per foot! Yellow string is high water line, with target about an inch lower.

And the view from the living room bay window; pond behind and to the right of the wheelbarrow. Will be moving the sweet box in the foreground/right to make space for a tea garden.

Started digging the supply side of the system. 2’ deep trench @ 55’ in length. Given about an hour of work time each day ... this should take about a week. I’m doing this by hand to save any roots larger than a pencil, we’ll see how that goes.

One of the super cool things I found for this project was detectable dig tape for electrical, water, gas, sewer, etc. lines. Lets someone with utility marking gear, or a metal detector, locate underground work. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081ZRU18/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wWLgFbTPX3TNP

Got some time this evening to dig a bit more. Glad I didn’t hit this monster of a root with a ditch witch and was about to dig around it gently. About 20/25’ more to go.

The shovel handle in the background, above the wheelbarrow, shows about 2/3 progress on the trench. Will hopefully get the pipe laid and soil saturated (for root healing) tomorrow.

Got the spillway bowl moved into rough position. Think this will look nice as the start of the upper pond and stream.

Trench is complete, despite having to dig under and around some large roots.

2” kink free (is anything really kink free???) pipe laid. Will glue-up, backfill, add dig tape and then finish the fill tomorrow.

And drainage pipe is installed for pond overflow. This pipe will join up with the French drain behind the the main patio’s retaining wall, for exit into the mini rain garden.

6” of fill over pipes and dig tape laid out.

Trench back-filled, watered and tamped! Not bad for an hour of work.

Also got the skimmer joints glued up. Now headed up top, to set the bio-filtration unit.

Today, with only about 45/50 min of work time, got the spillway bowl leveled and bio-filter positioned. Some small adjustments needed tomorrow to get the irrigation box, flow control and filter drain plumbing done.

And since I haven’t taken an overhead shot lately ...

Got the bio-filter installed, cleaning drain, supply line and valves fitted. Little worried about the flex in the lines, but they took the bends ok after a 2 hour set. Running leak test now.

My hand truck for moving rock also arrived!

12 hour leak test proves success!

Cut out for the small pond patio and moving this mound of dirt back a foot for a retaining wall. With the bio-filter set, I’m all ready to set geo-textile fabric and pond liners this weekend!

And moved the wall line back a foot!

And we’re back at it folks! 1.5 hours after work at the gym, & we have stairs! (Or the start of them?) Got wise & broke out the 72” digging bar which is as heavy & unwieldy as it looks. More shaping to get the curve right, but progress!

I’m not posting much to this thread right now as most of my work on the project is studying up on dry stack techniques. Apparently, one should build at a rate of 5-15sq ft/day. I’ve got 130 sq ft. to build. Efficiency will be rewarded.